We’ve all done it. You’re lying in bed, eyes half-closed, and suddenly you remember that the car insurance expires at midnight or you forgot to pull the chicken out of the freezer. You whisper to your phone, "Hey, remind me tomorrow morning to deal with this," and then you roll over and drift off. It feels like a win. You’ve offloaded the mental burden to a silicon chip. But honestly, that tiny phrase—remind me tomorrow—is often where good intentions go to die.
Why do we do this?
It’s called "prospective memory." That’s the fancy scientific term for remembering to perform a planned action in the future. Dr. Gilles Einstein, a leading researcher in the field, has spent years looking at how these intentions fall apart. It turns out our brains are actually pretty terrible at keeping track of "delayed intentions" without a very specific, physical trigger. When you tell an AI or a sticky note to remind me tomorrow, you’re gambling that your future self will actually be in the right headspace to act when that notification pings. Most of the time, we aren't.
The Psychology of the "Remind Me Tomorrow" Trap
Procrastination isn't about being lazy. It’s about mood regulation. Tim Pychyl, a psychology professor at Carleton University, argues that when we push a task to "tomorrow," we’re actually trying to manage our current stress. We feel anxious about the task now, so we outsource that anxiety to our future selves.
"Tomorrow" is a magical land where we have infinite energy. We’ll be faster then. We’ll be smarter. We’ll definitely have more coffee in our system. Except, when tomorrow actually becomes today, we’re the same tired people we were last night.
Why your phone's reminder failed you
Most people set a vague alert. They say, "remind me tomorrow at 9:00 AM."
But at 9:00 AM, you’re probably in a meeting. Or you’re stuck in traffic. Or you’re staring at a mounting pile of emails that feel way more urgent than that insurance renewal. The notification pops up, you swipe it away because it’s "not a good time," and the task enters the void.
This is the Zeigarnik Effect in reverse. Usually, our brains stay obsessed with unfinished tasks. But when we create a "false completion" by setting a reminder, the brain checks the "done" box prematurely. We stop worrying about it because we trust the system. If the system fails—or if we ignore the system—the task just evaporates.
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How to Actually Get Things Done (Without the Fluff)
If you’re going to use the remind me tomorrow strategy, you have to be tactical. It’s not just about the when. It’s about the where and the how.
Implementation Intentions
Peter Gollwitzer, a psychologist at NYU, came up with a concept called "if-then" planning. It’s remarkably simple but it works. Instead of a vague "remind me," you tie the action to a specific event that is guaranteed to happen.
- Bad: Remind me tomorrow to take my vitamins.
- Good: If I am pouring my first cup of coffee, then I will swallow my vitamins.
By linking the reminder to a pre-existing habit, you don't need a buzzing phone to tell you what to do. The coffee becomes the cue.
Context-Aware Reminders
If you use Apple Reminders or Google Tasks, stop using time-based alerts. Use location-based ones. Tell your phone, "Remind me to buy lightbulbs when I get to Home Depot." This is a game-changer. Seeing a reminder to buy milk while you’re sitting on your couch at 8:00 PM is useless. Seeing it when your GPS registers you're in the grocery store parking lot is effective.
The 2-Minute Rule
Look, if the thing you’re asking to be reminded about takes less than two minutes, just do it now. Seriously. The cognitive energy it takes to record the reminder, process the notification later, and then finally do the task is actually higher than just doing the task immediately. David Allen, the Getting Things Done guy, was right about this. Don't ask a device to remind me tomorrow to send a one-sentence email. Just send the email.
Digital Tools vs. Analog Chaos
We live in an era of "notification fatigue." The average person gets dozens of pings a day. After a while, your brain starts treating your remind me tomorrow alerts like white noise. It’s the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" syndrome, but the wolf is your laundry.
Some people are moving back to paper. Why? Because a physical planner doesn't disappear when you lock your screen. A post-it note on your bathroom mirror is an unavoidable visual obstacle. It forces a confrontation. You can't swipe it into a "completed" folder with a thumb flick. You have to physically peel it off and throw it away.
The best apps for the job
If you’re sticking with digital, don't just use the default stuff.
- Due: This app is relentless. It doesn't just ping you once; it nags you every five minutes until you mark the task as done or reschedule it. It’s annoying. That’s why it works.
- Todoist: Great for natural language. You can type "remind me tomorrow at 4pm to call Mom" and it parses it perfectly.
- Obsidian or Notion: These are better for "deep work" reminders. If your task is complex, you need more than a one-line notification. You need a workspace.
The Dark Side of Outsourcing Your Memory
There is a concept called "digital amnesia." It’s the idea that our brains stop trying to remember information because we know Google or our phones have it covered. When you constantly say remind me tomorrow, you’re weakening your own internal mnemonic muscles.
Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, suggest that "offloading" our memory can actually lead to forgetting the context of why a task was important in the first place. Have you ever looked at a reminder you set for yourself and had no idea what it meant? "Remind me tomorrow: Blue folder." What blue folder? Where? Why?
Precision matters.
Actionable Steps for Tomorrow
Stop treating "tomorrow" like a dumping ground for things you’re too tired to do today. If you must use a reminder, follow these rules to ensure it actually results in an action:
- Specify the "Next Action": Instead of "Remind me about the taxes," try "Remind me to find the W-2 in the top drawer." Make the first step so small it’s impossible to fail.
- The "Sunset" Rule: If you’ve snoozed a remind me tomorrow alert more than three times, delete the task. You clearly aren't going to do it, or it isn't actually important. Be honest with yourself.
- Audit Your Pings: Turn off notifications for everything except your calendar and your primary task manager. If your phone is buzzing because of an Instagram like, you won't care when it buzzes for a legitimate reminder.
- Use Audio Cues: If you use a smart speaker, don't just set a timer. Say, "Remind me tomorrow at 8:00 AM that the trash goes out." Hearing your own voice or a specific chime helps cement the intention.
The goal isn't to have the most organized list of reminders in the world. The goal is to get the stuff done so you can stop thinking about it. Next time you feel the urge to push a task off, ask yourself if you're helping your future self or just making their life harder. Usually, it's the latter.