As we all know, Control+F or Command+F ( for Mac) is the keyboard shortcut for the FIND command. It is one of the most commonly used keyword shortcuts, and is known to increase the productivity of the users.

Recently, when I was frantically searching for a particular phrase in a book I had just finished reading, I wished I had a Control + F option for my book. I remembered just a phrase and wanted to write about it in a blog post. Since it was important to quote the phrase and the context correctly, I had to find the exact page. It was a non fiction book and the probability of that phrase appearing on a certain page was 1/260. I spent a lot of time looking for that phrase. That day I decided to use sticky notes on pages that I find extremely interesting and might want to revisit. I leave a comment to make it easier for me to remember why I thought that page was special.

This is definitely not an issue when we read a book on kindle. We can search for any word or phrase using the search option. It will show up all the chapters and pages where that particular word appears.

That was about finding and searching for phrases or important messages in books. How about other aspects of our life? Like finding our car keys, house keys or important documents?

Well, for those of us who just cannot remember at all, there are devices like a smart key finder that can be used to track keys or wallet or anything (mobile or immobile) using an app installed on you phone. This key finder can be Bluetooth or GPS enabled. These smart finders can be used on phones, keys, remotes etc.

For others who don’t require a smart device, it is all about getting smarter with regard to our habits and patterns of behavior. 2 simple hacks that help us in ensuring we don’t have to search for thing forever are:

1. Have designated places for everything in the house. Labelled wherever possible and appropriate:
   A lot of times we cannot find things simply because we did not have a proper place to keep it. We are all creatures of habit and even without giving a thought we will know where to find things if we always keep it in a particular place .
2. Never postpone putting things back in place:
   Temporarily placing something in a wrong place thinking we will put it back later is only reason we never remember where we placed something. There are times we remember seeing it in a wrong place, but not sure where. This is a result of postponing putting things back in place.
   There are people who have designated temporary places for documents, mails etc where they place it until they sort it out weekly or monthly. This system also works fine.

A phrase in a book or a document or the car keys, it is always good to find it when we are looking for it. It could be control+F or sticky notes or ensuring designated places for everything , whatever works, is a good habit.

What hacks do you use to control+F things?

Image by GuHyeok Jeong from Pixabay

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