I have a ADHD, which in many ways is a blessing but it is a literal disability when it comes to working memory. I have an almost supernatural ability to remember things in the distant past, but an astonishing capacity to forget things in the present.

My line manager, 22 years ago, trained me to carry a notebook and pen with me, but I use different methods now:

1. For in-person meetings, I bring a laptop and a stack of post-it notes and a pen. I make a lot of notes on the laptop, and scribble stuff down on the post-it notes.

2. For workshops, I bring lots of stacks of post-it notes and spare pens for the people who forgot to bring either a notepad or a laptop. If we're putting post-it notes on the wall or board, I take a photo of it on my phone so that even if a note is lost, we have a backup.

3. For remote meetings, I record most of them, just so I can go back and review something later. It's not something you'd really do in a 1:1 but absolutely crucial for planning meetings and workshops.

4. After each meeting, including 1:1s, I immediately send a bullet-point list of things agreed and next steps

5. I use a lot of templates including project plan templates so that I don't forget to consider, in detail, every task that needs to be completed and what I need to factor in such as time and resources. Productivity tools like Trello and Jira help - or even a literal to-do list with checkboxes. Block out time in your calendar for each task. Use Miro to physically organise your thoughts.

Don't rely on memory at all - let technology handle that part to free up your mind to do the thinking.