Zone One: The Front Door

A shallow bowl and a short list taped to the inside of the door, so keys, glasses and the day's one errand leave the house with you.

Every house we have ever wired has a sensor on the main entry, because that is where the important comings and goings happen. For your own attention, the front door works the same way. It is the last place you stand before the day starts and the first place you stand when it ends.

Put a shallow bowl on the nearest surface and give it one rule: keys, wallet and glasses live there and nowhere else. Add a hook for the bag you always take. Then tape a card at eye level on the inside of the door with no more than five words for tomorrow. Not a full list; the full list belongs on the kitchen calendar. The door card holds only what must leave the house with you, such as “letter, umbrella, prescription”.

The card works because it meets you at the exact moment your hand reaches the handle. Change it every evening, even if the change is small, so your eye keeps reading it instead of sliding past. When you come back in, empty your pockets into the bowl before you take your coat off. Within a fortnight most readers find the habit runs without thinking about it, which is the whole point of a good sensor.