Busy Brits forget on average five important facts or tasks every day, it's been revealed.
Forgetting to call people back at work and replying to emails are the most common jobs which slip our minds during hectic shifts at the office.
Failing to remember colleagues' names, leaving things on the printer and forgetting to bring a packed lunch also featured high on the list, it emerged.
More than one in two Brits blamed 'trying to do too much’ as a reason for forgetting things with others simply blaming 'stress'.
A quarter said they were relied on to remember too much and a fifth said there weren’t enough hours in the day for them to get on top of everything that needed to be done.
Marketing director Gregg Corbett from Avery Office & Consumer Products which commissioned the research among 2,000 Brits, said: ''This research demonstrates exactly what workers up and down the country feel: that modern life is very demanding and things can easily be forgotten and left off to-do lists.
''People have so much to do in their lives that the most basic things like remembering to bring lunch to work or replying to important emails are being completely forgotten about. This then causes further complications when we try to correct things that we’ve overlooked, adding even more things to our ever growing list of daily tasks.''
“It seems the more we can do to simplify people’s daily lives, the better all of us will feel and the less mistakes we will make.”
When it comes to their personal lives, Brits are just as likely to be disorganised with more than half of the top ten list of things we forget being household chores.
Forgetting to take the meat out of the freezer, forgetting to water the plants and forgetting to take out the rubbish were common mistakes Brits made and one in five said they forgot to take the washing out of the washing machine.
One in ten said they regularly leave the house without any money and a similar amount leave without house keys.
One in five of us get stumped trying to remember all of our passwords and a quarter of us end up with a dead battery on our mobile phone after forgetting to charge it.
A further twelve per cent get a rude awakening every weekend by forgetting to turn their alarm clocks off and nearly one in ten find they start the washing up and then conveniently forget about it!
More than half of respondents said that they found themselves forgetting things more as they got older and seven out of ten said they were completely dependent on lists to keep themselves organised.
Over twenty per cent have got in to trouble at work for forgetting to do things and more than half say they wish they had an extra pair of hands or more hours in the day.
People in London seem to forget things more than any other area, perhaps reflecting the busy working lives of many Londoners.
Gregg Corbett added: ''Both at home and at work, people seem to be forgetting things more and more.
''For example, with work pressures as they are, only 40 per cent of people have the time to learn and remember which supplies go in which printer at work, leading to printing mistakes that, over time, cost businesses money, time and resources.
“Avery Multi-Function Labels have been designed as a flexible solution that can be used in any printer, for any application. From sending letters to labelling documents, Multi-Function Labels are great for any job, producing quality results across inkjet and laser printers – including multi-function printers and copiers. This means office workers have one less thing to remember, as they can use one type of label for all their jobs.”
TOP TWENTY LIST OF THINGS BRITS FORGET
- To return phone calls
- To reply to emails
- People’s names
- To send birthday cards
- Charge phone
- Passwords
- Take meat out the freezer
- To water plants
- Pick up things from the printer
- Take the rubbish out
- Take the washing out of the machine
- To post things
- Pick up packed lunch
- Record TV show
- House keys
- Turn alarm off at weekends
- Glasses
- Wallet
- Anniversaries
- Washing up
