View Full Version : finding lost objects
Anonymous
07-04-2004, 02:34 PM
For finding a lost object, check out my method at www.professorsolomon.com.
Anonymous
07-05-2004, 04:26 PM
While the 12 Principles are basically for locating objects, I've also used them to retrieve an elusive thought or memory.
Anonymous
07-10-2004, 05:23 AM
The professor's method actually works. I found particularily useful Principle Ten, about establishing a Eureka Zone.
Anonymous
07-10-2004, 02:03 PM
OK.. well I've been looking for something (cell phone manual) and it just hadn't turned up .. thinking.. well, I have nothing to lose .. will check out this site.
YAY!!!
I FOUND IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
I can't believe it !!!!!!!!
Took quite a few steps, but I remained calm, and I found it in about 10 minutes.
GREAT RESOURCE.
Chapters.ca does not seem to have it in stock and indicates supplier is out, but if I can locate a copy I am going to give a copy of this book to my mother!!!
THANK YOU !!!!!
Anonymous
07-10-2004, 03:42 PM
UNBELIEVABLE !!!!
This method really works!!!!
I just found something else I have been looking for, (old call display unit) for several weeks. This is truly incredible !!!! Found it even quicker than the last object and I have been waiting for this to "turn up" for a while (to no avail) and by this time was almost convinced I must have given it away! Again, just thought I had nothing to lose by trying this method...
BTW, for anyone interested in this book, I finally tracked a new copy down through amazon.ca and was able to order it through a 3rd party seller.
(I have absolutely NO relationship to the author and have never even heard of such a method available. Thank you Professor Solomon! You have made my week!!!!)
Anonymous
07-10-2004, 03:43 PM
UNBELIEVABLE !!!!
This method really works!!!!
I just found something else I have been looking for, (old call display unit) for several weeks. This is truly incredible !!!! Found it even quicker than the last object and I have been waiting for this to "turn up" for a while (to no avail) and by this time was almost convinced I must have given it away! Again, just thought I had nothing to lose by trying this method...
BTW, for anyone interested in this book, I finally tracked a new copy down through amazon.ca and was able to order it through a 3rd party seller.
(I have absolutely NO relationship to the author and have never even heard of such a method available. Thank you Professor Solomon! You have made my week!!!!)
Anonymous
07-15-2004, 12:41 PM
The experience described in the last post is typical. It's not magic--just codified common sense for "inducing" a lost object to turn up.
Anonymous
07-19-2004, 01:12 PM
Unfortunately, the Professor's second principle--"It's Not Lost--YOU Are"-- just about sums me up. What do I do?
Anonymous
07-25-2004, 03:39 PM
Advice to Mary:
That Second Principle leads in a natural sequence to the Third--namely, "Remember the 3 C's" (Comfort, Calmness, and Confidence). And the Third gets you into the right frame of mind to proceed with the subsequent practical principles.
Try it, the next time you misplace something.
I've tried, but my lost object (a piece of artwork) remains lost. :(
Anonymous
08-05-2004, 11:06 AM
Did you search its Eureka Zone--meticulously?
I did search the " Eureka Zone"-- super-meticulously. It wasn't there. :(
Anonymous
08-23-2004, 09:44 AM
Don't give up--at least not yet.
Have you tried Principle Eight: "Think Back"? This principle assumes that you know where that missing object is, but that the memory has become buried in your consciousness. Fish for it!
Scott_L_Lewis
08-23-2004, 10:25 AM
I checked out these principles on the Professor Solomon website, and I've been making use of them quite successfully. Just this past Saturday, my wife was exasperated over losing a pair of scissors when she hadn't even gotten up from the table she was working at. I used the rule that what you are looking for is usually 18 to 24 inches from where it should be, and that it is just hidden from sight. Sure enough, I found the scissors in about 30 seconds. My wife had closed them up in a three-ring binder that was right on top of the table.
Good stuff! A classic example of simple, common-sense principles working like "magic."
TesTeq
08-23-2004, 11:20 PM
The common-sense of the Eureka zone really works for me. The lost objects can be usually found not more than 18inches from where they should be.
TesTeq
Scott_L_Lewis
08-25-2004, 06:55 AM
As far as "losing things", I can't see what's wrong with the old fashioned method of screaming, and raging when you can't find it, and then in a paranoid frenzy, accusing a close friend or a house-guest of stealing a valuable object from you, and then finding it under the couch next year when you are vacuuming.
Coz
Coz,
You're right. Now I'm going to have to find another way of getting rid of house-guests. (I knew there had to be a catch!)
Anonymous
08-30-2004, 10:56 AM
Scott Lewis--
I was pleased to hear that the Eureka Zone principle worked for you.
From what you describe, your wife was the victim of the Camouflage Effect (principle 7).
And yes, it's all really just common sense!
--Prof. Solomon
Anonymous
09-10-2004, 03:32 AM
Cosmo,
My book has a chapter titled "Common Mistakes to Beware." One of them is the Rash Accusation, which is described as follows:
"'Who's got my coffee mug?' (or stapler or newspaper or elephant) we demand, after only a superficial search. A rash accusation--in what will probably prove a case of mere misplacement."
And remember #3 of the 3 C's: Calmness! (I know that's not easy. But it's crucial.)
--Prof. Solomon
spectecGTD
09-10-2004, 05:26 PM
I can't imagine making a rash accusation against a friend or house guest.
That's much too irrational and not nearly as psychologically satisfying as kicking the dog or throwing the cat across the room.
TesTeq
09-12-2004, 08:01 PM
SpectecGTD,
I agree with you!
kicking the dog or throwing the cat across the room
is very
psychologically satisfying
I mean the small dog of course :D .
By the way profsolomon, did you write the book about finding lost dogs and cats :D ?
TesTeq
spectecGTD
09-13-2004, 01:39 AM
There's also a secondary benefit.
When the dog scampers away he will frequently hide where the lost object is sitting, temporarily camouflaging it.
And if the cat is flung properly, he will usually land within 18" of the lost object. (If you're lucky enough to have a cat about 18" long, he doubles nicely as an "Eureka stick".
Anonymous
09-20-2004, 07:33 AM
TesTeq,
As a matter of fact, the original draft of my book had a brief section on how to locate a lost dog. I subsequently rejected it, as tending towards the ridiculous; but what it counseled was this:
Go to the place where the dog was last seen. Then pretend to be that dog, and follow whatever impulses come to you. Trot through that half-open gate--saunter down that alley--check out that driveway. In short, seek to recreate your pet's straying. The illustration would have shown the searcher wearing a dog costume.
As I say, I dropped the section. But it may have contained a useful idea.
--Prof. Solomon
TesTeq
09-20-2004, 08:45 PM
And what about the lost bird. Is your method applicable too? OK, it' really ridiculous.
TesTeq
Anonymous
10-20-2004, 06:23 AM
Let me just add this: Obviously, my method is not infallible. That's why I included Principle 13--for situations in which that missing object stubbornly resists being found.
--Prof. Solomon
Anonymous
10-20-2004, 08:02 AM
Coz
Couldn't agree more - I used to blame my kids for moving and taking my stuff - now they grown up and moved out I'll have to get a dog!
spectecGTD
10-20-2004, 08:33 AM
Great idea!
I think I'll get a dog to share the blame when my wife can't find something - right now I'm carrying all the burden.
Anonymous
10-31-2004, 01:22 PM
The "3 C's" for getting into the right frame of mind for finding a misplaced object are Comfort, Calmness, and Confidence.
Comparable to "Control, Relaxation, Focus, and Inspiration."
Anonymous
11-01-2004, 07:27 AM
Great thread--I have printed out the "Principles" and am giving a copy to my parents, the King and Queen of Misplaced Things.
As their daughter, I was trained as a "finder," but sometimes I am also stumped. When I moved to my new home, I took with me a lot of artwork. Among the paintings I have was one that I thought was 6 feet long. I was ambivalent about it and wasn't sure I'd moved it myself, with the other paintings, or let the movers pack it and taken it in the big move, which meant it could have been put anywhere in the house. The painting only came to mind after living here for two years, which shows how important it was to me. :roll: One day I was thinking about hanging something over the fireplace in the den and the painting came to mind. Then I realized I'd never seen it in the new house. Never. I had no idea where it was, or if I even brought it with me (it could have been left in the storage room of my old home). I tore apart the closets and garage, and moved stacks of boxes looking for this gargantuan painting. Six feet is pretty hard to overlook, right?
Except that it wasn't six feet long. It was four feet, and I found it when I finally decided to open all the oversized boxes holding, I thought, pier mirrors, big posters and frames and other stuff I didn't want to use in the new house. There it was, safe and sound. I guess this couldn't happen to you unless you hadn't seen something for a long time, but it can happen.
I've also had the experience of looking for something that I would swear is red that is actually green--inverting or reversing the colors in my mind.
Maybe this is embodied in one of the good professor's principles, but if not, I guess it'd be something like "Make sure the thing you're looking for actually exists." It may be fruitless to search for a six-foot painting when the one you've lost is 4 feet long, or to try to find a book with a red cover when it's actually green.
:oops:
Anonymous
11-13-2004, 06:01 PM
The phenomenon of which you were a victim is in fact mentioned in my book. In a chapter titled "Common Mistakes to Beware," I describe one that's called "Mistaken Image of an Object." I tell how I searched in vain for a particular book on a set of bookshelves--until I realized that the sought-after book was a paperback, not the hardback I had been envisioning.
I then almost immmediately located it. The book had been sitting in plain sight--but I had been blinded by my mistaken image of it.
--Prof. Solomon
TesTeq
11-15-2004, 12:39 AM
One of the common mistakes is to find a wife when you are only looking for a girlfriend (it's even worse when you already have one wife :D ).
TesTeq
Anonymous
12-25-2004, 11:00 AM
Holiday reminder re lost objects:
"There are no missing objects. Only unsystematic searchers."
Merry Christmas to all.
profsol
01-18-2005, 07:05 AM
And here's a corollary to the above:
"It's not lost. YOU are."
profsol
03-21-2005, 11:03 AM
Regarding the Eureka Zone (also known as the 18-inch Principle): yes, frequently a lost object is to be found wihin 18 inches of where it last was seen, or where it's supposed to be, etc. However, in the case of oversize objects (a ladder, say), the Eureka Zone should be changed to 18 feet.
TesTeq
03-21-2005, 11:31 PM
Regarding the Eureka Zone (also known as the 18-inch Principle): yes, frequently a lost object is to be found wihin 18 inches of where it last was seen, or where it's supposed to be, etc. However, in the case of oversize objects (a ladder, say), the Eureka Zone should be changed to 18 feet.
I think a magic formula should be developed to calculate the radius of the Eureka Zone. For example:
eureka_zone_radius = 5 * length_of_the_object_to_be_found
TesTeq