You don't have to keep it in mind to mind it well
Carrying something in your head isn't the same as caring for it.
We tend to believe that the things we worry about are the things we're taking care of. If it's on our mind, surely we haven't forgotten it. So we keep the renewal date circling, the unreturned call hovering, the question about Mom's accounts parked somewhere behind our eyes.
But keeping something in mind isn't minding it. It's just holding it. And holding takes effort, whether or not anything gets done.
Two meanings of "mind"
To keep in mind is to remember. To mind something is to look after it. We mind the kids, mind the store, mind the step. Minding is care.
The two get tangled because memory has been our only system. If the only place a thing lives is in your head, then forgetting it really would mean neglecting it. So you don't dare let it go.
Give it somewhere else to live, and the two come apart. You can mind it well without keeping it in mind at all.
What minding well looks like
It looks like three simple things.
The matter has a place, with what it's connected to, what belongs with it and where that is, and what it needs.
You've decided when to come back to it: a date, a season, the next time something changes. Coming back is a choice you make, not an alarm that goes off in your head.
When the time comes, you come back, in a deliberate walk through what needs you: a Stewarding Sweep.
In between, you're free to think about something else.
Important isn't the same as active
Some of the most important things you look after need attention only once a year. The will. The title. The policy that renews each spring. Treating them as if they needed constant thought doesn't make you a better steward. It just leaves you with less room for everything else.
Minding well means each thing comes back into view when it needs you, in proportion to what's at stake, and not every night at 2 a.m.
Try it with one
Pick the thing that's taking up the most room in your mind right now. Give it a place, and decide when you'll look at it next. Then notice what happens to the room it was taking up.
Care for what matters.