I just read through the responses. I was struck by how many people lose things by setting them down in a public place. The cure? Don't be so damned lazy. Hold onto your sunglasses. They do not go in your cart at the store, they do not go on the shelf at the store while you're looking at something. Your wallet belongs on your butt, not on the table at the restaurant. If you have too much stuff to hang onto, either carry less stuff or get a satchel.

I swear, some smart people never stopped being little kids... you don't have to set your stuff down every time you pause for a moment. Most people don't.

You have a creative brain that is bored with your profession. You will eventually have to figure out how to use your engineering prowess to do more creative things or you will go nuts. Perhaps you should consider getting a degree in in Architecture or perhaps become a sound engineer and work in the music field.

Engineering is a boring profession. Use your brain to do creative stuff that requires and analytical mind and you will be focused and successful. That's my advice anyway.

Poster Ljacoby wrote this just a couple posts ago. It is true. It is true for everybody. Ljacoby wrote this quite snarkily, as if keeping track of a wallet really might be a noble calling.

But, no! Is this not the whole point of this discussion? Wallets are pains in our butts. Keys are annoying little distractions. Our Letter Writer and all the rest of us need solutions for these details, so that we may use our thought, time, energy on worthwhile things.

I just have to laugh because I am so like you-- I am the same way with clothes and hair. Same hairdo every day-- a bun or sleek ponytail straight from the shower-- requires no special fuss blowdrying or curling. Same makeup routine.

I go so far as to expressly buy wash and wear synthetic blouses to go with my synthetic blend suits or machine washable skirts-- absolutely love the look of quality cotton and linen, but cannot deviate from my routine long enough to remember to wake up early enough to iron-- and getting back and forth to the dry cleaners is so far off the grid for me and my husband that our best clothes rarely get worn because they are sitting in the dry cleaning pile.

I buy good shoes and wear them out (occasionally remembering to buff and shine) because I can't be bothered to look for different pairs in the closet and match them up. They sit in the "shoe place" in the front hall until it is time to put them on. So black shoes, black suits and separates, a few colorful blouses and necklaces for pop! and I basically rotate the same five outfits every week until the season changes or I get pregnant and then I haul a different set of items out of storage.

This is all I can do. I have small kids and I work long days. I haven't had a full nights sleep since the birth of my first child over two years ago. I don't have the time or energy for fashion or style except on the occasional night out or summer party. My clothes around the house are picked solely on their resistence to the stain-inducing qualities of spit-up.

Oh, and I love getting pedicures when I can-- but I no longer get manicures or fake nails or use nail polish. Because nail polish chips and fake nails fall off or crack at the worst times, and I don't have time to maintain anything other than keeping my nails clean and neatly trimmed and filed.

Check for anemia, iron deficiencies, vitamin D deficiencies. You might have celiac disease, a gastrointestinal disease that affect cognitive abilities. See http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/53741.php

I haven't read the letters here. But I just want to share my reaction to your post. I'm come for a long line of engineers. Brilliant in many ways, lacking 'common sense' in others - but I wouldn't trade their individuality and sense of self for anything in the world. The best things I've learned about true self-confidence, about enjoying life, about acceptance, I've learned from engineers who weren't even trying to teach me anything - they were just being.

Bravo for engineers, I say. Don't change for us.

and I went from no good to so good! Or functional, anyway. Good call, Cary.

Most of us can only juggle three or four balls. Any more and we drop one.

High functioning autism. It's common among those in engineering field.

Don't be so hard on yourself. Get more sleep and as long as you keep it together at work, lighten up.

I haven't read all the letters but I'm wondering if you are just not really engaged in your work, maybe even a little depressed. When you say that you are into your music or suffering the pain of a broken relationship you are more awake or alive, it makes me think that you are just plain a bit sleepy the rest of the time. Maybe you are too smart for the job or it is just to dull for the way your brain likes to work.

The writer should consider being assessed for attention deficit disorder. Many people with ADD who are not hyperactive and/or were bright enough to do well in school despite their disability were not diagnosed as children. Diagnosis and treatment of adult ADD can be a great relief for people who are finally able to realize that no, their chronic absent-mindedness and inability to "pay attention" are not their fault.

Some of the most intelligent people I know have no common sense. The absent minded professor is a stereotype mainly because it is true. My own personal theory is that some people are just better suited thinking in the abstract rather than the concrete detail.

The world doesn't need more people who can remember minutiae like where they left the keys an hour ago. The world needs people who can think through higher concepts and who can formulate original theories based on seemingly unrelated concepts. So revel in your particular forte in life.

Now on to being unfocussed at work - this is a problem. First you should realise that at your age there are not many pure "thinking" jobs out there - these are earned. Even so you should make sure you're in the right type of job to eventually earn such a position. So have a think whether your current job is truly right for you.

As to forgetting keys & details - well my advice is get systematic. Have lists and cultivate routines/habits. Boring I know, but it helps.

Good luck.