Munchkin maybe it’s not so much the alarm as the strategy – I have tried every system under the sun over the years and for ages swore by my electronic version and phone alarm as you mention. Odd that I swore by it because it didn’t work! I was still not doing what I was supposed to do in the end. So as cool as this system was it was in effect useless.
My ADD coach finally convinced me to go back to a paper based system which allows me to visualize my time frame and unlike my electronic system is not out of mind once it’s put into the bowels of the computer system. Basically, for me out of sight is out of mind. I still set an alarm but have to rely less on it since I now check my paper based system regularly and am more aware of what I should be doing in the first place.
Actually I rely more on timers than alarms.
For example, if I’ve established that a certain task shouldn’t take more than say 20 minutes, I’ll set the timer for 5 or 10 minute increments to keep me on track.
The key to the whole thing though is planning ahead and deciding how long things should take and when to do them. THis goes for both tasks and appointments. I do this for a week at a time on Sundays although granted I do still fall off the wagon at times. This has however been the most successful for me since last Spring. I checked my last calendar year agenda when I started my new 2012 one and to my own surprise every single week actually had entries!
I “draw” the time frames into my agenda. I use one that has 15 minute increments with a two page per week layout and plenty of room for notes. I mark the times off in squares.
Here’s a link to the Agenda style:
http://www.quovadiscanada.com/en/product/prenote/656
Sorry to ramble but I’m like a smoker who quits then tries to convert everyone else as well 