How to keep a paper diary

Choose a size you will open. A pocket diary gets used if it is with you. A large desk diary gets used if you sit down with it. Two diaries become two versions of the truth. One is the point.

Write the appointment when it is made, with the time, the place, and anything you must take. Future-you will not remember the room number. A word is enough. A paragraph is a journal, which is a different book.

One place for the week

The week-to-view layout shows clashes. A day-to-a-page layout has room for a list. Either works if you look at tomorrow before it starts. The habit is the tool. The binding is only paper.

Cross out what is done or what is cancelled. Do not tear the page. The crossed line is the record that the plan changed, which matters when someone asks what was agreed.

What is worth writing

A diary is also a log after the fact. Noting what you actually did, in a smaller hand, turns it into a record of the year. That is optional. The first job is still the appointments ahead.

Keep it where the morning finds it. A diary in a drawer is a souvenir. A diary opened with the first cup of the day is a plan.

One place for the week

A paper diary is a list of what happens on which day, written where you can see the week at a glance. It needs no battery and it does not notify you. Choose a size you will open. A pocket diary gets used if it is with you.

Put those two statements side by side. The first sets the condition. The second says what happens once that condition is met. How to keep a paper diary needs both. Drop the first and the second has nothing to explain. Drop the second and the first is only the scene.

What is worth writing

A pocket diary gets used if it is with you. A large desk diary gets used if you sit down with it.

The order is the explanation. What the first sentence names has to be there before the result in the second sentence can show up. The piece does not ask you to accept the result first and hunt for a cause afterwards.

A check you can make

A large desk diary gets used if you sit down with it. Two diaries become two versions of the truth.

A fair check is sequential. Confirm the first statement. Then see whether the second is the result of it, rather than a separate fact parked in the same piece. If the result shows up without the condition, this account does not cover what you are looking at.