Dear LPG, 

I would just like to remind readers of how valuable it is to keep diaries as you go through life, regardless of which recording method you use, as long as it is quick.  I have found that  no matter how old you are there are advantages.

First I have the one hanging on the wall.  This is the one where I make a note of family birthdays and doctors’ appointments and other things that will really affect other people if I forget to do them.  Spending a couple of minutes jotting down such things on one of those wall calendars really helps and avoids double booking yourself too.  So when I come back from the doctors with an appointment or promise to visit my friend next Thursday I make a quite note there.

At breakfast time each morning I jot down what I want to do with my day because I think that not doing so sometimes leaves me confused to a point where I find myself wondering where I am up to with the day, or forgetting to do something that would have made life easier if I had done it earlier.  If there is a friend that I need to phone or a birthday card that I need to get I usually add it to this list.  I also find it a really good idea to check the list I made the day before in case I missed something and also the wall calendar while making that one. 

I think that if I don’t it is so easy for things to get muddled and though there is usually a lot to do none of it ends up getting done. 

At the end of the day, or at least somewhere around suppertime, I use another diary to list all the things that I have achieved.  So things like if I went shopping or bought that new phone battery, phoned or visited a friend, ordered something on the internet or found myself with a bit of a rash or pain get included.

That may seem a bit stupid but, if you have written these details down and you find the rash getting a bit worse, you can refer to that diary to know exactly when it started when the doctor asks.  Or if something I bought goes wrong and I am asked when I bought it, I can check. 

Every morning when I make a note of what I want to do that day, once I have checked yesterday’s notes, I throw that list away (this is the best way of not ending up with lots of paper), and though I suppose it appears that I spend a lot of time making lists I think that the five minutes I spend at the beginning and end of each day compiling them really does keep me on track.  Although it is really important to throw yesterday morning’s diary away as soon as you have made its replacement so that you don’t end up with hundreds of notes all over the place.

 The three diary system is quite a good one and I strongly recommend it.

DW, Sydenham