I’m a very disorganised person. After each day I look behind only to see that I have accomplished nothing. I have a planner, which helps, but the activities that need to be done just float in the space used for each day of the week, with no practical plans to perform any of them.

What really bugs me about the problem above, let me say, is the small size of planners (usually A5) sold in the stores, and worst of all, the small space we have to fill in with the day’s tasks. In one hour one can do so much, but how the person in question would know what to do at which hour of the day to make the most of their available time?

I need details. From 9 to 10, what am I going to do? Get my nails done, edit some photos and wash my clothes? From 1 to 2, am I going to have lunch, pay my credit card bill and read a little from The Lord of the Rings? You can’t put all that in a space of one inch and a half.

To solve this nightmare, last night I took an A4 notebook with white pages and dots instead of lines. There I can easily write all my tasks from 7 in the morning until 8 pm, and since the paper is white, the words pop out of the page and make themselves visible - great for when you lose yourself in your duties.

See, white paper for me is the worst kind of paper a person can use for anything. But this is not a notebook made for pleasure, it’s a one-page-per-day format that is saving my life, keeping me on track, pushing me forward to success. Too bad that yesterday, while I was filling in my new planner with chores, I forgot to set aside time to wash the dishes today. Now they’ll just have to stay in the sink until tomorrow (because today I’m completely booked).

Anne Rios – Brazilian girl writing about Brazilian things

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