“A net for catching days… A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.”  – Annie Dillard

Certain things, like calendars and lists need to be written down on paper for me, I am beginning to understand why. I think it might be the way that my brain navigates the bridge between long and short-term memory. I do not always exhibit the most fabulous powers of short-term recall; this is most noticeable for me when I have to deal with a lot of math. But it also rears its ugly head when I have too many times and dates to remember.

However, I seem to have the ability to retain other types of information very well. Someone once explained this tendency to me in terms of my ability to store things in long-term memory in a quick and efficient manner. I also know that part of my success lies in frequently used, well-honed organizational skills or else my life would devolve into chaos. Chaos is fine, unless you’re planning on getting something done.

One tool I realize that I need to rely on extensively is my planner. Although I record most items electronically, a written record of appointments superimposed over a planned structure for the day’s events, provides me with the clearest chance that I will meet my goals. Otherwise, like a lot of other creative people, I will just drift. Annie Dillard also wrote that a schedule can protect one’s life from chaos. She called it, “A net for catching days… A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.”

(How_we_spend_our_days_is_of_course. (n.d.). Columbia World of Quotations. Retrieved August 15, 2013, from Dictionary.com website:http://quotes.dictionary.com/How_we_spend_our_days_is_of_course)

A paper calendar is, for me, this lifeboat. As a student of library science, I am drawn to organizational tools and use them to keep control of my life. Although I like the concept of keeping everything electronically, I am also drawn to books. For me keeping a paper calendar is an essential part of life.