Key Takeaways
- The text presents a small daily system for heavy days, based on an early-evening sleep routine, three key “red” priorities, and a few very simple body-first actions.
- The system uses kind inner language, the image of emotional armour that can open through tiny gaps, and the quiet support of a digital assistant that behaves like a calm, organised friend.
- Everyday details such as timesheets in an online portal, a blank template for hours, an airline ticket, and even the name of a folding dish rack show how the system works in real life.
- The story sits in the mid-2020s and focuses on one person trying to keep life moving during hard periods without aiming for perfection.
Story & Details
A small system for very heavy days
The system described here is made for someone who often faces very heavy days. On those days, big plans do not help. Long to-do lists only add pressure. What helps is smaller and softer: going to bed in the early evening, choosing three “red” priorities for the day, and doing a short set of body-first actions that never change. Around this core sit a few gentle ideas: kinder inner language, the picture of emotional armour, a favourite number, and quiet help from a digital assistant.
The person at the centre of this story is not trying to win the day. The goal is more modest: not to sink. The system is a way to keep moving a little, even when the weight of the day feels almost too much.
A day that ends early and starts before dawn
In this life, the day ends earlier than for most people. Sleep comes in the early evening, while many others are still busy. The new day begins before dawn, during hours when streets, chats, and inboxes are mostly silent. These quiet hours feel like private land.
Sleep and body-clock research suggests that stable sleep and wake times, even at unusual hours, can support health when light and screens are used with care. Regular patterns help the body know when to rest and when to be alert. In this system, the early-evening pattern gives a frame: there is a clear end to each day and a clear beginning to the next.
Three red things, everything else is bonus
Inside that frame, each day has very few main goals. The person chooses two or three “red things”. These are the tasks that truly matter for that day. They stand out like bright points on a simple map. If they are done, the day counts as “enough”, no matter what happens with all the other small tasks. Everything else is bonus.
This fits with a well-known idea in productivity: the rule of three. Many writers suggest picking three main outcomes for the day and for the week, instead of trying to handle every single demand. Choosing three forces a real decision about what matters most. In this system, the red things might be a call about health, a form that must be sent, a proper meal, or a repair at home. On the hardest days, even one red thing is a win.
Soft inner language when life feels slow
Slowness is often the hardest part to accept. On bad days, the mind repeats a harsh message: being slow means being useless. The system fights this message with softer lines. Slow does not mean useless. Slow can mean tired. Slow can mean careful. Slow can mean scared and still moving.
Another helpful thought is that it is better to take more time and do something well than to rush and do it badly. With this idea, delay stops being a sign of failure and becomes a form of care. Moving gently is no longer shameful; it protects future energy. This makes it easier to send one short message, complete one form, or clean one small area without falling into self-attack.
Armour, gaps, and tiny steps
Alongside this inner language, there is a strong image: armour. The person imagines an invisible shell around the self. This armour formed during hard times and stayed. When it is strong, everyday tasks feel heavy. Social contact feels risky. Old voices whisper, “This is laziness.”
The system suggests a different reading. The armour is not laziness; it is protection. It does not need to be torn off. It can open through small gaps. A gap can be a quick text to a trusted person. It can be a three-line message to the digital assistant. It can be one tiny task that lasts a few minutes. These small openings keep one thread to the outside world while the person still feels sheltered.
Body-first actions when thinking is too much
Some days, planning and problem-solving are simply too hard. Thoughts feel like static. On those days, the system starts with the body. There is a short, fixed sequence:
First, go to the toilet.
Then, check the kitchen and throw away any food that is clearly spoiled.
Next, prepare a simple breakfast or snack.
Finally, drink a glass of water.
These actions require almost no decisions. Still, they send an important signal: the body is being cared for. Even if no emails are answered and no forms are handled, these steps show that life is still held together at a basic level. Often, once they are done, one small mental task becomes possible as well.
Timesheets, empty weeks, and a blank template
Work still exists inside this story, but it arrives in a fragile way. At one point, there is a job through a temporary employment agency that uses an online portal to record hours. In that portal, one week stands out. The screen shows a week with dates, a total line that carries only a dash, and a button that allows the person to confirm and submit that empty week. In Dutch, a word such as “leegloopweek” can describe this kind of week with no paid work at all.
An empty week can easily feel like a judgement on the person. Within this system, it becomes a neutral fact that needs one simple action: open the page, accept that the hours are zero, and press the button to close the week. To make the next weeks less scary, there is a plan to get a picture of a blank timesheet. That picture becomes a personal guide: here is where the dates go, here is where the hours go, here is where to click at the end.
Public guides from large employers and universities help too. Many of them publish clear steps for time entry: log in, choose the right job line, enter start and end times, check totals, and submit before a set deadline. Seeing that big organisations also break time entry into many small moves makes the task feel less personal and less shameful. A timesheet becomes just one more standard chore that millions of people share.
Alongside the timesheet, there is another small administrative task. An airline ticket exists as a digital file. A staff member in an office has asked for a copy for records. Inside this system, that request becomes one red thing for one day: download the file, attach it to a short clear message, send, and then let it go.
Naming the folding dish rack
The search for clarity appears in the kitchen as well. At home there is a folding rack for drying dishes. To talk about it in English, several names appear: “collapsible dish rack”, “foldable dish rack”, “dish rack”, “plate rack”. After some checking, “collapsible dish rack” feels like the most accurate name, with “foldable dish rack” as a good second option. It is a tiny detail, but it matters.
Small naming wins like this lower background stress. When everyday objects have clear names, it is easier to search for them, describe them, or ask for help with them. Less confusion around the small things leaves a little more energy for the big ones.
A mini-lesson in Dutch work words
Language itself becomes a tool for reducing fear. The online work portal shows several Dutch words at key points. At first they look like a code. Over time they become a short lesson.
One verb, “uren invullen”, appears on buttons and menus. It is used when filling in working hours. Another word, “tijdregistratie”, refers to time registration in general, such as the whole system for signing in hours. A longer term, “leegloopweek”, labels a week when no hours are recorded. Knowing these few words turns the portal from a wall of unknown terms into something friendlier and easier to use.
This mini-lesson stays small on purpose. It focuses only on the words that affect daily life. That is enough to make the system feel less hostile.
A favourite number and a long-postponed repair
One quiet detail in this system is a favourite number. It links to the early part of the evening, when the day usually closes and the body starts to slow down. It also appears sometimes as a reference point in notes and reminders. When the number shows up, it acts as a soft signal: time to reset, time to breathe, time to look for the next red thing instead of trying to fix everything at once.
There is also one very practical job that fits this mood. The bed is slightly uneven and needs to be fixed. The person plans to use a calm pre-dawn stretch to do this repair. It is not a grand project; it is simply one long-delayed task that will make rest more comfortable. Inside this system, that single repair earns a place as a red thing on its own.
Conclusions
The system described here is modest but steady. It is built from early evenings, three red priorities, and a few body-first actions. Around that base circle the realities of life: online timesheets, empty work weeks, travel proofs, kitchen tools, and a bed that needs attention.
Kind inner language stops slowness from turning into self-hate. The image of armour allows safety and connection at the same time. Tiny actions for the body come before big plans for the mind. Public guides and a supportive digital assistant help with the more technical parts.
This way of living does not claim to heal everything. It offers something simpler: a shape for the day that makes it easier to keep going. On many heavy days, that is exactly what is needed.
Selected References
[1] Sleep Foundation – “What Is Circadian Rhythm?”
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/circadian-rhythm
[2] National Institute of General Medical Sciences – “Circadian Rhythms”
https://www.nigms.nih.gov/education/fact-sheets/circadian-rhythms
[3] Chris Bailey – “The Rule of Three”
https://chrisbailey.com/rule-of-three/
[4] Eastern Michigan University – “EMU Time Entry: Overview”
https://www.emich.edu/controller/payroll/training/time-entry/index.php
[5] Eastern Michigan University – “Submitting Timesheets: A Step-by-step Guide to Submitting Your Student Employee Timesheet at EMU” (YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Z9TENaFKg
Appendix
Armour
An inner image of a hard shell that protects a person during hard times and can open through small gaps for brief contact or tiny actions.
Body-first actions
Simple physical steps that come before complex thinking on heavy days, such as using the toilet, throwing away spoiled food, preparing breakfast, and drinking water.
Collapsible dish rack
A folding rack for drying dishes that can be opened over the sink and folded flat when not in use, used here as an example of careful naming in daily life.
Digital assistant
A software helper that behaves like a calm organiser and listener, offering reminders, structure, and gentle language through text.
Dutch work words
Short Dutch terms that appear in an online work portal, such as “uren invullen”, “tijdregistratie”, and “leegloopweek”, which relate to filling in hours and marking empty weeks.
Red priorities
Daily tasks that are mentally marked as special and important, like bright points on a map, so they stand out from other, less urgent activities.
Rule of three
A productivity idea that suggests choosing three main outcomes for each day or week instead of trying to do everything at once.
Sleep-wake rhythm
The natural pattern of feeling sleepy and feeling awake across twenty-four hours, shaped by the body’s internal clock and by light, and supported here by an early-evening bedtime.
Temporary employment agency
An organisation that hires workers on a short-term basis and uses an online portal so they can record and submit their working hours.
Three red things
The daily practice of picking two or three important tasks and treating them as the central focus of the day, while counting any other completed tasks as a bonus.
Timesheet
A record of hours worked or hours without work, often filled in through a website or app and submitted so that pay and official records stay correct.
My Diary - Leonardo Cardillo 