The Pocket Card

Salons hand out little cards with the next booking written on the back. This one has no date on it, only six lines worth keeping in a wallet.

1. Pick one hour a week that does not move, and guard it the way you would guard a doctor's visit.
2. Write the next booking down before you walk out, in ink, always in the same spot.
3. Say a new name back once in the first minute, and pin it to one fact you just heard.
4. Open each visit with the thread from last time: ask how the thing they mentioned turned out.
5. Arrive with one saved question, a photograph or a bit of news.
6. If you miss a week, rebook the same weekday before you hang up.

How to use it

Copy the six lines by hand onto an index card rather than printing them. Writing them out once is part of the point, and a card in your own handwriting is harder to ignore than one from a printer. Keep it next to the thing you reach for when leaving the house: the wallet, the key hook, the bus pass.

Read it on the morning of the booking, not the night before. Line four is the one people skip most often, and it is the one that makes the visit feel like a continuation instead of a fresh start.

The reasoning behind each line is on the long page. If keeping a routine you have held for years starts to feel harder, bring the change up with your doctor when you next see them.