Why I Still Use Pen And Paper To Stay Organised

Life is busy.

This  is a well known fact. And if life is busy, then one needs a method to stay organised. In my case, this is very essential if I want to get anything done outside of watching YouTube, which somehow I never need to add to a to-do list to achieve in a day. Strange. There’s writing to be done, this blog to maintain, social media to keep up with, shifts at my cafe job to go to, appointments to attend, books to read, emails to write, and so much more. It’s a lot to keep organised. And there are certainly plenty of smart ways to stay organised, from Evernote, to the Google apps like Calendar and Task, and of course, a myriad of phone apps. I’ve even heard of people using Scrivener as a tool to keep themselves organised.

For me however, despite my great love of the convenience of everything digital and online, when it comes to my day-to-day organisation and productivity, I actually prefer to go a bit old school and use paper and pen. I have a physical diary to keep track of appointments and important dates. I use post-it notes for my to-do lists. I like pens and paper and stationery to keep myself organised. It might be less efficient and certainly a little less convenient, but there are several important reasons for why I do things this way.

The first reason is, of course, that my stationery looks really, really nice. I love the way my diary looks (it’s pictured in the top image). My current one was a Christmas present, and it is the nicest one I have ever owned. Couple that with all the other pretty stationery I’m using at the moment and honestly, I would almost stick to this method just because it looks so pretty.

But keeping things physical has practical purposes for me too. My diary lives on my desk. Whenever I look away from my screen, I can see it. Its physical presence reminds me of what I need to do, without me even having to open the pages. My computer is smart and more efficient, but the sight of it sitting on my desk doesn’t spark the same reminders as glancing at my diary does.

Also, using paper and pen keeps me off the internet. Which, if you’re anything like me, means that there are far less distractions to worry about. I can start organising my day over on Google Tasks, but get distracted, jump to my emails, and then it’s a hop and a skip and look at me scrolling Twitter fifteen minutes later, not actually having done any work. My diary is not yet Twitter compatible.

Plus, I just love the simplicity of it all. I write my to-do list on a post-it note every morning. The physical size of the note limits how many tasks I can add so I don’t overload myself with work I can’t get done, something I find all to easy to do with the ease and unlimited space on a virtual list. And at the end of the day, I stick it onto the relevant page in my diary. It’s such a satisfying feeling.

I love how convenient technology is. I love the fact that I can type my books, and edit them in the same document. I love the ability to connect with people, to look things up at a moment’s notice, and to share my work across devices. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it’s smart. But when it comes to organisation and productivity, it’s the simple paper and pen that works the best for me (I was going to say humble, but let’s be honest. My diary is fabulous). There is something about the act of physically writing things down on paper, using a nice pen, and stroking the cover of a pretty diary every morning as I prepare for my day that makes this process so appealing to me.

But that’s just my own habits. I would love to hear from you. How do you stay organised? Do you use paper and pen like me? Or are you more of a digital person? If so, what apps or programs do you recommend?