Office Depot sponsored this post, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Ever since high school, I’ve been a doodler. It calms me. An expression of creativity just bursting to get out, doodling is my way of thinking in color. On paper. Although now as a parent and small business owner my thinking is way more complicated, I still find time to doodle. You should see my creative To Do Lists. After all, doodling helps creativity and organization. And being more organized is always helpful, right?
Doodling plays an important role in the workplace. In fact, there have been dozens of articles and books written about the benefits of doodling at work. Fast Company featured an article about Sunni Brown, the author of The Doodle Revolution. Even Harvard Medical School featured a study about the positive effects of doodling in the workplace. According to that study, doodling improves memory and focus, relieves stress and encourages creativity. Wow, I should be super evolved by now!
Doodling Helps Creativity and Organization
In a world of laptops and mobile devices, it’s nice to have tactile tools that help me focus my attention. I use notebooks and colorful pens to organize my tasks, using different colors to categorize specific To Do’s on my list. And of course I use them to doodle too, because doodling is an important part of the creative process!
It’s all about the colors, and I’ve found these TUL® pens that I love at Office Depot and OfficeMax. The TUL® Retractable Gel Pens are my favorite because they come in a wide assortment of colors. Even better, they just glide on the paper like butter on bread. Whoever engineered these pens to perform so well is a genius.
For paper notebooks, I like the TUL® Personalized Custom Note-Taking System Discbound Junior-Size Notebook. (Wow that’s a mouthful!) My TUL® notebook has a black leather cover, with a three-ring binder inside and organizational tabs. Since it’s a handy size, I can carry my notebook and pens around easily. I’ve even been known to doodle and organize my tasks at the local coffee shop.
Best yet, when my supplies get low I can just re-order my favorites using the easy online shopping process at Office Depot.
Creative To Do Lists
Unlike some folks who derive great pleasure from making digital To Do lists and then ticking off each one once complete, I’m not that guy. Call me old school, but I really appreciate having a tangible list of priorities that I can see, touch and feel. Here are some tips on how I use my TUL® notebook and gel pens to keep myself on the ball:
- Assign a color to each category of task – I use red for priority, black for mundane, and a variety of other fun colors for the rest. My TUL® Retractable Gel Pens come in pink, turquoise, lime green, purple and more. Definitely not your granddad’s boring ballpoint.
- Draw a little check box next to each task – Those who derive satisfaction from completion will feel SO GOOD about themselves.
- Leave room for the inevitable “Things You Forgot”. In a single day, I usually add about 5-6 items to my To Do list that I had forgotten to include. (These usually get marked in blue).
- These are not to be confused with the also inevitable “Things That Pop Up”. I also leave room for new things that get added throughout the day.
- The bottom half to third of the page should be devoted to doodles. Get crazy with those colors (or not) and let the creative juices flow.
So, after all this you’d think I was fabulously organized but alas, not so much. I guess I need to doodle more! Back to Office Depot for more creative supplies.
Office Depot sponsored this post, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Pin it!
