National Stationery Week 2016

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We’re almost there!

You’ll have no doubt seen my FB, Instagram and Twitter pictures and posts relating to the week us stationery tarts refer to as National Stationery Week. A whole week dedicated to the love not only of stationery from top brands such as NU: notebooks, Staedtler, Maped, Bic, Helix and Sheaffer but how they are used.

The theme of this year’s NSW is Writing Matters which is something that instantly calls out to me. As a freelance copywriter by trade the written word is a something I find beautiful and powerful. As a Mum and a stationery fan seeing these words on paper, written with a pen or a pencil I love as opposed to on a screen makes them all the more magical.

We (I saw “we” as trusted family members have already pilfered some of the contents!) were very lucky to be sent a bundle of stationery from the lovelies at Small Man Media who are the ones creating all the buzz about NSW. I’ll be reviewing these in more detail next week however right now I want to talk more about why “Writing Matters”.

Writing matters for a vast number of reasons. For me it is about creating something personal, something in my own hand. It is about our children creating something, be it a picture with a few words of explanation or a fantastic story they’ve written us. Writing matters because it is central to learning, for children and us grown ups too as the potential, and the passion for learning never really leaves us. There are so many reasons why writing matters (organisation being one, I’d be lost without my paper-led organisational tools) and to read more about this have a look at this National Stationery Week A-Z  of why writing matters.

Throughout the week, as well as celebrating stationery as a whole and in general you have seven dedicated days of stationery to look forward to….

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In this fabulous digital age sometimes we forget the pure joy, as well as the usefulness of putting pen to paper and  a large part of NSW 2016 is about remembering why we love stationery so much.

That said… if you want to keep abreast (online) of all that is going on during National Stationery Week 2016 visit the NSW website and join the conversation via Twitter and on Facebook. To be fair, if you’re as mad about stationery as I am, the chances are you’ll be seeing posts about it popping up everywhere…. enjoy!

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Keep up with what’s happening across social media with these hashtags.

 

Why does writing matter to you?

 

Passion Planner

Passion planner, planner addict, organisation, time management

I’ve added Passion Planner to my planning setup!

As I’ve blogged about before I have a Personal Filofax with a weekly view that I use for advanced planning / reminders & graph paper Field Notes (in cherry wood) in the back that I use as a bullet journal for brain dumping tasks etc.

What was missing was a method of increasing productivity via better time management. That’s where the Passion Planner comes in. What I’ve done in the picture about is to use the free weekly downloads on their site and have stuck them into a notebook. This is a temporary measure whilst I trial this method however strongly suspect I’ll be buying the 2016 compact version (which has monthly pages etc too) soon.

I’ve been a fan of Passion Planner from the day I saw the first Kickstart video however as a standalone planner it didn’t meet my needs as I juggle a number of regular clients as well as ad hoc projects each week as well as everything home / family / school related.

One of the things that really attracted me to the Passion Planner was their social media accounts, specifically the CEO’s idea of using the Passion Planner to achieve bucket list items or achieve wild dreams. This was unlike anything I’ve seen on any other planner / organisation website and I love it. It doesn’t matter whether your goal is to lose 3 stone, buy a house or attend the American Academy Theatre Academy in London or New York and enjoy the limelight; the idea is that nothing is impossible if you prioritise, organise and focus.

Used alongside the Filofax (appointments, school information, club info, birthdays, important dates etc) and the Bullet Journal (running task lists of what I need to achieve work and home each day) it seems to have really come into its own. I’m using it to schedule my time and so far so good! Given that I’ve recently taken on (another) course to do from home making the most of my time is going to be essential.

Do you use a Passion Planner? What is your current planner system? Comment and let us all know.