Yes, you read that right: pen and paper. As in old school, you need a writing utensil to use it effectively paper.

Sure, I enjoy my smart phone and tablet; I can be quite the geek when it comes to gadgets. But I love the feeling of actually writing things down, whether I’m feeling out a blog post, brainstorming ideas for a client or gathering my thoughts before a meeting.

I always have a mini notebook and pen in my handbag, and you’ll often see me scribbling notes in a coffee shop while I’m refueling with more espresso or transferring thoughts from my brain to paper in an airport.

In my office and around my house, I have both full size and mini notebooks, depending on what I’m writing. I jotted down some ideas for this blog post on my awesome The Office mini notebook. How does that cover not make you smile?

People will sometimes ask me how I think of ideas or get over writer’s block. My secret weapon is paper. A blank page looks much less intimidating to me than a blank screen and flashing cursor. Paper encourages ideas to start flowing and opens my eyes to connections between thoughts, allowing me to come up with solutions that I would have been hard pressed to otherwise.

As I’m writing this, there are 6 sources of paper on my desk: full size and miniature notebooks, a leather padfolio and sticky notes.

In order to write down my magical ideas, I need a quality writing instrument. In my case, that’s a PaperMate Flair in a rainbow of colors. The PaperMate Flair is a felt tip writing instrument that captures my need for vivid color, dries quickly and doesn’t bleed. How much do I love these pens? I actually pulled the colors of my logo for my business from them.

Besides pen and paper, I do carry a few other things:

• smartphone (how did we live without these?)
• tablet (love it!!)
• Kent State tumbler filled with water (Go Flashes!)
• nuts, dried fruit & other healthy snacks
• hoodie/sweater/jacket (always getting cold)
• a book or two (certified bookworm here)
• running shoes / workout clothes (a workout can change your perspective)

What’s on your list? What things do you carry?

Compiling this list made me look around my office and admire a few cool knickknacks that make my office mine. Maybe I’ll have to do a separate list: Things That Give My Office Its Mojo.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Jaime

p.s. I got this idea from LinkedIn, who asked top influencers what they couldn’t work without. Check out their (cool and sometimes unique) answers here.

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