Stationery Freaks – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode Rob introduces his new productivity system of coloured military-style print out. Rob and Helen ponder why it's hard to find a system that works. And that maybe, they've (well, Rob) has been searching in the wrong place.

Maybe, when we try to find a streamlined, slick, frictionless productivity system we're not actually getting much reward. And maybe, just maybe, higher friction system (bullet journaling, Rob's new method, Hobonichi etc) give a more meaningful reward. And maybe even, the reward is in the friction itself.

Much to ponder.

Find our newsletter that accompanies this here.

In this episode we chat about the magic of whiteboards.

We cover:

How we used them at work
How Helen's daughter uses them for learning and revision
How Rob's son uses them for doodling
The ephemeral nature of whiteboard content
Long running whiteboard content - and why "do not wipe" is important

If you'd like to see the images we talk about in this session, head to the newsletter.

In this episode we chat with Amy Cooper-Wright who is the founder of Mark and Fold, one of our favourite stationery companies. Amy talks business, notebooks, gaps in the market, sustainability and shares her desert island stationery!

We chat about:

• Why start a stationery company
• Why Amy was influenced when she was younger by making her own books and running a toy post office
• Why Amy sought out to make the notebook better, not cheaper - and held to her high bar of quality 
• Why Amy was tired of not being able to find decent notebooks to buy
• Logistics, designs, challenges
• Pens, notebooks and the love of stationery
• Why you need to gather your stationery supplies ready to unleash your potential
• Why it's important to build your own system - and why Mark and Fold don't prescribe the system
• Sustainability and waste in the stationery industry
• Desert Island stationery - find out which 5 products Amy would take with her

Special Offer
Our Stationery Freaks newsletter includes some images of our Mark and Fold products and details of the special offer - https://stationeryfreaks.substack.com

We mention the Mark and Fold products that we use:
- The Everyday notebook
- The planner Pad

Amy mentions Kenya Hara and his excellent book 100 whites (affiliate link) all about the colour white and paper.
And here is the notebook Amy couldn't remember the name of: https://www.labobratori.com/
And here is Amy's new adventure in branding and comms - https://www.ames-and.co/

Thanks
Rob and Helen

In this episode we do a lovely interview with Sanne Visser, Technologist, Zentangle and Mandala aficionado and bullet journalling fan.

We cover:
* The Netherlands, bikes, canals and wonderful old libraries that sell stationery
* What Zentangle and Mandala Art is, and why Sanne does it
* The notebooks, pens and pencils used
* Table cloth colouring
* Stoic wisdom books
* Cellotape, staples and Hobonichi planners
* And Sanne shares the 5 items of stationery she would take with her to a desert island
* We also muse whether water bottles and handcream are considered stationery

You can find Sanne here:
https://www.youtube.com/@9outof10testers

https://www.linkedin.com/in/techsannetized/

Products Mentioned:
Posca pens

Sakura Pigma Micron (non-bleed fineliners)

Woodley Dual Brush

Big coloring tablecloth

Mandala coloring book

Find pictures of Sanne's artwork on our website : https://www.stationeryfreaks.com/

In this episode we discuss Helen's recent retreat to Gladstone Library. The surprising thing about the retreat was that there were no obvious stationery freaks....in a library.

• Helen explains what Gladstone Library is and the environment
• Helen talks about her experience at the retreat
• Helen explains how everyone had laptops, and very few stationery freaks were there
• Rob talks a little about his retreat 2 years ago
• Rob remarks that his was like a lads holiday, without the lads
• Helen explains why she's rebooked already
• Plus some hints and tips on doing your own retreat

Gladstone Library - https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/
Previous episode where Helen Callaghan mentioned Gladstone Library - https://www.stationeryfreaks.com/episodes/helen-callaghan
Our Stationery Freaks newsletter where we shared a picture of Helen at the retreat - https://stationeryfreaks.substack.com/p/travel-chaos-and-laziness-stationery

In this episode we were super inspired by a wonderful YouTube video we watched, called "You're Not Lazy : How to live a chaotically organised life" by YouTuber Elizabeth Filips. 

So, given it summed up how we work, or at least how Rob works (that was why Helen sent him the link to the video), we thought we'd deconstruct the video and share stories about how we operate. And of course, although light on stationery talk, how we use stationery to control our own chaos.

In the episode we talk about:

• Stationery Stories:
  • Helen has bought some single use ink pens
  • Rob's been boring and bought some coloured paper 
  • Helen's daughter is mapping out the entire history of the Roman Empire on a giant sheet of paper. 
  • We chat about white boards
  • Helen is retreating to a library
• And of course, we deconstruct the messages in Elizabeth's videos and how they resonated so much with us.
  • Fall behind, catch up, move ahead
  • Seven year itch - become 1000% better quickly
  • Optimise for passion
  • Adult brat - talk to yourself properly

Elizabeths video is here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2sS00egAzg&t=639s
Her channel is here : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUFFHXvzAMRSD8Bq4bJppxQ
We mention Van Neistat : https://creatorhub.patreon.com/articles/digital-spaghetti-van-neistat
We mention Mark Forster : http://markforster.squarespace.com/

Check out the newsletter and website at stationeryfreaks.com

Thanks

In this episode we chat about what stationery we take with us when we travel. Let us know what you take.

We cover:

• Bookaroo notebook carry cases are Helen's new thing. (affiliate Amazon link)
• Van Neistat's inspiring Rob again - this time to create ToDo lists and organise himself
• Helen waxes lyrical about some new exercise books
• Rob turned up to a Mastermind meeting with the worst stationery
• We then chat about what we take with us to conferences and when travelling with work.

- Notebooks
- Pens
- Pencil cases

And we also share two examples of Stationery Freaks we've spotted in the wild - and how we might approach them to talk stationery.
You can find more on https://www.stationeryfreaks.com/

In today’s episode we chat about why we revert to lists when we’re overwhelmed - as well as some stationery stories

Stationery Stories

1. The man who stuck post-it notes to his tie - Helen recalls the story of a man who used this process to get things done.
2. Rob's using Helen's post-it notes
3. Teachers using iPads to stick post-it notes to
4. Rob has sent the Remarkable2 back - and bought a typewriter

Main Topic - Lists when overwhelmed

• We chat about lists, what we use them for and why we revert to them when things get overwhelming
• Not all of our lists are analogue
• Rob talks about his bucket list as the master list
• We chat about how digital tools can store endless lists - and that's why analogue can be helpful - there is limited space
• Helen talks about using a list to write stories
• Helen talks about workflowy and how she uses it

We mention:

• Van Neistat's ToDo list video
• Remarkable2
• Workflowy

You can find our newsletter and other episodes on https://www.stationeryfreaks.com/

In this episode we talk about what's happening to us - as we find digital tooling becoming more important in our stationery world. We talk about the Remarkable 2, Moleskine balance and how we are still stationery freaks! And Rob is retooling his knowledge management and Helen learned nothing about herself, despite sticker journaling for a few weeks.

We cover:

1. Woolsthorpe manor, where Isaac Newton saw the apple fall - and the fact you can buy pens made from the very tree that Newton saw the apple fall from
2. Rob's bought a Remarkable - will he send it back?
3. Rob's doing a workshop in Romania - and has bought hundreds of stickers for an immersive workshop
4. Helen's been using the Moleskine Balance app to track habits, mood etc. The interface is calming and clean - she is enjoying
5. Helen is using Bullet Journaling more for work than personal - due to working from home more often and "closing down the day"
6. Rob's been researching tooling for a Personal Knowledge Management System - and was spending more time fiddling with the system than learning. Helen is using Obsidian, Rob uninstalled it after 10 minutes.
7. Rob talks about The Brain as a PKMS. It's an awesome tool - but pricey, and would require a big on-going financial investment.
8. Helen has been sticker journaling about her mood and energy levels, and tracking this using stickers. What did she learn about herself? Absolutely nothing by all accounts. Zero insights. Nothing. Nada
9. Rob talks about using Zotero and the Remarkable as his new PKMS
10. Rob talks through why he's bought the Remarkable 2, and how it fits into his ecosystem of learning and note taking. At the moment, he's keeping it, but there is a 100 day returns promise
11. Helen's not convinced about the Remarkable. Truth be told, Rob isn't either.

Find more episodes and subscribe to the newsletter at www.stationeryfreaks.com

In this episode we discuss habits and how we define them and track them using both digital and analogue tracking and documenting. We share our own perspectives of how we develop habits.

* Helen has bought all of the stickers in the whole world (possibly)
* Rob is trying to build the habit of not buying anymore notebooks for a while - and instead, using up the mountain of notepads he has
* Rob has regained the love of Yellow Legal Pads
* Helen spends her life trying to make herself better using structures and systems to try and take away the thinking around habits
* Helen is trying to stop eating chocolate
* We reference Atomic Habits by James Clear as an awesome book about habits (affiliate link)
* Rob talks about how routines and habits that he used to work with in business
* Charles Duhigg's book on habits is also pretty special (The Power of Habit) (affiliate link)
* Helen is tracking how she feels using stickers in a notebook
* Rob used to track habits in ToDoist and simply didn't keep it up to date
* Helen is using Moleskine Balance digital app to track her habits. And reminisces about "Sunrise" app by Dan Ariely - since closed down
* Rob used to do quantified self, then went on to use the fridge of accountability
* Rob is changing his environment to force the habit of weightlifting - and will become the strongest man in Winchester within a month
* Rob references The Diary of a CEO podcast with Tim Spector
* Helen has moved to measuring the impact habits is having on her life, rather than the thing itself

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Thanks
Rob and Helen