Let’s do organisation differently – try the Dodo-Pad

It’s been mentioned briefly before, but now that we’ve come to the end of the academic year and it’s time to invest in new stationary, I wanted to give it a little bit more blog space. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to let the Dodo-Pad into your life.

Stationary shopping time, which I’d say usually comes somewhere in the last couple of weeks of August, is a time I look forward to every year. After losing, breaking, or wearing out all of the shiny new things I bought for the last academic year by about November, and since then living off free pens from open days (and now from USE), it’s finally the time to buy new things.

While back in my school days the most indispensable new stationary item was one of those pencil sharpeners with a lid, so I didn’t have to walk over to the bin so often in art lessons – to be honest, it got to the point where I would just sharpen my pencil onto the desk so I didn’t have to walk –  since starting college things have been very different.

Gleefully checking my schedule. Products like the Dodo Acad-Pad put a unique, refreshing spin on pre-existing products.

The only item I’ve absolutely had to have, for the sake of my life, sanity, and overall happiness, is my Dodo Acad-Pad.

As I’ve said before in previous blogs, I’m somewhat scatty. I have to work consciously at all times to maintain optimum organisation. By keeping an updated, detailed diary, I’m able to successfully arrange my life plan and avoid any disasters – especially ever dreaded double-bookings.

The reason I’m so obsessed with this particular diary, the Dodo-Pad, is that it makes organisation so much less terrifying. Gone are the usual boring, white pages, ruled with black lines that scream restriction and conformity from each crisp, 70 gsm leaf. Instead are pages bursting with colour, doodles, and random facts that inject a bit of life back into your schedule.

For example, because of my trusty Dodo-Pad I discovered that Wednesday the 25th of July was the day that Samuel Taylor Coleridge died and, boy, is my life enriched for knowing it. Practical and informative.

Also, now that I’ve been keeping these diaries for years (I’ve had one since my first year of college, almost five years ago) they’re great to look back on and remember the things I got up to. Especially at university, when so much goes on, it’s really nice to record all the lunches, nights out, joys, stresses, and essay deadlines as you go along.

When so much is done via technology these days, I think it’s a breath of fresh air to keep things written down. There are so many areas of life where a decent diary can come in handy, and the Dodo-Pad covers them all: weddings, new babies, just general working life, and even the organisational nightmare that is Christmas. I’m pretty certain I can depend on them to keep my next few years in order.

Thinking of the Dodo Pad in terms of a brand or product, it’s quite inspiring how the founders managed to make something so innovative and creative from such a standard, every day object as the diary. Perhaps a little imagination could do us all good when it comes to new projects or ideas; a bit of imagination, enthusiasm, and a willingness to take a few small risks and swim against the current can really pay off.