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Notebooks to reduce business email overload and improve well-being

I advocate that using a conventional notebook is one way to reduce business email overload. What will you do with an extra 45 minutes a day every working day? That’s what I asked participants at my PA-Life Training session this week. The top three responses were:

• Take a lunch break.
• Sleep more.
• Have a walk.

Pukka Pads, one of my sponsors, provided some executive pocket notebooks as prizes for the day. One went to the ‘walk’ response. Why?

1. Walking improves our well-being and fitness.
2. Conventional notebooks help reduce business email overload. For example, when asked to do something, take ownership and remember (or make a note of the request) rather than asking the other person to email you.
3. Pen and paper helps improve our powers of observation and creativity. A friend taught me always to look up at the tops of buildings to see interesting architectural features. Yet how many of us walk with our heads in a screen and see only the pavement? Conventional notebooks let you observe without worrying about battery-life and being distracted by new email notifications etc.

The digital invasion was predicted to kill off the stationary business.  However, look around a meeting or the office generally. It never ceases to amaze me the high percentage of business people who use a pen and notebook instead of a digital device. Recent statistics revealed that paperback book sales are rising instead of declining.  Judging by the number of notebooks and pens on office desks and given away as marketing gizmos I suspect the same is happening to stationary. Let’s hope notebooks and pens continue to help reduce the rising volume of emails too.

What do you prefer to use when either walking or in a meeting – pen and notebook or electronic device?

Tags: Business email overload, Conventional notebooks, PA Life Training Day, Pen and Notebook, Pukka Pads, Stationary business, wellbeing

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