Post-it notes
Merja
A scientist, Spencer Silver was working in the lab of a large company and his job was to invent super strong glue. He did a lot of experiments, but he failed really majorly and only he could come up with, was a very weak one and the objects that were supposed to be stuck to each other, were actually very easy to peel apart. His bosses were maybe not too happy about him not succeeding in what he was paid to do, but he was adamant that he had invented something out of ordinary. For years he tried to convince people that his failure is actually a good thing, but got no response. He had no idea where to use it. And you can imagine what colleagues thought of him.
Then, one day years later, a colleague named Art Fry who was actively singing in church choir, struggled with his bookmarks on his music notes because they kept falling off. One night at church he figured that maybe Silver’s invention could help. And just like that, post-it notes were invented.
I love post-it notes. I use them as my to do lists at work and it is by far the best system I have come across. And I have tried many. Every time someone calls me, I immediately write a new one or when I am faced with a new task, I write it on a post-it note and glue the note on my computer monitor.
There they remind me all the time of the tasks I need to do and nothing is more satisfying than rip the post it note off the monitor and throw it away. I never get a similar kick from deleting tasks from my phone app. Never.
Post-it notes are the quickest way to write something down, most people have them at their desk anyway along with pens. Also, if you have marie kondoed your desk and got used to a tidy desk, they are such an eyesore. You want to get rid of them.
Lately I have taken this a step further. I have three different responsibility areas and I have differently colored post it notes for each area. Also, I always carry my post-it notes with me into my meetings and if I get assigned a task or if I need to search something or whatever the action item is, I immediately write it into a post-it note and glue it to my laptop or notepad. After the meeting I glue them into my monitor.
My other task list is on Trello, it is convenient, but I still prefer my post-it notes. Trello is more for the tasks that take a long time to perform. Post it notes work best for tasks that take only a few hours to complete.
I love both post-it notes and the story behind them. It reminds me that mistakes and failures can sometimes lead to something great and they should be talked about openly. There are so many mistakes and errors in science that turned out to be the best inventions.
