How to be organised with a diary in 2021

With so many electronic apps available today, you’d wonder why you need a paper diary. They’ve been around for hundreds of years and even though electronic diaries are good, a paper diary still works. Here’s how to be organised with a diary in 2021.

The history of paper diaries back over one hundred years. Collins Debden, a leader in the paper diary and journal market, were founded in Glasgow, Scotland, over 200 years ago and is renowned for its quality, with patrons from royalty, to entrepreneurs and craftsmen.

Collins Debden has always sought to meet their customers’ needs, believing that being authentic to who you are on the inside is essential and that your stationery is a fundamental tool in expressing that.

The products are designed with you in mind and are always practical, to help you project the right image in any setting and balance life’s many responsibilities and desires.

Ranging from diaries to personal organisers, notebooks and other stationery, the products encourage and inspire self-expression to make everyday experiences just that little bit more special.

Why writing it down works

With so many things to remember running through our heads at any given time, it’s any wonder we might forget something. There is scientific evidence that writing it down actually helps you accomplish tasks on your to do list and helps you remember what needs to be done.

Writing things down happens on two levels: external storage and encoding. External storage means when you’ve written your idea, goal or to do out of your head and into a paper diary that is very easy to access and review at any time.

Encoding is the biological process where ideas and thoughts we have travel to our brain’s hippocampus where they’re analysed. Decisions are then made about what gets stored in our long-term memory and what will get discarded. Writing things down improves that encoding process. So when you write things down it has a much greater chance of being remembered.

It helps you if you’re staring at a visual cue every single day so having a family calendar on the wall for every member in the household to see on a daily basis will help increase their responsibilities so that takes some of the burden off you.

A desk calendar you can use where you spend most of your day, for example in your home office, the family room or the kitchen dining area is a great place for you to write down what’s coming up and what needs to be done.

You can take your diary with you

The whole purpose of using an online diary app is the handiness of being able to type what we need to remember or do into our mobile device wherever we are but we’re missing out on having that connection with the handwritten reminder.

One of the most popular diaries in the Collins range, the Vanessa comes in a range of sizes including an A5 which is the perfect size for popping into your handbag, backpack or laptop case to have with you 24/7.

Set goals to stay organised

If you want to stay organised, one of the best ways to do that is to set yourself goals before you become overwhelmed.

This could be in your own home business, your job, your home, your family’s lives or setting your own personal health and lifestyle goals.

Although I’m not one for setting goals at the start of the year (I prefer to do that at any time of the year), recording your goals in a diary allows you to set them, record the steps you’re taking to achieve them and act as a daily reminder to keep you on track.

Diaries make the perfect gift to help be better organised

In an effort to reduce waste, I highly recommend giving the gift of a diary, planner or journal to just about anyone.

They make great teacher’s gifts, gifts for mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, teenagers, coaches etc. Anyone who needs a hand with organising their lives.

Diaries are such a useful and practical gift that last the whole year and won’t be shoved in the cupboard never to be seen a gain. They make the perfect affordable gift.

Check out the entire range of Collins diaries, planners and other products to help you and your friends be organised in 2021.

I was gifted products mentioned in this post. Images were supplied. Opinions are my own.