Are Business Diaries obsolete?

Own a Smartphone? A tablet?

Who needs a written business diary these days?

Around October, I buy next year's diary. It's my annual ritual.

It's not strictly a business diary either.

My diary's got personal appointments, reminders, notes about the state of my bank accounts, tricky computer manoeuvres I need to remember, and lots of stuff.

When on the phone, my diary becomes be a notepad, recording phone numbers, email and street addresses and other information I can't stop to enter into an electronic device.

In meetings, it's quicker to note key dates in my diary, than be tapping around my device, in and out of menus and distracted by emails.

Also, my diary is my backup. The place I go to find something I can't find on the said device.

Carrying my diary is the habit of a lifetime.

So, each October, into the stationery store I go. I'm always tempted by the new colours and styles the Diary publishers release each year. Then, I find my favourite, the Collins A5.

I know where the public and school holidays are listed. I love the full year's calendar on the bottom of each double page. The international time zones and direct dialling directory can save a lot of angst, and the public holiday dates from around the world explain why your London contact isn't replying to your emails.

Am I a bit backward?

No, there the other thing.

My collection of my old diaries. Being the same size, they stack neatly together. They're an archive of what I've done in previous years. My successes, my failures. Where I've been. What I did then that I don't do now. How life's changed, and what remains the same (probably my bank account.)

Now that I've started Sparrowhawk Leather, I've got a new tradition. To transfer my personalised Diary Cover over to the new diary each year. Being leather, my Diary cover smells and feels wonderful, impresses those who see it, and seems to improve each year.

I'll maintain the old and the new diary until the New Year click's over. Then into the bookcase for the old, and I'll continue recording this year's challenges for the new. 

Best, Fiona

Sparrowhawk Leather custom makes personalised, transferable, A4 and A5 diary covers from $145.