HardNotes.com

The future is paper.

You should probably write that down.

Hard Notes are sturdy note cards sold in bricks of 400. Buy some now.

Using them can change your life.

Completely blank on one side, and with a simple table grid on the other, they can be used countless ways. They measure 8.5" x 5.5" (21.6 cm x 14 cm), same as a half-sheet of US Letter size paper. The paper is 100# Manila smooth tag. This product is not available at office or art supply stores at any price.

Hard Notes were originally created from the typical mistakes of a stationery business: a way to use spoiled or excess inventory by trimming into useful scrap paper. Little did we know that using high-quality "scrap" paper yielded so many benefits!

Hard Notes are superior to other paper for countless everyday uses:

• they stand up to all kinds of writing utensils, even paint

• they survive liquid spills (oil, coffee), multiple folds, and resist ink bleed-through

• they are much larger than typical index cards or sticky notes, but much easier to carry and handle than full sheets of paper

Hard Notes are superior to smartphone apps or software for project planning, list-making, brainstorming, day-scheduling, personal messaging...

• your phone is a distraction machine; if you want to get some real work done, put the phone down and pick up a Hard Note

• if you can't summarize your idea or plan on a single Hard Note, it should probably be simplified

• do not bring your entire online life into every interaction with the real world. Use one Hard Note for a single area of focus.

• disposable. non-trackable. don't share your information everywhere, and don't hand over every detail of your life to be added to someone else's database

Three simple steps:

1-Plan.

2-Do.

3-Let Go.

Plan: make better plans. be flexible. write it down, put it aside, consider it later. compartmentalize.

Do: have it with you. adjust on the fly. don't burden yourself with everything else in your life… one card at a time. get it dirty, no worries, they're sturdy. be stylish.

Let Go: if it gets ruined, it gets ruined. rip it up. try something else. give it away. next. card.

Your smartphone doesn't sync with your life. Life is still lived in the messy analog world. Long live the pencil. Long live handwriting. Step away from the pixels.

When you send an online message or calendar invite, it's immediately part of the recipient's noise bubble of daily distractions. It's also more data you're feeding to the companies that run our data networks and devices.... who knows what happens after that, really?
But give someone a Hard Note and they will remember it, they will put it to use, they will take action, they will enjoy the freedom of letting it go; all at a level of privacy, security, and durability that cannot be achieved in the digital world.

Hard Notes are another fine product of SimpleScoreSheets.com, tournament stationers since 2013. They are exclusively available here. A five-pound (2.2 kg) brick of 400 cards costs $28.80, including shipping to you (Continental US; international shipping at extra charge). Our household uses about 200 cards a year, your usage will vary. Again, this kind of paper product is not sold in typical office or art supply stores, it can only be purchased here. You'll be glad you did.

Still not convinced you should put down your phone if you really want to get something done? No single task management, project planning, list-making, or personal organizing app dominates the marketplace. Why? Because each of us has our own interface between the brain and the real world. The way you work and manage your life isn't going to match the way a software developer builds an app to help do your stuff.

What about Moleskine notebooks, or Field Notes? Those are excellent products, and they have their place. Hard Notes differ in that they are designed to be given away, or used and destroyed, not kept. With Hard Notes you only carry the card or cards you need to get a job or task or day done. Losing a single card is a much smaller risk than losing a precious notebook full of ideas.

What about index cards or Post-it notes, or legal pads, or cutting up old office paper for scrap use? All of those solutions tend towards being too small and too flimsy. Hard Notes are the perfect size to contain big ideas or compartmentalize small info, and they survive being dropped in a slushy parking lot, not to mention sweaty or greasy hands, toddler or dog bites, or soy sauce stains from that lunch meeting.

YES I'M READY TO BUY SOME HARD NOTES!