Things we own too many of, on purpose.
A running, honest list of what actually earns a place on the founder's desk — pens, notebooks, books, and the coffee ritual that makes all of it possible.
Some links on this page are affiliate links — see our Affiliate Disclosure for the full picture. Every single item here made the list because we actually use it, not because a brand asked us to.
Stationery, the socially acceptable addiction
A confirmed collector of colorful pens and post-its explains herself.
Muji gel pens, the 0.38
The default. Smooth enough to write fast, thin enough to write small in the margins where the real thoughts live.
Oversized sticky notes
Regular post-its are for reminders. The big ones are for actual thinking — mapping an article before a single word gets typed.
A stupidly large pen cup
Big enough that "just one more color" stopped being a lie years ago. It's not clutter, it's a palette.
Washi tape, more than is reasonable
Holds nothing together structurally and everything together emotionally. Every notebook page deserves a border.
The bookshelf that started most of this
Half research library, half comfort object. Organized loosely by "how often I reach for it," which is the only system that has ever actually worked.
Books we actually reread
Not a definitive "best of" — just the ones with cracked spines.
Frames of Mind — Howard Gardner
Dense, foundational, and the reason "smart" stopped meaning one thing around here.
Make It Stick — Brown, Roediger & McDaniel
The cognitive science of learning, without a single wasted sentence.
The Extended Mind — Annie Murphy Paul
Thinking happens outside the skull. Explains a suspicious amount about post-it dependency.
Solving the Procrastination Puzzle — Timothy Pychyl
Short, evidence-based, and somehow never preachy about it.
Desk essentials that earned tenure
A visible timer, not a phone one
Time feels abstract on a screen you also use for everything else. A dumb physical timer makes it real again.
Noise-cancelling headphones
Less about silence, more about controlling which chaos gets in.
A second monitor, always slightly too big
Research in one window, draft in the other. Non-negotiable once you've tried it.
A notebook that lies flat
Sounds small. Changes everything about whether you actually open it.
Coffee corner, literally
A pour-over, not a pod
Five unhurried minutes before the inbox exists. That's the entire feature, and it's enough.
One good mug, oversized
Fewer refills, fewer trips, more actual reading time.