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April marks the 30th anniversary of the Post-it Note.

It all began in 1968 when scientist Spencer Silver discovered a unique adhesive that would not only stick to surfaces, but could also be repositioned. Then along came Silver's colleague, Art Fry, who was having trouble keeping his bookmark in his hymnal while singing in the church choir. So Fry applied the adhesive to create a bookmark, soon realizing he had found a new way to mark the spot, so to speak.

My love affair with the Post-it stems from the fact I'm a habitual listmaker. There are lists on the kitchen counter. Lists at my desk. Lists everywhere. This doesn't mean that my life is any more organized, but I think it is, and that's all that matters. I even cross things off my lists on occasion. Nothing gives me more pleasure. I sometimes even put something on a list and cross it off immediately, just to feel that satisfaction. I know that's a form of cheating, but I don't care. It works for me. For the past 30 years, my lists have been on Post-its. What I love about them is that they know their place. Post-its don't wander. The stay put, which is the whole point. (I also stick with Canary Yellow Post-its. Always the traditionalist.)

Sticky notes are much more than simple notepads! If used correctly, they can be ultimate portable marketing tools. Sticky notes were originally marketed to workplaces, but they can now be found everywhere. At home, they come in handy for grocery lists, phone numbers, to-do lists, and reminders. They’re used in magazine advertising to highlight a new product’s advantages; if the reader desires, he or she can peel away the sticky note and take the ad. They also make great bookmarks for students! Sticky notes' functionality leads users to wonder how these little unassuming notes came about and how they are made.

Up to that point, 3M had only ever produced rolled products like adhesive tape, so the company’s engineers had to create and build new machinery to accommodate the flat pads and eventually cubes of paper. Then they had to find a way to apply the adhesive without gumming up the machinery. While this was a very expensive venture, it also gave 3M market dominance because few companies had the budget to back such an undertaking.

Fry was a member of his church’s choir and often marked pages in his hymnal with bits of paper that almost always fell out. What if he could stick the bits of paper to the pages of the hymnal without damaging the book? Dr. Silver’s glue seemed to be the answer!