Today’s guest post comes from Sherrilee.

Art Fry is my hero.

That’s right, my hero. I know, I know. Heroism brings to mind Superman, Wonder Woman, firefighters and soldiers – the sort of super-human person who arrives a the last moment to rescue the helpless and the lost. For me, that guy is Art Fry, an inventor who provided me with an essential workplace tool.

Art Fry was born on August 19, 1931 in Owatonna, Minnesota. He studied chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota and while he was still in school, he took a job at 3M; back then it was called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. From the beginning he worked in the new product development area. In 1973 he came up with a use for another engineer’s unique adhesive; he got the idea because little slips of paper that he used to mark his choir book always fell out. It was the birth of the Post-It® Note.

I’ve been in love with Post-It® Notes from the time I entered the workforce. I can’t get enough of them! Little notes about which store to call, little notes about ordering more of that bestseller, little notes with birthdays that I don’t want to forget, little shopping lists, little to-do lists, little bookmarks – you name it.

No matter the task, I can figure out how using a Post-It® Note will improve the process! And I’m not alone. Take a look at how these guys have used Post-It® Notes to waste vast amounts of company time.

Seeing all this Post-It® Note carnage is fun but also troubling, since I don’t like waste and I’ve become something of a collector. At home I have a little basket in my studio with all my Post-It® Notes pads and at work I have over 40 pads of notes, from little arrow-shaped notes to large lined notes. I have funny workplace notes and notes from hotels around the world, Disney notes and Muppets notes. I have a couple of pads that are over 25 years old; these are the ones that I think are particularly hilarious so I have used them sparingly over the years. If anyone ever creates a Post-It® Note Museum, I’m destined to be a major benefactor.

And now as a promotional deal, 3M is running a Dreams for Good contest for people who “like” their Post-It® Note Facebook page. The rules are rather involved, but basically you write down your idea for improving the world on a Post-It® Note and send in a picture of it. If your entry is a winner, you get $25,000 to start putting your inspiration into practice.

Sounds like it would be fun to enter, but winning would be a lot of work.

All of this commotion can be traced directly to Art Fry’s brilliant solution to a rather ordinary problem. So you can have your winged and caped heroes and crusaders. Art Fry rescued me from a world without Post-It® Notes. And for that, I will always be grateful.

Name a simple invention that has improved your life.