Shop Our Creators’ Picks: The Products We Actually Love and Use Every Day

There is something different about a recommendation that comes from someone who has genuinely lived with a product. Not a sponsored mention buried in fine print, not a fleeting unboxing that disappears from memory by the next morning, but a real, considered endorsement built on months of daily use. That is exactly what this guide is. Every product you will find here has been tested, loved, argued over, and ultimately championed by the people who make the content you come back for every week. These are our creators’ picks — the things sitting on our desks, in our kitchens, tucked into our bags, and stacked on our shelves.

We put this list together because we kept getting the same questions in comments and DMs: What camera do you use? Where did you get that mug? Is that planner actually worth it? Instead of answering one person at a time, we decided to build something permanent — a living guide you can return to whenever you are ready to invest in something that will genuinely make your day better.

So let us get into it.

The Philosophy Behind This List

Before we dive into the actual products, it is worth taking a moment to explain how something earns a spot here. Our creators do not add items to this list because they look good in a photo or because a brand reached out. The bar is simple: would you buy it again if you lost it tomorrow? If the answer is yes without any hesitation, it belongs here. If there is a pause, it does not make the cut.

That standard has kept some genuinely popular and well-marketed products off this list, and it has elevated some quieter, less flashy picks that most people would scroll past. We think that balance is what makes this guide worth reading.

Workspace and Productivity Picks

The Notebook That Actually Gets Used

Anyone who has spent time in creative or professional spaces knows the graveyard of beautiful notebooks that never made it past the third page. Our creators went through dozens before landing on a few that stuck. The pattern they noticed was always the same: the notebooks they actually finished shared a certain quality of paper that felt good under a pen without bleeding through, covers sturdy enough to write on without a hard surface underneath, and a size that fit naturally into a bag without taking over.

The Leuchtturm1917 A5 dotted notebook keeps appearing across our team’s desks. The dot grid is flexible enough to work for both structured lists and freeform sketching, the numbered pages make it easy to reference older notes, and the paper quality is genuinely satisfying to write on. It is not a trendy pick — it has been around for years — but the fact that it has outlasted countless flashier competitors says everything you need to know.

For anyone who prefers something more minimal and less precious, the Muji B5 notebook is the other constant. It costs very little, holds up to daily use, and has a kind of unassuming reliability that makes it easy to fill without overthinking it.

A Desk Setup That Earns Its Square Footage

Our video and photography creators spend long hours at their desks, and over time they have developed strong opinions about what makes that space functional versus what just looks nice in a setup tour. The two things they agree on most consistently are monitor positioning and lighting.

A good monitor arm changed the working lives of several people on our team. Being able to move the screen to exactly the right height and angle — and reclaim the desk surface underneath — is one of those small changes that compounds across thousands of hours. The Ergotron LX is the one that keeps coming up. It holds its position without drooping over time, the adjustment mechanism feels smooth, and it handles a wide range of monitor weights without complaint.

For lighting, the Elgato Key Light Air is the creator standard for a reason. It produces a clean, adjustable white light that makes video calls and recordings look dramatically more professional without requiring any technical knowledge to set up. The app control is straightforward, and the light itself is bright enough to work in almost any room without washing out the frame.

The Planner That Replaced Three Apps

Productivity tools online are endless and, for many people, overwhelming. Several of our creators went back to paper planning after years of trying to manage their schedules digitally, and the transition made a visible difference in how clearly they could see their weeks and months.

The Passion Planner and the Full Focus Planner both appear on our list, serving slightly different types of planners. The Passion Planner is better suited to people who want space for reflection, goal-setting, and longer-form thinking alongside their scheduling. The Full Focus Planner works better for people who are primarily task- and output-driven and want a tighter structure around their daily priorities. Neither is objectively better — they just serve different brains — and we recommend looking at a few sample pages from each before choosing.

Kitchen and Home Picks

The Coffee Situation

We cannot in good conscience write a creators’ picks list without addressing coffee. Our team has strong opinions, reached through significant personal research, and the conclusion is that the method you use matters far less than the quality of the beans and the consistency of your grind.

For grinders, the Baratza Encore has held its reputation for years as the entry point to genuinely good home grinding. It is durable, produces a consistent grind across a wide range of settings, and does not require any real expertise to use well. It is not the most exciting object on this list, but it is one of the ones we would replace immediately if anything happened to it.

For brewing, the AeroPress remains a team favorite because of how forgiving and flexible it is. It produces a clean, rich cup in under two minutes, travels easily, and requires no electricity beyond heating the water. For people who drink a single cup in the morning and want full control over the result, it is hard to beat.

The Fellow Stagg EKG electric kettle appears on almost every creator’s desk. Beyond making precise-temperature brewing genuinely easy, it is one of those objects that is simply pleasant to use every day. The weight distribution, the pour control, and the way it holds temperature make the morning ritual feel less like a chore.

The Kitchen Tools That Earn Permanent Spots

Beyond coffee, our food and lifestyle creators have a short list of kitchen tools they reach for constantly. The Microplane zester shows up in almost every cooking video we have made, not because it is dramatic or photogenic, but because it is one of those tools that makes food noticeably better with almost no effort. Citrus zest over pasta, freshly grated parmesan, a little nutmeg into a béchamel — the Microplane makes all of it easier and more impactful.

The OXO Good Grips line appears repeatedly because the design philosophy behind it — tools made for people with limited grip strength, generalized to everyone — results in objects that are simply easier and more comfortable to use than their alternatives. The can opener, the vegetable peeler, and the salad spinner all have earned their place through consistent, reliable performance over years of use.

A good cast iron pan is not a new recommendation, and we are not going to pretend it is. But the Lodge 10-inch skillet remains the practical choice because it is inexpensive relative to its lifespan, performs at the level of pans that cost five times as much, and gets better with every use. Our food creators have been cooking on the same Lodge pans for years and have no plans to replace them.

Tech and Gear Picks

The Camera That Changed How We Shoot

Camera recommendations are always going to be personal and context-dependent, but there are a few pieces of gear that our creators kept returning to regardless of the type of content they were making.

The Sony ZV-E10 became the go-to recommendation for creators just starting to move into video because it is genuinely capable, uses interchangeable lenses, and comes in at a price point that does not require a significant financial leap of faith. The autofocus is reliable for talking-head content, the image quality is strong in good light, and it connects easily to most audio setups.

For creators who have moved into more advanced video work, the Sony A7 IV keeps coming up as the camera that grew with their needs. It handles low light exceptionally well, the dynamic range is impressive, and the ergonomics reward longer shooting sessions.

For audio — which matters more than most new creators expect — the Rode VideoMic GO II and the DJI Mic both appear on our list. The Rode is better suited for single-person use where you want a clean, simple setup. The DJI Mic system, with its wireless transmitters and small receiver, is better for interviews, b-roll narration, or any situation where you need to move freely without worrying about cable management.

The Everyday Carry Tech

Outside of dedicated content creation gear, our creators have a handful of everyday tech items that have become non-negotiable.

The Anker 737 power bank — sometimes called the Anker 24K — is the one our travel and on-location creators rely on because it is large enough to charge a laptop meaningfully, includes USB-C Power Delivery at high wattage, and has a useful digital display showing remaining capacity. It is not the lightest option, but for full travel days or long shoots away from outlets, the capacity justifies the weight.

Cable management is unglamorous but makes a real difference to working environments. The Anker USB-C to USB-C braided cables hold up to daily use without fraying, and the length options cover most needs without creating excessive slack. Small thing, but it matters when you are reaching for a cable ten times a day.

For wireless earbuds, the Sony WF-1000XM5 keeps appearing on our list for its combination of active noise cancellation quality, battery life, and comfort over extended listening sessions. Our creators who spend long hours editing, writing, or in video calls rely on them to stay focused in variable environments.

Reading, Learning, and Inspiration Picks

The Books That Changed How We Work

Several books appear repeatedly on our creators’ shelves, not as aspirational decor but as references that get returned to regularly.

“Deep Work” by Cal Newport shaped how several of our team members structure their days. The core argument — that the ability to focus without distraction is both increasingly rare and increasingly valuable — is not new, but Newport makes a convincing case for treating focus as a skill to be deliberately practiced rather than a trait you either have or do not. The practical sections on time-blocking and deliberate scheduling have influenced daily routines across our team more than almost any other single resource.

“The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield is shorter, more visceral, and addresses the emotional and psychological side of creative work that most productivity books avoid. If you have ever felt resistance to starting a project, shipping a piece of work, or showing up to do the thing you care about, Pressfield names it with uncomfortable precision. Our creators return to it when they are stuck or procrastinating.

“Show Your Work!” by Austin Kleon is the book several of our creators recommend most often to people just starting out in content creation. It is short and generous, and its central argument — that sharing your process is as valuable as sharing your finished work — has been practically useful for building audiences and staying motivated through the early stages of a creative career.

The Online Courses and Platforms Worth Paying For

Skillshare and Masterclass both appear on our creators’ lists of platforms they have found genuinely useful, but for different reasons and different people. Skillshare is better suited to practical, project-based skill building — video editing, graphic design, illustration, photography. The courses are shorter and denser, and the community and project components add real value if you engage with them. Masterclass is better for inspiration and broad thinking — the photography course from Annie Leibovitz, the writing course from Neil Gaiman, the film direction course from Ron Howard. You are less likely to finish a Masterclass and immediately apply a technique than you are to finish it with an expanded sense of what is possible in your field.

Self-Care and Everyday Ritual Picks

The Products That Make Ordinary Days Better

Our creators are not lifestyle gurus, and this is not a wellness list. But there are a handful of products that showed up when we asked people what they use daily and are glad they discovered.

The Theragun Mini appears on several lists because it is genuinely useful for people who sit at desks for long hours or carry tension in their shoulders and neck. It is small enough to keep in a desk drawer, quiet enough to use without disrupting a meeting, and effective enough to make a real difference in daily physical comfort.

A good water bottle is too boring to be exciting and too useful to leave off the list. The Hydro Flask 32-ounce wide mouth has been on our team’s desks and in our bags for years. The insulation actually works, the lid options are flexible, and the build quality has held up through more drops and dishwasher cycles than any of us want to count.

For sleep — which affects everything else on this list — several of our creators have found that a consistent temperature in the sleep environment matters more than almost any other factor. The Hatch Restore alarm clock manages both light and sound in a way that makes waking up feel genuinely less jarring. It is a small thing, but the accumulation of better mornings across a year is not a small thing.

A Final Word on Buying Things

We put this list together because we believe in the products on it and because answering the same question hundreds of times in comments is a very inefficient way to share useful information. But we also want to be honest about the limits of any guide like this.

Buying well means buying fewer things that last longer and serve you in ways that matter. Every item on this list earned its place because it held up over real time and real use. But no list can tell you what will work for your specific life, your specific work, or your specific values around consumption.

Use this guide as a starting point. Read the longer reviews. Think about what you actually need versus what looks appealing. Ask yourself the question our creators ask before adding anything to their own lives: would I buy this again tomorrow if I lost it today?

The things that earn a consistent yes to that question are the things worth having. We hope this list gives you a few more of them.

We update this guide regularly as our creators discover new favorites or change their minds about old ones. Bookmark it and check back — the list grows with us.