Re-imagining the Notebook (How to think and make beyond a Moleskine)

>maybe you’ll need a small pen

Actually, a fatter pen works better for writing really small, you have better control over the point. You might try this with a lot of other things, too. Many of our everyday instruments are built smaller than they really should be for optimum functionality, apparently for stylistic reasons.

I use three common sizes and shapes of notebooks or pads, all of them top opening. A credit card sized pad intended for a micro-organizer that fits easily in my wallet, just in case I don't have anything else available, also handy for shopping since I am certain not to forget it.

I use a 4x6 top opening sketchpad for a pocket notebook, it fits, barely, in my hip pocket and is big enough and stiff enough for fairly extensive note-taking when I am walking around. And I use stenographer's notebooks that just fit in my shoulder bag (a Tourist Guide bag from REI) for when I expect to be doing even more extensive note-taking.

Having to do more elaborate work to get a pad, like the OP discusses, strikes me as a bad bargain. It costs you more for less convenient note-taking. You really need something that you can and will take notes with, lots of notes, since you don't know until later usually which ones are important, so the more you write, the better. And note-taking is a skill, the more you do it, the better you will get at it.