How do I take quick notes in odd places to maintain mind like water?

Question

My biggest gain productivity (and reduction in stress) came when I embraced the idea of writing everything down. (Thank you, David Allen!) The hard part is managing to always have something handy with which to do the writing.

My Field Journal Notebook works great when I'm at my desks, in a meeting, or even out to dinner, but it doesn't work as well for the odd bits of time during the day when things inevitably occur to me. It's too big to use when I'm standing on the bus during commute and it takes too much time to pack it up for transport when I'm just running to the restroom or stepping across the hall to ask a co-worker a question (and then unpack it when I get back).

How do I have a small, refillable, and secured writing surface (don't want to drop loose pages in the middle of the bus aisle) that includes a pen loop and a shoulder strap?[1] DIY and paper type are highly negotiable; the notes have a half-life of about an hour, so this is definitely about function rather than form.

[1] Yes, a pen loop and a shoulder strap, 'cuz the American fashion industry has decreed that professional women are not allowed to wear anything so gauche as pockets. (Not that I care what the fashion industry thinks, but I can't buy what they don't sell.)

Answer 1

I don't find writing down works really well during a lot of my day, including subway, while walking, etc.

I gave up on having something always handy to write with and instead use my phone and voice-recognition or an audio recorder app. Before that I used a super-tiny voice-/memo-recorder (which has the advantage of working where there's no cell coverage).

When I did always have various utilities at my disposal, I actually used a "utility belt", but stay with me, as this would actually be easier for a woman (IMO). Consider a simple sash-style belt, but with internal pockets. Simply made using essentially any fabric, it would be easy to stash a small notebook and pen, along with other useful things.

For some time I wore a sarong, either around the waist, or over my shoulder. Within the folds I could stash a wide variety of stuff. A little bit tighter/smaller and it could have easily been a belt and hold many of the same things.

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Edited to include more details/specifics.

Things I've tried (and largely discarded):

• Gadget holster from ThinkGeek
• Shoulder "straps" with pockets/accessories (representative example)
• Random tactical pouches (representative of what's available)
• Random utility belts (representative)

Very few of the commercially-available options ended up suiting me. If you specifically don't care about "fashion", IMO a plain webbing belt and a discreet pouch w/ belt loops is far and away the easiest, most-versatile solution. The tac belts/pouches available are essentially endless, and it's trivial to sew up your own if nothing seems quite right.

(Nothing ever seems "quite right" for me, which is why I have a kickstarter on my back-burner to solve more or less this problem in a modular way.)

Answer 2

I think when you get to the point of needing something with a shoulder strap to carry a notebook and a pen, you might as well go with one of those very small purse things...

Alternatively, you could just get a small bound notebook and thread something through the spine to attach it to the shoulder strap (or buy/make a cover that slips on and fulfils the same function), but I don't know how the American fashion industry would feel about that, either.

Answer 3

If you've got an iPhone, there's an app called Instacorder that I've been using for those awkward moments, that works really great. It's a giant button - when you hold it down, it records audio. When you release the button, it emails to audio file to you. I've got it matched to a rule on my mail server so it gets filed into a specific folder - instant digital inbox for all those awkward notes. Not quite the perfect setup, since you have to be able to open the app and press the button, but much easier than trying to grab pen & paper.

Answer 4

I carry a 3x5 spiral notebook and small pen for quick notes. That does require a pocket or pouch thing to hold it, but I've always got one of those for my phone. Actually, phone and iPod Touch -- my preference is for "smart" in one hand and "phone" in the other, not both in one device.

I also find Evernote really useful - many notes can be captured as a quick photo saved in Evernote, others I can thumb-type quickely, and audio-notes are quick and easy too. And they all end up in my Evernote inbox, which is a normally-cleared part of my GTD workflow.

Answer 5

Hold your smart phone to your ear and whisper your memo into the voice recorder.

Answer 6

Create a facebook group or Google+ circle for pooling your ideas (you may decide you want to include other people into this idea repository later on.) Any smartphone has the capability to access these social sites, so it is as easy as posting a new status update.

Answer 7

I use a service called Voice2Note. For $3/month, it allows me to call a phone # and record an unlimited number of 30 second messages, which are then transcribed and posted to my Evernote account. Voice2Note is a subset of Dial2Do, which for $6/month does the above, plus lets you send emails, SMS, Twitter messages etc.