First I cringe at the word hack. It has jumped the shark. Even the expression “jumped the shark” had jumped the shark. But that’s not today’s topic…
This is Part II of my Cross jotter alteration. Pretty soon, it won’t be Cross at all. See Part I here, where I replaced the shoddy original pad with a better one from Mead.
Over a year later, I’ve finally found another pen that fits the jotter case. Granted I didn’t search too far or too wide, but I did do a fair amount of searching for a small pen (about 4”) that doesn’t have a removable cap and has a retractable tip.
Why no removable cap you ask? Well the purpose of the jotter is to quickly and easily jot down things as they come to mind–whenever and wherever I am.
I touched this a little on my productivity vs. resistance post a while back. The slightest bit of resistance can throw productivity off track. Part of the GTD system is to have a “capture device” ready at all times. I have to say, this advice has been very helpful for me in remembering things and “getting things done.”
What the heck does this have to do with the pen? What the heck am I talking about?
Most ideas or thoughts that I want to take down (and remember) happen when I’m driving or at other inconvenient times. So I need fast access to the pad and pen—when driving I’ll wait until I come to a red light of course. It turns out the pen the jotter came with, while is high quality, has a cap. And the cap is a PITA because it doesn’t fit on the back of the pen. So I either have to hold the cap, throw it on the passenger seat, or hold it in my mouth or something. I usually end up fumbling around with it or dropping it–then having to look for it. Just this tiny little seemingly insignificant inconvenience makes me not want to use the jotter at times. This may be silly, but it’s true.
Also, my G1 phone can fill in sometimes at a note taker, but let’s face it. Writing something down is 10 times faster than flipping open the phone, launching an app, and taking a simple note.
So, what’d I get? A Zebra SL-F1 Extendable Ballpoint Pen at JetPens.com. Perfect! It’s small. It writes well. It opens up quickly and smoothly. It fits the jotter’s pen slot. And it feels sturdy. It solved my little dilemma! The bonus is it’s extendable. While very small when closed, it’s a regular sized pen when extended and ready to write. It has a cool telescopic action.
