who knows how or when it started, but i’m a color-coder note taker.

blue and black are “primary text” colors and are used relatively interchangeably, switching occasionally to help break up a page. e.g. on a full page of notes a blue to black transition might indicate a switch in topic. green typically indicates “something of interest” and red, of course, is used to highlight to-dos. color-coding is such a simple way to improve your notes ( indeed, it often makes lists like lifehacker’s “five classic ways to boost your note-taking” ) that i’m surprised at how many weird looks i get from people who don’t have any idea why i carry multiple colors of pens in to meetings. and more than a few folks have said they think it’s just a bit dorky to be color coding notes after the sixth grade.

“pfffffft”, i say. carrying around 4 pens is not dorky, it’s a sign of an advanced note taker.

amusingly, someone who knows my love of color-coding recently gave me a classic 4-color retractable ballpoint pens, but i can’t quite bring myself to use it because, well, it’s a little dorky, no?

so, which is dorkier, carrying 4 different pens or one retractable ballpoint?