Alright, you guys. Moleskines.

Mole-what? These puppies right here:

Efficient, sleek, lightweight. Such evocative words, typically used to describe hyper-futuristic cars, also apply fittingly to this zenith of pocket perfection. I’m here to spit hot bars about how ridiculously swell these things are—for all types of people, not just the writer- types you see lugging these things around all the time.

Of course, before we dive head-first into this, we want to make sure no one’s left behind here. If you’ve clicked on this article, decided to read this far, didn’t draw conclusions from the above picture and still don’t know what a Moleskine is, listen closely.

First off, while it can be pronounced a variety of ways, the primary pronunciation you'll hear is "mal-uh-skeen-uh". Not, like, "mole-skin." It can be a little confusing. These things aren’t made from the skin of precious little moles (bless their hearts). It’s Italian, it’s a company—the company—that makes these namesake notebooks.

And that’s basically what they are-- pocket-sized notebooks, usually unlined, completely blank. Their name is derived from the company that produces them, but you can use “Moleskine” to refer to either. The company produces all sorts of journals, but most famously are responsible for the small, 5 1/2" by 3 1/2" notebooks you may occasionally spot in the hands of wanderlust-filled people on boardwalks.

Okay, you say, so they’re literally just mini-journals. What’s the draw? If I wanted a journal in my life, I would’ve gotten one by now. But I don’t want one, so…

Calm down, kid. Here’s the thing: the spirit of Moleskines is so much more free form and tailored for busy, everyday life. See, for creative types, the allure of a Moleskine— or any journal, really— is being able to jot down ideas at a moment's notice, having something on you at all times to fall back on. Owning a journal is practically mandatory if your job is a creative field because all the random stuff sparking your interest deserves to be written down.

However, this isn’t some highly structured journal that demands daily long-form entries. Have an idea to spice up a presentation you’re working on? Jot it down. Have a recipe come to mind and you don’t want to forget that one crucial ingredient later? Jot it down. Learn an important phone number? Jot it down.

I stewed for a few minutes while brainstorming for this article, thinking up ways to justify using journals in other fields of work, and you know what? It wasn't hard in the slightest. It turns out that virtually everybody has moments of small inspiration come to them throughout their week, and a Moleskine has the perfect utility to be right at hand when these moments come. You get to upgrade from writing things down on your spare napkins at lunch. It’s like having infinite napkins at your side to keep track of the little things.

That may sound silly, but it’s such an invaluable tool. Yes, Moleskines are really just journals. No fancy tricks, no extra features. But in the hectic, sometimes overwhelming torrent of day-to-day obligations, so much demands our attention and thought that we sometimes push out the clever little moment that seem to come in conflict with more important matters at hand, or we assume will come back to us later.

And, honestly, when using a Moleskine, you have the option to really focus on the pressing matters in your life, too. It's a great organization tool just for keeping track of schoolwork, deadlines, events and so on. Granted, it's not as thorough as, say, bullet journaling, but even taking a few moments to take note of something that piques your interest can be of value for later.

We all have thoughts that are significant, even if they are only significant to us. Don’t underestimate those thoughts. We are all granted countless little moments of epiphany, but we end up suppressing them or putting them on the back burner, whether it’s because we prioritize immediate responsibilities, or just don’t believe that these thoughts are worth remembering.

They are. All of them. Because even if they actually, secretly aren’t, you’ll be thankful for the ability to store the little moments and parse them in your downtime. You’ll find that good ideas accumulate when you aren’t paying attention.

Don’t skimp on Moleskines. Go out to your local bookstore, look online, get ahold of one. I promise it’ll be worth it.