A new, blank notebook is an obligation of something that needs to be filled. It's daunting. An underutilized notebook serves as a constant reminder of your failure to have thoughts worthy of putting in it. It sits on your desk or shelf, taunting you. It's kind of a jerk.
It doesn't have to be like that.
Enter loose leaf paper, the antithesis of a notebook—a nice, helpful, and encouraging friend.
A single sheet of paper is a catalyst to creation. It is unbounded. It comes with no baggage. It's a starting point.
Pull one out, jot something down, then later decide where to keep it. Maybe it's ephemeral and can be recycled, or maybe it needs to be hole-punched and put in a binder on the shelf, or even folded up and taken to the store. That is a decision for later. I struggle with analysis paralysis. Many of my notes, ideas, and thoughts have gone unrecorded because I could not decided which notebook they should live in. I don't have hard numbers, but I have easily written down a million percent more things since using loose leaf paper. A piece of paper can be moved too. Incredible technology.
I won't lie, writing on a single sheet of paper can be a terrible experience. To me, putting a single sheet of paper on a desk and writing on it is like nails on a chalkboard. A notebook is nice to write in because of the cushion of all that paper behind the current page. A single sheet of paper does not have this. But there's hope!
The simplest solution is stack multiple sheets together. But this can be unwieldy with paper sliding around and all that.
A step up is a paper pad. My favorite is the Midori MD. If your favorite paper doesn't come in pads, it's possible to glue up your own with some PVA glue. Maybe not worth the effort.
To be extra, like me, make your own paper holder/writing pad. Mine is A5 sized with a leather cover. The leather does a decent job imitating the experience you get writing in a bound notebook. It opens like a book to store and protect extra paper.
If all else fails, I'd suggest a wire bound notebook so it can be opened all the way. This way it can still take up a minimal amount of space on a desk. Just make sure the pages are perforated so you can easily remove them as needed.