Two Christmas Presents for you…

December 21, 2007 by Chris Harrower, CTIS.

I wasn’t sure what to give you, my faithful reader (yeah, right!) for Christmas this year. But then I hit on it…two cool tools I’ve come to rely on on a daily basis! I think you’ll like one or both of these, and find them very useful (and addictive!).

If you know me, you know I can be very organized on some things, and very unorganized on others. It’s a dichotomy I’ve learned to live with, and I make as many lists as I can. But I don’t always remember to have paper along with me…and now, I don’t need to! I’ve found two online tools that I’ve fallen madly in love with, and they’ve changed a lot for me. Both are free, at least while in Beta testing, but even if they start charging for them, I’ll pay whatever they want!

First is Jott (http://www.jott.com). Jott is a simple service…you call it from your cell phone, and record a short message. It is converted to text, and emailed to you, or to whomever you want (provided you set them up in advance on the site). What a great thing…inspiration strikes, I dial Jott, tell the system I want to Jott myself, and start talking. When I get back to the computer, there’s a nice little email from me to me about my idea! OK…the speech to text conversion can be rough, especially if you’re in a noisy place, but for reminders to yourself, you’ll remember the context when you read the email, and the misinterpreted words won’t bother you much.

Hand in hand with Jott is my new discovery, Sandy. Sandy is my new personal assistant…she keeps track of my schedule, reminds me of meetings, things to do, and all of that. And she’s online, and can work hand in hand with Jott! Sign up with Sandy (http://www.iwantsandy.com), and then go to Jott, and use the link to Sandy. Now, for a reminder, I call Jott, tell it I want to Jott Sandy, and it records my message, and submits it to Sandy. I get a reminder at the time I requested, and it’s really cool.

I know, some of you are saying “geez, what hoops to have to jump through!”. Just try it once, and you’ll see how easy and helpful it is. Nobody else sees it, it’s for me, and I can remind myself of the stoopid stuff that slips through the cracks. Sandy doesn’t criticise what I’m doing, or make comments in any way. One phone call from the road for a reminder is all it took to completely sell me on it.

Sure, I’ll still use Outlook, and pad and pen, but this is a great way to capture those wild hare thoughts when pen or computer are not handy. If you’d like a “formal invitation” for either service, let me know, and I’ll submit it for you (you don’t need to be invited, as both services have signup forms on their pages, but I don’t mind helping!). Give ‘em a try…I think you’ll be surprised how easy it is!

And from everyone at the “Crash Course” Seminar program, our very bestest wishes for an absolutely amazing Christmas, and a bus-filled New Year!

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