What Good Is A Log Entry in JibberJobber?

Remember in the olden days, watching TV and you would see the test of the emergency broadcast system?  You might remember the TV to show this:

I had that in mind as I saw this email come from one of my users, who was testing the Email2Log.  See, I invite people to test the Email2Log by sending me an email, using Email2Log to see if (a) a new Contact record was created (with my info), and (b) the Log Entry was created properly.

And it’s is FUN for me to get emails from users 🙂

Anyway, here’s the message from a new user, Lorne:

“This a test. If this was a real log I’m not sure what I would do with it.”

Thanks Lorne, for the laugh 🙂  As a friend of mine said last night, one of my problems is that I’ve been “in the forest for so long” that I will not see JibberJobber, and it’s complexities, the way a new user would.

So let me share some thoughts on what you “do with” a Log Entry.

To put it into perspective, a Log Entry is like a note that you have jotted down that you don’t want to lose. Perhaps you’ll refer to it later. And that, my friends, is the most simple way to describe a Log Entry.

What is the source of these “notes?”  It could be a thought I had about you. It could be a conversation that we’ve had. It could be information, details, facts, words said, intentions, or actions. This week I logged the payment of some bills, as well as conversations, into JibberJobber.

In my pre-JibberJobber life, I would have notes jotted down all over the place… some in my email inbox, some in my car, some in a notebook, some on my desk, some on or in my night stand, etc.  Now, with JibberJobber, I capture notes and ideas and conversations that I might want to refer to later in JibberJobber.

Back to Lorne’s question: what do you do with a Log Entry?

Usually, I do nothing.  Sounds weird, huh?  Why even jot it down if I do nothing with it?

I find myself with an active mind, with lots of things buzzing around. The less I have jotted down, the more I try to juggle in my mind.  That is no fun.  That causes sleep problems, and I find myself forgetting to do things because my mind is juggling too many things.  I’m no psychologist but that’s my self-diagnosis.  When I jot it down I give myself permission to forget about it, and mentally move on. I can focus on tasks at hand, and not worry about trying to remember a bunch of different things.

More important than that, though, is that I’ll sometimes want to refer to something I noted down later. A day later, a week or month later, and in the case of a reconnection with someone last week, 5 years later.

Last week I reconnected with a colleague.  This was a voice from the past, and honestly, I couldn’t remember what conversations we’ve had over the last five years.  Fortunately, I had logged those conversations (they were all through email, and I used Email2Log to easily capture them all). Instead of lingering on “who are you? Have we met?” it was easy to look this person up and look at the Log Entries and see how our relationship has evolved over time.

I continually hear from recruiters who talk to job seekers who don’t remember who they are, or that they had applied for the job the recruiter is calling about.  The recruiters tell me that when a job seeker doesn’t remember, and can’t find notes to jog their memory, they think the job seeker is not interested. This is the wrong message to send to someone who thinks that you might be the right person.

Over the years I have disciplined myself to add more details to Log Entries.  “We had lunch” is an almost useless Log Entry (but, it’s better than nothing).  “We had lunch at Red Lobster, I paid, we talked about X, Y, and Z, and I need to follow-up with Jill on Monday about A, B, and C” is a much better Log Entry.  Why?  Because two years later, reading “we had lunch” isn’t helpful… but reading what you talked about might help you pick up the conversation, and relationship, at the right place.

So there you go.  Over time you’ll get a feeling for what, and how much, to log.  Email2Log makes this really easy. I’ve always found that adding more is better than adding less, but just start where you are, and create your own system that works for you.