Tuesday, May 1st, 2007...8:46 am
Jott…Thoughts to Actions
I commute to work every day. Now I am fortunate to not live in a place like Los Angeles where my 30 mile commute could take hours. But I do spend roughly 60 - 75 minutes in my car each day just getting to work and back.
My dilemma…what if something pops into my head while driving 75 mph with cars all around. No, I am not going to make an attempt at writing or typing something @ that speed. But I need to capture it before it seeps out of one of those cracks in my head…enter Jott.
I must give Jamie Phelps credit for introducing me to this one.
With a little online setup, using Jott is quite simple. Jott provides an 877 toll free number to call (I suggest putting it on a speed dial button on your cell). You can leave messages for yourself. The memo is transcribed and sent to your designated email address. Now the transcriptions are not always perfect, but they also send you the audio file in case you want to listen to it.
But that isn’t all. On the website, you can add or import contacts. You can also organize the contacts into groups. Lets say you are running late for a meeting…stuck in traffic. You can dial Jott and when prompted, indicate that you want to contact your work group or another specific individual. Leave them a message, and Jott will send the memo to them. How cool is that!?!
Of course, to leave yourself a message you would simply Jott to “Myself”.
You can use Jott anywhere you are…all you need is a cell phone. For example, this past Friday, my family was at a festival (obviously away from my laptop and my system). I had a thought come across my mind that I did not want to lose. So I Jotted myself with the message. When I got home later, it was waiting for me in my email, allowing me to process it when it was convenient for me.
Since it is still in beta, Jott, at the moment, is free. So there is no excuse to not take advantage of this great tool…and one less excuse to let “stuff” slip through the cracks in our minds.
8 Comments
May 1st, 2007 at 11:18 am
Been using Jott and loving it. And when the Jott’s come into my Gmail, I tag them with a filter so that I can manage my to-dos. Also, I have been playing around with Pinger.com, which is like voice-texting. Also Google 411 has been awesome to use while driving in order to find a local business. Needless to say, there is quite a selection of helpful voice related productivity tools.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Bill,
Thanks for the comment.
I will have to check Google 411 and Pinger.com out in the near future.
I did not mention it in my review (I should have) that I tag all of my Jotts too. Thanks for supplementing with another good idea.
May 1st, 2007 at 3:19 pm
I have Jott email my Vitalist account so that I don’t have to enter stuff into my Next Actions.
http://www.shainemata.net/2007/04/18/jott-alist/
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:41 am
I spend 75 to 90 minutes in the car each day and have been using Jott for a while now (I blogged about it here: http://snipurl.com/1j2w0) and I absolutely love it! It’s not always spot-on with the transcription, but usually once I see the email I remember what I meant to say.
Example: Yesterday morning I picked up breakfast for our staff at a restaurant called “Coyote’s” and forgot the purchase order. So on my way from the restaurant to school I Jotted myself to “Fax the P.O. to Coyote’s” which was transcribed as “Kiode’s” of all things… Weird.
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:00 am
[...] as the Black belt Productivity post notes, that’s not all: On the website, you can add or import contacts. You can also organize [...]
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:20 am
@Shaine…now that was an idea I had not thought of. Thanks for sharing.
@Scott…I have had similar experiences. The key is that it something is there to bring that thought back to the forefront of our minds so we can properly process it.
May 4th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Glad to see jotters out there…and lovin it! I’ve been a jotter for quite some time and I do agree with the drivers out there! Also, being a musician, I can jott my ideas for music when I don’t have my guitar around…and I’m a forgetful person…so it helps! I’ve heard jott has plans for expansion and may lean towards businesses. Even if I had to pay for this…I’d still use it! Especially now that Washington State passed a law on “driving while talking on cell phones” and soon to be “texting while driving.” Jott has solved this problem!
May 18th, 2007 at 11:12 am
[...] from your contacts list. It’s a great concept, and it’s currently in free public beta. Read a review from the Black Belt Productivity [...]
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