I have written about Jott before, but I am finding it to be a great tool for those of us in ministry who are constantly on the move. Here are a few suggestions about this service that marries the ease of the cell phone with the convenience of e-mail.
- Use Jott as a mileage log
I confess that I really struggle with keeping up with my mileage for tax purposes and reimbursement. In fact, I’ve considered it enough of a hassle that I have generally just avoided keeping logs altogether and ignoring the mileage deduction. In the days of $4 gasoline, that makes no sense, and I have discovered a tool that gets pens and logs out of my car and makes it easier for me to do mileage on the run.What I do is to Jott myself (calling a special number on my cell phone and leaving a message to myself which is then transcribed and sent to my e-mail) a message with the starting mileage when I head out on some church related trip and then Jott myself again with the ending mileage when I am done. I then use these two e-mails as reminders to enter the data in a Google spreadsheet that has my mileage for the year.
- Jott as a pastoral care tool
More and more I find myself going out on visits with only my phone in my pocket. After all, I have the NIV Bible stored in the phone (a Blackberry Pearl) as well as my calendar. What else do I need?However, when I get to the hospital I often find myself wishing that I had a notepad to write down room numbers and post-visit notes. What I do instead now is to use Jott, sending myself messages with this information that I can access later. The folks at Jott do a pretty good job of transcribing my stuff, and they really appreciate it when I spell out difficult words.
- Keeping Up With Good Ideas
Okay, I know that I am getting older and my brain cells are shot, but the fact is that I will be driving along the road when suddenly some idea for the sermon begins to form and I can’t really pull over to write it down. Simply whip out the cell phone and call Jott. I find that I am especially using Jott to remind me of tasks that pop into my mind and would quickly pop out if I weren’t diligent in logging them.
So, do you use Jott and if so, how are you using it to help your ministry?
Only Wonder Understands 
thanks to your advice, I’ve started using jott. Here are two things I’ve done:
When I see a book in a book store I want to remeber, or after someone mentions a book to me, I will jott myself a message.
When I’m out and about and remember something I’ve forgotten, a call to make, e-mail to send, etc. I’ll use jott.
I like the mileage idea and have tried that a few times, its pretty slick especially if you do set up a google spreadsheet.