Time Management - Marc Mancini

The Art of Anticipating 109
The Telephone Log
Do you tend to use random scraps of paper to write
notes on telephone conversations, reminders to call someone,
or messages you receive? Do you tend to misplace these vital
scraps and find yourself in a frantic search for them later?
A telephone log might just be the answer to your problem. Generic
“While you were out” forms are available at stationery stores, but you
might find it more practical to create one of your own—three-hole
punched, perhaps, to be collected in a three-ring binder.
The information you record should include the date, time of call,
the other person, who initiated the call, the purpose of the call, the
person’s number, and follow-up. You might also allow a little space for
making notes of information exchanged. If you organize the log by
date, you can also use it to jog your memory by filling in the preliminary
information for follow-up calls under future dates.
When you lose your wallet, for example, you lose not only
money but all the time it will take to replace your driver’s
license, credit cards, and other items. And if your home or
office succumbs to some natural disaster, the consequences will
be far, far worse.
Here are strategies that will limit the hassles you’ll face if a
catastrophe occurs:
• Photocopy critical documents, such as the following:
– Driver’s license
– Credit cards (front and back)
– Birth certificate
– Passport
– Bank cards and records
– Checkbooks
– Property deeds
– All insurance policies
– Wills
– Powers of attorney
– All other vital business and personal documents
Put one set of these copies in a bank safety deposit box