One of the handiest time saving tools I have run into in the last year has to be Jott (www.jott.com).

I use it on a regular basis to send myself reminders while I am driving. I call a special number, and the nice lady says “Who do you want to Jott?” I say, “myself,” then she says, “Record your note.”
When I return to my office, my note is waiting for me.

This routine saves time over using a digital recorder in the car because I don’t have to (A) remember to take the recorder into the office, (B) listen to the message playback, (C) erase the recorder, and (D) remember to take the recorder back to the car. If I jotted myself something that I can easily forward, I have even less to do because I don’t have to type anything… just forward the email.

The free version used to show the text in the email body… but now that they have launched the premium version you have to click their link to see the message… no biggie. Perfect advertising model, if you ask me. High value with minimal work.

Great service to be sure, but here’s the kicker… Jott has links to other services like Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and more. The one you’ll want to use this holiday season is Amazon. It works like this…

Jott: “Who do you want to Jott?”

Me: “Amazon”

Jott: “Search Amazon. Is this correct?”

Me: “Yes”

Jott: “Say the name of the item.”

Me: “Lord of the Rings movie”

Jott: “Got it”

Now watch this… when I get back to my office, guess what is waiting in my email? That’s right, the search results from Amazon for the phrase “Lord of the Rings movie”. All I have to do is open the email, click the link, and I’m ready to buy.

Check it out this gift-giving season and save time by not only capturing those brilliant gift thoughts you have in traffic (not the weapons *you* want… the other stuff) but making them ready to buy as soon as you return to your email!