How many times have you had to follow up on a phone call or email when a situation with which you are dealing remains unresolved?
Currently, I am juggling many life situations. Every one of those situations has required multiple follow up phone conversations and emails.
There is no way my brain can hold all that information, let alone recall facts regarding previous conversations, when necessary.
Fortunately, years ago, my sister randomly passed on how her mother-in-law routinely documented everything.
Nanner, Lynn’s mother-in-law, kept a spiral notebook laying by the phone. Every time she made a phone call that could possibly require follow-up, she documented the conversation.
The seed of that story took root, and I adopted the habit of documenting important conversations.
Documenting life situations can save time, aggravation, and money.
Adopting the practice of documenting for every day life is easy if you have a process in place.
Decide where and how you want to maintain your documentation.
Nanner had a spiral notebook laying by a stationary home phone.
A spiral notebook may not be the best idea for a generation that is completely mobile.
A smart phone app or a computer file might be a better choice for ease of access.
The key to follow through is to keep the process easy and convenient.
Excel is my tool of choice for documenting. I have one workbook and each situation about which I am documenting becomes a page in the workbook.
Hint: Use the wrap text feature to keep from having one ginormous line of text.
What should you document?
There are three pieces of information that are critical to document.
First, document the date of the event, whether that event is a phone or in person conversation or email.
The date provides a frame of reference if you need to point out how long you have been attempting to resolve a situation.
Always document the name of the person to whom you spoke.
If it is a phone conversation you are documenting, request both the first and last name of the person to whom you are speaking.
Don’t hesitate to ask for spelling. It is surprising how often an anonymous person becomes so much more helpful when they are no longer anonymous.
Finally, document all the important facts regarding the exchange.
This includes any information to which you might eventually want to refer back.
Who was responsible for doing what?
Was a timeline promised? Was there to be future conversations?
In the event you were unable to make contact and had to leave a voicemail, document the date and time that the voicemail was left.
Document even if the exchange takes place via email.
Locating an old email is often like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
Knowing a date to begin searching for said email can be a life saver.
Documenting isn’t difficult.
It isn’t even really time-consuming.
However, any small amount of time invested will be worth it when you know exactly where to find the necessary information.
Take a page out of Nanner’s book and start documenting potential important encounters.
At worst, you waste a couple minutes of time. At best, you save time, money and endless frustration.
Documenting for every day life is one of those little things that has a big potential pay-off.