PA and Secretary Community - Deskdemon.com

Do you keep a journal or write down daily notes that you can refer to if asked a question?  


I do, I keep a note pad and jot down my calls.  I keep track what was said.  I keep notes on the progress of my projects.   I have tons of lists.  I do think it helps.  

I have my notebook that I carry with me, I'd be lost without it.  Every day has its own page and I write everything down from phone calls received to requests I get from my guys.  There are 10 direct reports to my boss, when I have to call and give them messages, I'll write down in my book what time I called them so if they ever try to say I didn't deliver a message, I can tell them exactly when I called.

I keep a notebook and each page is dated.  I keep track of my to do's for each day, phone messages, meeting requests you name it.  I put a label on the front of each notebook that has a date range and file the books as they are completed.  It never fails that someone needs something from two months ago.

I'm at a job where I found that a daily 'to do' list just doesn't work.  I've got to be able to adapt as needed to put out the current fire.  I've found that a steno pad is the best way to keep track of all my daily notes.  I have it constantly on my desk so that I'm able to jot down anything I need to take care of, whether it be messages, samples, calls, etc.  If I have to go to the Sales Manager's office, I carry it in case they request something.  I'm able to cross things off as they are completed.  I also make use of sticky notes.  I always carry a pad in my sweater pocket, along with a rubber finger and a pen.  

Sounds crazy, but I'm very rarely caught unawares!  

I have a notepad which I use daily.  Each day a new pages is dated so that if I need to refer to something I have an idea when it was said or done.  I also use the Task feature in Outlook and when a job is done I can mark it complete.

I keep what I call my "Day Book" - each new day has a new page and it's full of odd scribbles, telephone numbers, requests (some half written!) you name it.  I doubt very much if others would be able to understand a good part of it but I find it really helps.  

I've kept one for about four years and have brought the old ones from my last job with me - you never know when you're going to need something in there!

I also list tasks & follow-ups in Outlook Calendar (have never been able to get on my the To Do lists) and seem to live my life - both personal and professional - by the pop-ups!

I log all incoming telephone calls and keep typed and signed notes of significant outgoing and incoming calls (most important because a substantial part of my work concerns litigation).  I note dates and times of calls and pages are numbered in my call register.  

I wouldn't be able to function properly without a notebook on my desk to jot down things.  I also make good use of Outlook for tasks and follow-ups.  

Does anyone not do this?  

I don't do it enough - does that count? ;)  Inevitably, the one thing I don't write down is the information I need later...

Donna

I have an interesting story on how I started.  Many years ago (ack 10 or more now) I was the admin to the director of operations at a biotech company.  Our staff meetings was a group of managers that reported to him and myself.  There was one female manager who just impressed me, she just had the total package of smarts, knowing  how to work in a male environment, always looked great (was not thin but always looked so polished).  I noitced her notebook and how she kept all her notes from phone calls, small details, to things people would talk to her about.  I just decded she was a great person to watch and learn from.  So I started one and never stopped.  

I still have my notebooks from years back.  Once in awhile I go back, see some of the meeting I planned an laugh at some of the problems and just things that happend that I caught in the notebooks.

I'm with donna, not often enough.  I try to write down key things not to forget, but it seems I forget them no matter what.

Diamondlady
Peer Moderator

I write things down to do but I don't take notes or keep a journal per se - no time!  How do you all manage?!!!

Jackie, Peer Moderator
www.iqps.org

Jackie, I was thinking the exact same thing!  

I keep a daily "to-do" list.  Would be lost without it.  But to keep notes of every phone call and every conversation?  I couldn't possibly do that and still get my work done.

you just do it as it happens, takes like 10 seconds if that.  On the phone you may jot, Ronald 9;30 am 11/15 - Wants to have a meeting with Michelle.  Then you move on to your multi-tasking and doodling during the rest of the call.   If you are walking around and office and someone asks "can you order me this special calendar?"  you have the note book, jot it down and keep going!  I guess it gets easier and just second nature.  It is an extended to do list!

I agree, it's so much a part of how I do my job that I couldn't NOT write everything down.

It's all the little things that you might jot down here and there, on a post-it note or a quick to-do list.  

True story: I was at Jury Duty yesterday and speaking with a hotel that I was trying to get a final bill from an event.  She needed the name of the person who was helping me in accounting, I flipped back a couple pages and had that person's name and phone number to give her.

I quite agree.  It seems burdensome at first, but gets easier and more "second nature".  

When I first began this system, I wrote essays - now my notes are much more focussed.  They have to be in longhand or typed because they have to be filed or other people need to read them.  

It's difficult, but that few minutes at the end or beginning of a day to plan things, note them down and put tasks in order can actually save time in the end and help to prioritize tasks.

Raindance

I've always kept a "learning" journal, in which I write down notes and bits and pieces, specifically when starting a job but continuing through the job.  This allows me to come into a new position, ask a few questions but rarely have to repeat those queries.  Then after I've kind of gotten into the swing, anytime something new crops up, I make a few notes in the journal so if it happens again I have it there.  But otherwise... to document every call or conversation?  Nope.  Never needed to, either.  Most of the time, during the course of a project, I'll keep my notes together with names, numbers, etc but those go with the project file when I'm done.  Otherwise, I use the "Someone called while you were out" with the carbon copy, so I can always flip back in there if needed for a phone call, or just don't worry about it.  Generally, if it's something that I think will need to be referred to (or a CMA issue) then I'll either follow-up a phone call with an e-mail or on those CMA issues it's a personal note that goes home with me.  I never write anything down in a journal that I would carry with me all the time, because in most of my positions there has been an issue of security of the information we come into contact with, and the bossie's have frowned upon it, because a lost notebook may give out more information than we would believe.  And since I started my Admin career as a civilian for the military, it's kind of ingrained in me.

In my new position, I'm no longer a true "admin" and therefore have any less need of this type of record keeping.  I still keep my "learning" journal, and I have been praised on my abilities to learn and not keep asking the same questions, so I guess that is what I needed most through out my career.  We'll have to wait and see though, as I still have a ways to go.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

I do.
I keep all post it foks put on my desk,just in case somebody gets all.....
I didn't say that.
Yes you did I have the post it right here.
Yeap I write down,keep a copy of everything,it comes in handy.