When you use git often, it is helpful to implement some aliases for frequent commands. Git has config options to allow for shortening commands or allowing you to use a simple command instead of a line of text that is difficult to remember.

Some simple shortcuts:
To make checkout shorter

git config --global alias.co checkout

This will allow you to just type:

git co

To make status shorter:

 
git config --global alias.st status

This will let you see the log with branch indicators and a graph of the branches:

git config --global alias.mylog "log --pretty=format:'%h %s [%an]' --graph"

This is similar to the mylog alias but is useful on a color terminal as it will highlight useful items in the comments:

git config --global alias.lol "log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit ==all"

The results will be the following lines in your .gitconfig file:

[alias]
        st = status
        co = checkout
        mylog = log --pretty=format:'%h %s [%an]' --graph
        lol = log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit --all