git status is your friend, use it often. Good for answering questions like:
- What did that command just do?
- What branch am I on?
- What changes am I about to commit, and have I forgotten anything?
- Was I in the middle of something last time I worked on this project (days, weeks, or perhaps months ago)?
Unlike, say svn status, git status runs nigh-instantly even on large projects. I often found it reassuring while learning git to use it frequently, to make sure my mental model of what was going on was accurate. Now I mostly just use it to remind myself what I've changed since my last commit.
Obviously, it's much more useful if your .gitignore is sanely configured.
