Sometimes you need to jump back pretty far in a git repo, but this gets tough because the default behavior of git log doesn’t give you all that much info. Here are some helpful takes, and you don’t need to memorize them! Just add them to your gitconfig (described below):

git log --pretty=oneline
This sets each commit to a single line
git log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset) %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)%C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)' --all
Great for branch merges
git log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold cyan)%aD%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset)%C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)%n''          %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)' --all
Subheadings for each event with more detailed dates

Like I said, you don’t need to memorize this code. Simply open your ~/.gitconfig file and add the aliases there as such:

[alias]
lg = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset) %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)%C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)' --all

Now, if you type git lg, it will run that entire line of code for you.

You can make multiple aliases for multiple commands.

Info for this bit is adapted from Slipp D Thompson’s answer here.