Backup Your Life
A Backup Article Contributed by Larry Amon
Why It's a Good Idea to Backup Everything!!!
Why do I need to backup? Because it's a good idea to organize your life and backing up is an essential part of that. There are hundreds of books on the subject. Why? Some people are tired of loosing their keys constantly and others are just tired of living in a mess. Most people just feel more comfortable when their life is organized, almost everything seems to flow better. Being disorganized is very stressful. What does organization have to do with backup?
Backup is one of the main principles of organization. If your start organizing your life by making backup plans, more organization will follow.
Ok, but What Should I Backup?
First make a list of everything that is important to you. It may help to start thinking of what you would need most if you lost everything. I'f you lost all of your possessions and had to start over, what would you do first? Getting personal identification would be my first thought. Then I would think through the steps to do that, such as getting a copy of my birth certificate. Then using that, I would get a new drivers license. Then apply for a social security card and so on.
This will get you started thinking of what you need to backup. Keeping a copy of the list you make is also a good idea. Something that a lot of people tend to overlook when they backup, is making a list of what's in their wallet or purse. You should probably do this right now, and make sure you write down the phone number listed on the back of your credit cards. This will be very helpful incase your wallet is lost or stolen, just keep it somewhere other than in your wallet itself.
How Should I Backup?
Once you have your list of categories and items to backup, there are a few things you should keep in mind in your plan. How safe is my backup? For important paper documents getting a fire proof safe is a good idea. Also think about where you will keep the combination or key. Be sure to keep a backup of that somewhere. Make sure that your back ups are also easily accessible otherwise you'll be spending too much time when you actually need to recover from your loss.
Backup Now!
Don't wait to get started, go start ASAP! The longer you put it off the sooner you may need it. Lack of organization can be costly in time and money and lack of a backup system will cost you both. If you don't think you have time to backup now, a disaster could force you to make time. You don't have to do everything at once but you should at least start the process and do a little at a time. A good way to start is to backup just a little as you use whatever it is that you want to backup.
For example, if you happen to be using a computer file make a copy of it while you have it open. If you think backing things up is a waste of time, how many times have you ever heard someone say, "I wish I hadn't backed that up! " Best wishes on your backup! You might want to print this article and keep a copy on your fridge, just for backup.
