What's the purpose of archiving your electronic data?

Preservation. Simply put, archiving, in this sense, is preservation. Of memories (vacation photos, wedding videos, the Family Reunion Of Which You Do Not Speak Of, etc.) and data (like photographs, business documents, scripts, novels, music etc.) that are static and won't change. Revisions and retouching aside, archiving stabilizes and stores a set of information that you can use for reference, proof and perhaps most vital of all, connection.

• Need the very first "final version" of the company handbook before the current set of revisions got too bulky? Here you go.
• A lawsuit is threatening to come down on your company due to what the opposition claims is shoddy work? You pull out the pics to prove it just ain't so.
• A dispute rises over the contract? You got it in writing, and with the digital signatures all in place.
• You have a lifetime's worth of photographs. You want it to last beyond your lifetime, so your great-grands can get to know you even after you're gone.
• Want to show your kids that yes, Mama was a natural blonde before puberty hit and her hair got darker? Sure.
• Your in-laws want to see the ultrasound? You want your as-yet-unbaked bun-in-the-oven to get to see it? You got it.
• You have something you need to say, something you want the world to know. Share it across time.
  

Insurance (as back-up) is secondary (but a close second) in this case. If you've done your back ups according to plan, you're covering those bases. Archiving is simply making sure that any data you have that's important to you is stored, safely, uncorrupted, and available in a way/medium that will survive time and technological changes.

In Protect Your Data, we set-up the basic guidelines in making a back-up plan. In this section, we'll cover a few more things you can do to keeping the your online data safe and synced.

The issues:

• It's definitely simpler to do back up when you only have one computer, but what if you have more? And what if you're not the only user?
• Plus, you probably have other data, on-line, that you want backed up as well.

So, this article will lay out the issues with multiple computers, multiple users and backing up your on-line data.

1. A single user with one PC is the simplest scenario. Maybe two external hard-drives (one back-up is not enough!), a CD/DVD burner, and some high quality blank optical media should be good enough to start with. Pull on-line storage like Mozy, Dropbox and Carbonite into the mix, you can secure your data easily. Flash drives can be life-savers as well.
   
2. Single user, many PCs/devices would require syncing software (Dropbox offers this with its online storage as well), a detailed schedule for back ups, and more thought as to what you need to back up, and where. RAID array, a home server, online storage? The speed of your internet connection will also affect upload and download times.
   
3. Many users, one PC means also backing up various profiles and personal data. You have to hammer out agreements as to what will be backed up and when would the best time to do it for the people involved.
4. Many users, many PCs would involve syncing, and centralizing shared media, as well as customizing information access and flow. For personal units, it would be best if each user takes responsibility for his or her own data and unit.

When it comes to backing up data, there are only 2 groups of people involved. The first group are people who have lost data, like those who have had hard-drives die on them, or were exposed to the Virus that Ate The Internet. The second covers those who haven't had the pleasure of that particular experience. Yet.

But it's only a matter of time, statistically speaking. And you can never predict when, or how it will happen. Brand new drives die a few days out of the box, while older ones faithfully chug on on for years. You bed down for the night, as your laptops purrs on, worry-free. The next morning a howl of disbelief shatters the early morning silence of the dormitory. "I didn't DO anything!"
"Are you sure, dude?"
"YES!"
"Uh, download anything new last night?"
"Nuh--oh?" Then, "Oh, crap."

The drive can't be detected. The laptop falls due to your cat's panicked antics, and you can't get it to boot. Your sippy cup wasn't fastened as tightly as you thought it was. Viruses, trojans, hackers and theft. Lightning strike, fire, water from a leaky pipe...you just don't know.

Thus, back-up. There's something you need to understand about back-up, though:

Back-up is not a guarantee, unless and until you test it (data verification) and even then, stuff happens. Back up is insurance, and as with any kind of insurance, back up comes in handy after a loss of some sort. See the difference now? And as with any kind of insurance, you need a plan that suits your needs.

There's a time for planning and a time for action. But action just to fill the time is mere busy-work. Practicality is the defining line that differentiates busywork from being truly productive. If you want to get Something Done, you have to have solid results in mind when you start, and solid results in hand when you stop.

Practical : the usefulness and applicability of an action. Sure, you saved up for enough money to get new tires, you've been meaning to do so for quite some time, but right now you have a flat. What do you do?

• Based on practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis
• Being likely to be effective and applicable to a real situation; able to be put to use
• Of a person, having skills or knowledge that are practical

Action  - "Something done so as to accomplish a purpose." (emphasis added). So, flat tire. Based on your skills and preparedness, you can change the tire yourself, re-inflate it with a handy tire-inflation kit , call AAA , or call a friend to help you out. When you get home, then you can think about getting the money and going out to buy new tires.

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Whether you're counting pennies or minutes, the small stuff can build up to something big, but also pay attention to the one thing that transforms the seemingly insignificant into the significant: Time. Time can do wonders with small change and small changes. Time leverages small changes into big deals. After all, what else are big things made of but small things?

Use time and awareness to make the small things work for you. There's less stress involved in handling small things. No big production, no huge budgets. You don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself for something so small, so...mundane. And therein lies the thrill. How many little adjustments can you incorporate into your routine? How creative can you get with tweaking your routines just that little bit?

The trick is to find the best use for the small things and the small slices of time in your life. First look around (take a good look, you might miss something), and then think of what you can do with what you find to improve your life.

Boundaries are vital. Think of them as an extra layer of protection. Like skin, which thickens in response to pressure to form a protective callus, your boundaries keeps you shielded and functioning under stressful circumstances. When you recognize and honor your boundaries, you're enforcing an internal support structure that will keep you in good stead when the going gets rough.

Boundaries are like boxes for clutter.
They help keep scattered-but-related stuff in one location, so you can deal with the whole shebang in one place, and keep them in that one place. You can come back to that one place (mentally or physically) when you're ready, refreshed or coming back with new data and fresh input.

Boundaries give you the privacy and room to regroup.
You can leave things where they are, and come back when you're ready. When people respect your boundaries, and you return the same respect, it makes for better relationships and fewer misunderstandings.

Time management is a big deal for most of us. It's the most common source of stress today. What's a good way to handle all the things we're given in the time we have? Stop me if you've heard this one:


Here's an oddball collection of thoughts and tips on how starting early helps you manage your time.

Mise en place
For anyone who've ever been a follower of any cooking channel, you may have heard this phrase tossed around from time to time.  Literally translating to "putting in place", cooks following this practice prepare everything ahead of time, before cooking starts in earnest. This means having all ingredients prepped (washed -- peeled, cut, chopped, etc.) and measured out in neatly arranged containers. Tools and equipment are standing by, much like a surgeon's tools are set out in the OR.

Mise en place can help you in the way it helps the chef, similar to how prepping helps a surgeon or say, an orchestral conductor. Can you imagine the doctor or the maestro pausing in mid-movement to hunt for something they forgot? Mise en place helps you by removing distractions, and ensuring a smooth, orderly work flow with the fewest interruptions possible. Why would you turn that down?

A skill is the " capacity to do something well; (a) technique, ability. Skills are usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities, which are often thought of as innate."

Think of all the stuff you learned to do since you were a kid: learning to sit up, walking, feeding yourself. Tying your shoes, reading and writing, and learning to play well with others. And you added on new skills as you grew older. How to throw a curve-ball, maybe, and summarize a story, or set a budget for the grocery and household bills, or lead a meeting. You have a lot of skills, you just take them for granted.

How many skills do you need to acquire to build the life you want? Where do you even start looking to get them? Here are a few simple steps to get you started:

Aside from taking his place in history as an industrial titan, Henry Ford left a lot of inspiring quotes, as well as an enduring legacy.

• "It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste."
• "There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something."

We all have dreams and plans for what we want in life, and how we want ours to turn out, but not all of us are putting ourselves out there -- working and hustling to make our plans bear fruit, or turn our dreams into reality. I know this. You know this. Doubtless we've all had grand plans that we drew up, all excited and eager, only to have them quietly die on paper, stillborn.

It goes like this: we're intelligent enough and glib enough to come up with at least 3 reasons off-the-cuff on why it a) never happened, b)  would never have worked out and/or c)  was doomed to fail. We 're crazy-smart that way.

Chris Guillebeau (of the popular blog The Art of Nonconformity) guest-wrote for ZenHabits early this month, and shared his thoughts on how he made his "very small business" succeed.

His advice in that post isn't for everyone. After all, it's mainly for --and from -- the sole proprietor running a one-man business, and a deliberately small one, at that. But the outpouring of support he's built up from the quality of his work (he has thousands of fans and followers on his social media network) shows that he has a truly inspirational approach to life.

Guillebeau's goal was, and still is, "to make a good living without simply creating a job for (him)self." He's been doing so for over ten years. What follows are some issues that rose after reading his post.

1. Hire no one. If your business can get by with just you at the helm, ok. Some professions lend themselves to one-man operations. There are free-lance writers and CPA's, for example. It's also an enormous help if a) you're the type to go it alone and enjoy it, and b) you've got the stamina for dealing with the requirements of the business, i.e, being the Chief Bottle-washer as well as the CFO/CEO/tech support, etc. --for as long as you want the business to succeed. And that can take a long time. Even Chris admits it can get tiring, as he explained in this post.