Page 125 - Time Management

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Time Management
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Insurance
Insurance is something that allows you to pay for peace
of mind. It’s a mechanism for minimizing the worst
effects of unanticipated future disasters minimized by simply planning
for them.
There are many kinds of insurance, though, and many ways to “pay”
for them. One form of payment is by spending time, rather than
money, to make sure that the worst disasters that could befall you
won’t be worse than necessary.
You purchase life and property insurance with money. But you can
“purchase” the same kind of peace of mind with respect to other criti-
cal elements of your life that are vulnerable to loss or damage—through
good planning. The “insurance” you purchase with your time can be as
valuable as the kind you purchase with money. Backing up your comput-
er files, changing the batteries in your home smoke detectors, or even
having the oil changed regularly in your car may take moments you’d
rather be spending elsewhere. But don’t neglect these forms of self-pro-
tection simply because they require an investment of your precious
time.They can, in the end, save far more time than they cost.

and leave a second set with a relative or friend in a differ-
ent community.
• If these or any other important documents are on a com-
puter disk, create a backup disk copy and a hard copy.
Keep backup materials in another location, if possible.
• Photocopy every page of your personal and business
phone books every year (or create a new one and keep
the old one for reference). If you store this information
electronically, transfer it periodically to a backup system.
• Photocopy your business card file every year. Again, if
yours is electronic, create a backup copy from time to
time.
• Consider keeping two organizers: the primary one should
be detailed; a second (kept separately) would perhaps list
only weekly or monthly activities. One might be electron-
ic, the other paper-based.
• Develop two lists of equipment (see Figure 8-2) in case of
burglary—one for home, one for business.