Not too long ago, I was talking to one of my techie friends and we both agreed that the worst thing you can ever do with a computer backup is “Set it and forget it.” That got me to thinking about all the other things in our lives where we’re tempted to set it and forget it.
Let’s be honest: set it and forget it a GREAT marketing ploy. It goes right along with the dream where you don’t have to do any work, but you get the results. You don’t have to exercise; just take these pills. You don’t have to make sales calls; just build a web site. Etc.
With computer backups, the problem boils down to this: First, you build an amazing backup system. Great hardware. Great software. Everything’s configured properly. You check every detail. You verify that it’s perfect.
Second, . . . something changes. Maybe there’s a hardware failure. Maybe there’s an update that breaks the software or the operating system. Maybe a machine reboots. Something changes. Some thing changes. It might not even be a bad thing. Just some thing.
Given enough time, there is a 100% chance that a perfect system will become imperfect and eventually fail IF you set it and forget it.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can test backups. You can restore data from time to time. You can perform regular maintenance. You can give the backup love and attention. And you can make sure that they’re doing everything they should be doing.
Now let’s talk about the rest of the world.
- Marriage
- Cars
- Friends
- Your roof
- Children
- Goals
- Education
- Your garden
- Your job
- Your skills
The ultimate law of the universe is entropy – disorder. In other words, things fall apart. Order becomes disorder. This is completely predictable. We all accept that we age over time. So does everyone else. While we are becoming someone new, the same is happening to our parents, our siblings, our children, our friends, and our lovers.
“Kids” become young adults, adults, middle-aged and old. And while they’re busy doing that, there are elections, economic cycles, earthquakes, 100th anniversaries, and all the other activity in the universe. Our houses and cars and clothes get old and wear out. Absolutely everything is subject to the great law of entropy.
But there’s really, really good news. We all have time and energy to pay attention to the things that matter most. So while our children will age and move through the stages of life, we can maintain those relationships. And the same is true with friends and cars and hobbies.
Ultimately, if you “set it and forget it,” everything in your life will fall apart. But it only takes a little effort to maintain the relationships and things that matter to us. We can keep working on communications and regular tune-ups. We can keep trying, year after year.
Everything wants to change. Everything wants to fall apart. And no one has enough energy to stop the world from turning. But you can choose the things and the people that matter the most. And you can do the work and the maintenance that keeps those things tuned up and working.
My personal motto for more than twenty years has been, Nothing Happens by Itself. That is certainly true in this case. You get to decide which relationships you’ll keep tuned up. You get to decide whether you’ll keep working on friendships. You even get to decide whether you’ll keep your own self in order, or let yourself fall apart and give into the law of entropy.
Ultimately, life is a never-ending cycle of building and rebuilding. As everything changes, you get to choose who and what deserves your limited attention and effort. It’s a never-ending job of balancing and rebalancing.
There’s no point in wanting this cycle of entropy and maintenance to stop. That’s not an option. The only option is to choose with intention the things that matter most today and tomorrow. Balance and then rebalance. And rebalance again and again – forever.
Your comments and feedback are welcome.
The ultimate law of the universe is entropy – disorder. In other words, things fall apart. Order becomes disorder.
This is completely predictable. We all accept that we age over time. So does everyone else. While we are becoming someone new, the same is happening to our parents, our siblings, our children, our friends, and our lovers. “Kids” become young adults, adults, middle-aged and old.
Our houses and cars and clothes get old and wear out. Absolutely everything is subject to the great law of entropy.
But there’s really, really good news. We all have time and energy to pay attention to the things that matter most. So while our children will age and move through the stages of life, we can maintain those relationships. And the same is true with friends and cars and hobbies.
Ultimately, if you “set it and forget it,” everything in your life will fall apart. But it just takes a little effort to maintain the relationships and things that matter to us. We can keep working on communications and regular tune-ups. We can keep trying, year after year.
Everything wants to change. Everything wants to fall apart. And no one has enough energy to stop the world from turning. But you can choose the things and the people that matter the most. And you can do the work and the maintenance that keeps those things tuned up and working.
My personal motto for more than twenty years has been, Nothing Happens by Itself. That is certainly true in this case. You get to decide which relationships you’ll keep tuned up. You get to decide whether you’ll keep working on friendships. You even get to decide whether you’ll keep your own self in order, or let yourself fall apart and give into the law of entropy.
Ultimately, life is a never-ending cycle of building and rebuilding. As everything changes, you get to choose who and what deserves your limited attention and effort. It’s a never-ending job of balancing and rebalancing.
There’s no point in wanting this cycle of entropy and maintenance to stop. That’s not an option. The only option is to choose with intention the things that matter most today and tomorrow. Balance and then rebalance. And rebalance again and again – forever.
Your comments and feedback are welcome.
🙂
