I have always been a very routine-oriented kind of guy.
I get up, I shave, I shower, get dressed, make the coffee, let the dog out, recite my morning prayers, and finally get to work.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Many people these days are “in transition” – that’s the polite term for “between jobs” or “downsized” or “laid off.” And by the way, just because it is polite doesn’t mean it isn’t a really good word. I’m not sure were “polite” came to mean something negative….
People in transition often have difficulty adjusting to the change in status, because it means a disruption in their routine. But there is a piece of advice that has been reiterated to me and the in-transition world many times: Don’t change your entire routine just because where you go to work has changed. Even if you are spending full-time looking for a job, and you do that in your basement on your own PC, stick to the routine. Some people even go so far as to have a “defining event” that says, “Now I am no longer home, now I’m at work.” If that’s what you need, do it – go for a walk around the block, drive to the Starbucks at the corner, whatever you need… and when you get back, you are officially at the office. This works too if you are starting or developing a home-based business. This “I work in a bathrobe and slippers; why not, nobody sees me” attitude is nonsense, in my opinion. Treat yourself as though you are in a job, and that will help you get there.
What does this have to do with technology?
Ah, we are focusing here on the importance of routine. Just as it is important for you to develop helpful, productive patterns in your life, so too is it vital to do that for your technology.
In previous posts we’ve talked about some of the fundamentals: virus protection, power protection, succession planning, firewalls, and backups (I call these The Five Fundamentals for Avoiding Technology Stress. If you attend to these, you will sleep better and reduce your risk of loss from your technology.)
None of the Five Fundamentals is a one-time effort. Each requires you to develop a routine – a pattern of attention that you need to take on so that technology stress can’t regrow. It’s kind of like shower mildew. You bleach it, and it’s gone for a time. If you don’t keep cleaning, the mildew comes back.
Take backups, for example – that’s the biggest bang for the buck regarding developing routine. It’s also pretty obvious – backup planning is not complete without it.
Virus protection, assuming it is properly configured, takes care of itself pretty well – but you should take nothing for granted. Make sure that the software and the virus definition files (the data the program uses to detect and intercept viruses) are up-to-date. Automatic updates have been known to fail, and every program has a manual update process. Learn how to use it.
Power protection is often overlooked from a routine standpoint. Batteries eventually need replacement. Most UPS units will tell you when, but don’t ignore the warning. Really “dirty” power coming out of the wall can drastically lower overall battery life.
Your firewall might sit in your router – part of the connection to the Internet. How does that get updated? The usual answer is “Updated? You can update a firewall/router?” Yes, you can, and you should, as often as the manufacturer publishes new firmware. Fortunately, that’s not very often. But other updates may have to happen as your network environment changes. You may need to alter the settings for your firewall. If you don’t know how, ask for help.
What about succession planning? Well, as with any other planning activity (we’ll talk in the future about Disaster Recovery planning, for example), once you make the plan that’s NOT the end. You need to take it out periodically – typically six months to a year, or if some other event mandates a review – and make sure it still makes sense for your business. And test it. And update it if necessary.
So routines are good, and vital to the success of your technical and business life. Get into good habits, and you will reducing your technology stress more and more.
