I was recently en route to Texas when I realized my laptop wasn't working. No big deal, I thought. I was certain it would boot up momentarily. After ten tries, I was getting nervous. What if it were broken? What if? When did I last back it up? I shouldn't confess lest I embarrass myself here. Rest assured, it had been a while.

How come? you may be asking. After all, I teach this stuff and should know better. I count myself among those who listen to sound advice. Although I teach time management and coach small business owners, I am not perfect. Like you, I am busy. I want to reflect on my experience and use it as a lesson in planning.

What's a busy person supposed to do? My answer and advice are the same as I give to myself. Plan, plan, plan. Ya-da-da-da-da ... all you need is plan (sung to the tune of the Beatles' hit "All You Need is Love." )

We often forget or avoid scheduling car maintenance and other routine items such as computer back-ups, annual physicals, purging file cabinets, and more. Many of us are so busy we don't make time for the seemingly small stuff. Responding to crisis is a common occurrence rather than being proactive. We wait until we are sick; business is down; relationships are failing; or, we are overweight before doing something to remedy the situation. Better late than never, you might say, but early prevention often saves time, resources and sometimes lives.

Everyone or everything important to you has a maintenance schedule. If I want to minimize losses on my laptop, I must back it up weekly or perhaps daily. If someone wants to lose weight and stay lean, that person will need a maintenance plan to follow-up the initial weight loss period. If you want an organized office, you'll have to clean out your files and supply closets at least yearly. The reason we can admire historical buildings is because many of them were maintained and therefore, well-preserved. I'm sure you get the point.

Figure out what's important to you and create a maintenance schedule for it. I suggest you sit down once a month to schedule your maintenance items into your calendar.

There is the typical planning for vacations or getting children ready for college. Most of the same rules apply. Make a list of important items and assign a realistic timeline. Create a schedule based on the information gathered, then pace yourself. If you want to avoid a time crunch at the end - this method will result in your being relaxed and in control of your time. Make every effort to schedule the minimum for the first day back in the office as you'll need to be flexible to respond to what's transpired in your absence. Quite often, fellow staffers and stacks eagerly await you on your return.

Happy Summer!

"This is above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man (or woman)."

Shakespeare

Spend some time setting up maintenance schedule. You create a spreadsheet which makes it a snap to repeat the schedule and simply edit as you go along.

"Only two things are infinite,
the universe and human stupidity,
and I'm not sure about the former."

Albert Einstein