Category: Time

Technician Tuesday: Finding a way to regularly backup my files.

For many years I backed up my files by creating copies on other disks or other drives. I only did this when I remembered.

This is still the method many people use.

Over ten years ago I went to a presentation by a woman who was speaking about data, electronic files, backups, and so on. She said that she had talked to multiple parents and grandparents who had lost many early pictures of their children because the pictures were on a cell phone, and nowhere else. The cell phone died, and so did the pictures.

I broke out of my own bad habits after reading comments about businesses destroyed by computer crashes. That finally made me appreciate the difference between time and money. The money to buy a replacement computer probably can be found. The time to recreate all the lost files probably cannot be found.

I did install a program which regularly backs up my computer files, some time last year.

There are multiple ways of creating file backups. Currently I’m using Macrium Reflect which creates a disk image. I can also use a program which will only back up certain files and directories I choose. Maximum PC magazine had a recent article listing various useful programs for Windows, including a backup program. I will start going through that list and seeing what I like and what I don’t.

(That decade-ago lecturer also said if you really want to save photos for posterity, print them out. Nothing digital will be as reliable. I believe that, yet that is something I haven’t yet done myself. That will be a project for late this year or early next year, to start picking which photos I want printed and looking into how to get them printed.)

Mindset Monday: Who takes the risk when someone says “I’m sure it will be fine”?

Success breeds a lot of things. There’s the saying that “success breeds success” which is often true. Success also breeds envy.

I’ve found envy easiest to spot and deal with when it has anger combined with it. The peevish tones of voice are the flag that there is something personal going on here. “Why is this person so irritated that I did well? Why are they so angry about how I did this? . . . Ohhh, they’re envious. *sigh*”

What has been harder for me to learn how to spot is the envy which hides behind very insistent and assertive helpfulness. I’ve done well on a project and now someone else very helpfully is trying to suggest other ways I should be doing this project, the next project I should taking on, and who I should be talking to or asking for help.

Amidst all these helpful suggestions, what happens if the helpful suggestions sound like they are not a good idea? I’ll often get the response “Oh, I’m sure it will be fine.”

Regardless of the purity of motive of the person being helpful, who ultimately bears the risks? Is it me? Is it someone else? Asking this question helps clear out a lot of the verbal and mental clutter that can accompany too many helpful suggestions.

Technician Tuesday: Finding simpler tools. Word processors and photo editing as examples. (2022 Aug 23)

On Monday, I wrote about viewing my time and effort as limited resources. When a piece of technology, hardware or software, starts taking too long to use, I look for alternatives.

The time to learn and use a simple alternative for one task is often shorter than making a more complicated program do that task.

(AutoCAD was infamous for this in the 1990s and 2000s, it could do almost anything if you took the time to figure out how. I’ve never set up ERP systems, or even simpler inventory systems, but I’ve talked many people who spent far more time managing their ERP / inventory / POS systems than they ever spent managing paper records. And Microsoft Excel has its own eSports World Excel Championships, which was broadcast on ESPN2.)

First example: word processors and spreadsheets.

I didn’t use Microsoft Office for several months, a few years back. I logged in to Microsoft Windows with a different email than I’d used to purchase a Microsoft Office subscription. Microsoft was very concerned. I was constantly asked by Microsoft Office if I wanted to change my account. (No, I did not.) I got “Microsoft account problem” warnings from Microsoft Windows. Then I got stuck in the maelstrom of Windows wants Windows Hello, Windows Hello wants facial recognition or a fingerprint sensor, and said the heck with this.

There are a ton of things Microsoft Office can do. I wanted a simpler word processor. So, I downloaded LibreOffice. It installs fast. I don’t get any Microsoft account errors. The program does occasionally crash, so I save often. That’s the only drawback I’ve found. Now, I only buy a Microsoft Office subscription when I need to use a Microsoft Office document or spreadsheet with features only Microsoft Office supports.

Second example: photo resizing and watermarking.

I use a digital camera which creates large files. I’m not going to ask my friends to download huge photo files when they want to look at my pictures. I could use a photo editing program like Photoshop or GIMP to edit each photo, decreasing the file size and adding a watermark with my name and the year. I could learn how to create macros in a photo editing program.

I downloaded AVS4You instead. There are lots of other alternatives, I use AVS4You, use whatever you want. The photo resizing program (technically the image converter) from AVS4You is free to download. I load the photos, set file name modifications, file size modifications, watermark, and which directory for the new files.

No, I don’t get any compensation from any program or company I mention using. You can use whatever you want, I’m using examples of what works for me.

Mindset Monday: Time and effort. What might be gained, what might be lost. (2022 Aug 22)

I see it written in finance that an important part of wealth building is not spending more than you need to. Yes, find ways to earn more and bring more in, but also take a look at what is going out.

I apply a similar mindset to my time and effort. If I’m going to spend an hour today learning something new, that’s an hour which won’t go to anything else. Taking on new challenges is something I enjoy. I’ve had to learn how to say “no” or even “No!” because of the times I’ve burnt myself out. I can’t think of anything which burned me out where the reward was worth the depleted output during the time I was recovering.

When I work for someone else, I don’t have the option of making all decisions about what I’ll do. If the task today is sweeping floors, I sweep floors. I also know that I have options such asking why we’re doing it this way. Multiple places, multiple supervisors, I’ve pointed out that whatever they have me working on, everything else on my to-do list isn’t being worked on.

I don’t enjoy filing. The time I spend filing now is time saved later when I look something up. (I learned that lesson the hard way, multiple times.)

For everything else, there’s always alternatives. For everything I do on my own times, there’s at least two dozen other things I could be doing, and at least a half dozen other things I should be doing.

I view my time, energy, and attention as limited resources. I’m never at a loss for something to do. The question I ask is “What am I doing right now, and why?”

(Edited shortly after publication to change the title slightly and add an extra category.)