Taking care of your future self

I refer to the idea expressed in this brilliant graphic as “Taking care of your future self.”

I am constantly telling my children, my students, and even some adults to take care of their future selves by investing now to ensure that tomorrow will be bright and happy.

My former principal, Plato Karafelis, would tell parents, “You pay now or pay later.”

Case in point:

On Christmas day, Charlie spilled apple cider on my laptop. Though the computer continued to function, the keys were sticky like a toddler’s fingers by the next day. Many of them wouldn’t budge.

So I made an appointment at the Apple store, took out my backup laptop, and began to work.

Five minutes later, the battery in the backup laptop failed, causing the computer to cease functioning unless it was continuously plugged in.

So I made another appointment at the Apple store and retrieved the backup to my backup, which was also ready to go. It’s admittedly not the best machine in the world. It’s about eight years old and achingly slow in comparison to my other two machines, but it was loaded with all of my content, updated, and ready to go.

Every Sunday, I place all three of these laptops on my desk, power them up, and allow them to sync, so that all three are identical in terms of content and software. I also ensure that any required updates are made and necessary patches are applied.  Charlie has thought it crazy that I have a backup to my backup ready at all times, but I’ve told him I never want to be a person who requires a laptop to work and be stuck without it.

“Sometimes even your backup will fail,” I’ve told him. “And in those cases, only a truly prepared person – someone taking care of his future self – will be able to continue working.”

Granted, you also need to have the means to own a backup to the backup, but as an author and someone who runs his business online, my computer is my most important tool, so living without a backup makes no sense.

Also, it’s not like I purchased these computers as backups. I simply held onto the older machines when they were replaced, made the necessary repairs to keep them functioning, and worked diligently to keep them updated and running well.

When I opened the backup to the backup and began working, Charlie couldn’t believe it.

“Dad, it’s like you saw the future.”

I was happy with how impressed he was with me, but I hope he learned something important, too:

Do the hard work now so you can have an easier life later.

This philosophy – and this brilliant graphic – apply to so many things in life:

• Education
• Parenting
• Exercise
• Diet
• Saving for a rainy day
• Retirement planning
• Relationships

Hard decisions early on will almost always yield a far easier life later on.