by Kareem Carr

Traveling, moving, hard drive failures, regular use of public transport and just regular life has left me with a healthy respect for the unexpected. The larger the life-changing step, the greater the number of complicated steps chained one after the other, the more likely it seems that something will go unexpectedly and disastrously wrong. It can be something simple, or something complicated. It will often be something completely outside of your control and impossible to predict.

I have found that some strategies can make bad luck easier to handle. I am still learning how to be more effective when things don’t work out. I am sure some of you readers have some ideas too. However, I do have a few things I would have told myself in the past to speed me along to where I am now. I will say a few of them here.

Redundancy. Prepare for components to fail. Have a back up hard drive. Anticipate the possibility of flood, fire or burglary. Build buffer time into your travel plans. Consider the possibility all flights are canceled, that the train or bus system might be experiencing massive delays on that one day that you need to get there on time. Of course, building in redundancy can be time consuming and expensive so one needs to make a judgement call about what is worth it and what is not. We can’t prepare for everything.

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