Motivation: Be prepared
This weekend we have seen some of the worst bushfires in Australia. First of all, to those of you who have been deeply affected by the tragedy, I would like to send my thoughts and prayers. I know the Government will do the best it can to rebuild those hundreds of homes that were lost, and rebuild the community. But what they cannot do is bring back those people who were caught in the blaze. Nor can they replace those personal items we all collect and treasure. All I can hope is these bushfires were not the result of someone's behaviour as is being speculated at the moment.
What has this got to do with Motivate Me and Motivating you in particular?
Well - everything actually.
If you saw a bushfire heading your way - would you know what to pick up and throw in the car? What important items do you have? What will you need to put your life back into some sort of order? Of course it could be any kind of "natural" disaster. Floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions - we live on an ever changing planet and sometimes we get in the way of the re-arrangement. As devastating as those times are, we can almost understand the natural selection process that goes on. But mindless destruction - no - I'm afraid I will never understand that.
Which is why I like to be prepared - as best as I can should we need to evacuate. And for those of you who have been with me awhile will know that actually happened when my neighbors house burnt down.
Cnsequently I have been spending a lot of my free time backing up files. Cataloguing my books and music, scanning old pictures and making sure my important documents are in one place so that should I need to - I can pick up the laptop and my briefcase and head out of the door chasing cats and kids.
Today I am going to ask you to do several things. One for me - and the rest for you.
Could you please add your thoughts and prayers to mine for those people who have lost their lives and the families who have lost everything.
Once you have done that - and thank you for doing that for me. Could you go through both your house and your place of work and make sure you have everything organised should you need to evacuate. Do you know your escape routes? Do you know where your important papers and documents are? Do you have copies of everything you deem important (and no I don't mean cloning family members and pets). How soon would you be able to rebuild your life?
Put it like this, if you know what you had - you can know what to claim through your insurance for. Oh and that's one final thought - when was the last time you had a look at your insurance. I upped my re-build costs as a result of my neighbours blaze as it had been several years since I had in fact looked at mine.
We may think it will never happen to us, but we can be prepared - just in case.
What I have found to be interesting is this - as you start this process - other things will begin to happen naturally. You will start to throw away things you don't need. You will (if you are anything like me) find old documents and papers you do longer need. You will begin to clean up the whole of your life as a result of determing what you deem to be important enough to pick up and run with.
February 9, 2009 at 10:42
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