Writing every day for 365 days, I’ve learned to keep my writings safe.

Have you ever lost your mind? No, I am talking about your digital mind? When you transcribe your thoughts on a digital medium, you need to take care of the files you save.

I did. I did l lose my mind. It was many years ago. But I promised myself I would have never lost it again. That is why I came up with an approach that, only today, I discovered is called “3-2-1”.

Store three copies of your digital documents.

Two, locally, but on two different locations.

One, upload it to your favorite cloud storage system.

There are many ways to automate the copy making and the backup of your files and, since it will be outdated at the exact moment I will write it here, you will have to do your research elsewhere.

Surely, avoid doing what you can demand a robust process and reliable software. You should set-up your backup workflow once and then forget about it.

What should you check as the most critical thing in a backup workflow? The retrieval. What if, Einstein forbids, you need to retrieve a backup copy of your documents. Can you do it? (it’s not a stupid question). Is it easy, accessible, convenient, practical? Otherwise, your backup strategy is entirely useless.

While waiting to upload your physical brain, do yourself a favor, backup your digital documents now. And check if it worked.

This is Essay 26 of 30 in my challenge One Year Writing: 30 Lessons Learned in 30 Days

1. The Journey is the Purpose (16 Nov 2020)
2. Writing is Thinking (17 Nov 2020)
3. Write a Lot to Write Well (18 Nov 2020)
4. Creative Loneliness (19 Nov 2020)
5. Be Less Ambitious, Be More Consistent (20 Nov 2020)
6. Writing builds your networks (21 Nov 2020)
7. Connect ideas now (22 Nov 2020)
8. Writing improves your memory (23 Nov 2020)
9. Writing makes you a better observer (24 Nov 2020)
10. Writing sets the focus on yourself (25 Nov 2020)
11. Dissolve your distractions (26 Nov 2020)
12. Writing reduces your jargon and slang (27 Nov 2020)
13. Walking generates ideas (28 Nov 2020)
14. Writing is like drinking coffee (29 Nov 2020)
15. Creativity makes you happy (30 Nov 2020)
16. Be smart, let it go (1 Dec 2020)
17. Writing is a process (2 Dec 2020)
18. Automate repetitive tasks (3 Dec 2020)
19. Publish text as digital text, not images (4 Dec 2020)
20. Why asking questions? (5 Dec 2020)
21. Facilitate growth by tracking habits (6 Dec 2020)
22. Type more, type faster, type better (7 Dec 2020)
23. Transcribe your thoughts to become an effective communicator (8 Dec 2020)
24. Write daily to become a better manager (9 Dec 2020)
25. Do it small to do it better (10 Dec 2020)
26. Don’t lose your mind. Back it up (11 Dec 2020)
27. Write daily to enhance your reality (12 Dec 2020)
28. If only I could be ten, again (13 Dec 2020)
29. Writing compounds despite everything (14 Dec 2020)
30. The habit of building habits (15 Dec 2020)