Aaron, a very savvy professor in a local college, just lost all the information on his computer. Even the well trained and educated have been trapped by not having backup plans. Disasters can and do hit, and a lot of us are unprepared in some or many areas of our lives.

Besides the 9/11 disaster, we had the Loma Prieta earthquake, the Oakland fire, and now the southern California wildfires. With fires you may have an hour or two to leave. With an earthquake or other disaster there may be no preparation time. If you have 15 minutes or less to leave your house what will you do? What is important to recall is that even with good plans, emergencies can cause stress and confusion. Without plans it is just simply hash!

To make a plan, visualize yourself in this difficult situation, when there is instant chaos and little time. You may be awakened from sleep, groggy, in pajamas and bare feet. You could be in the shower. You could have a sick child.

I worked with my client, Jennifer, to rearrange her living-room furniture to have a cabinet placed by the front door for emergency supplies. She now has two canvas bags in there, with supplies: from extra shoes, jacket and set of warm clothes through First Aid, medicines, plus hand-crank flashlight and radio. By thinking through various scenarios we came up with bottom-line essentials (extra ATM card and keys for sure). Since doing that, she and her husband feel more comfortable. They are set to get out that door in less than one minute (even with only wearing a bath towel), and have some control over how things turn out after that.

What about children—each needs a backpack. What will be important to them in a disruption of normal living? Think it through; then choose items as small as possible. Each child over the age of 5 can manage carrying some size of pack with their things. Very lightweight clothing, and comfort items. Have this ready now. Of course there need to be rehearsals for children, just as there are fire drills at school. And what about the pets? What about the family photos or favorite item of memorabilia? After a disaster many people express that their greatest loss was not having the book manuscript, the passport, a zip disk with the thesis, etc. Get a Safe Deposit box, nuisance or not, and keep the passports, backup of thesis or books, copy favorite photos or store the originals.

Take time to make a plan. Do yourself a favor, and make an appointment, in writing on the calendar, for sometime within the next two weeks. With creative advance plans we can manage even rough times with some amount of ease.