Disruption recovery planning for daily life!
A missing life skill we never talk about..
As we step into a new year, most of us feel optimistic about the future. We set intentions to become better versions of ourselves by joining the gym, eating healthier, and working on our goals. But while we spend so much time planning for improvement, how often do we prepare for disruption?
If you work in the technology field, you’re likely familiar with Disaster Recovery Planning. Organizations don’t assume disasters will happen every day, but they plan anyway. Disaster Recovery (DR) is a documented strategy that outlines how an organization will respond to and recover from disruptive events, ensuring continuity of critical operations while minimizing downtime.
These disruptions can range from floods or earthquakes to cyberattacks, power outages, or any incident that interrupts normal business operations. The goal is simple: recover systems, restore access, and keep the business running.
So why don’t we apply the same thinking to our daily lives?
Disruptions are inevitable - Preparedness is a choice
Ups and downs are inevitable, but could we be better prepared for the downs or at least the disruptions? Life disruptions can be small, like losing your phone or experiencing a power outage, or much bigger, such as serious illness, accidents, job loss, or even the death of a loved one.
Do you have a plan for moments like these?
Our phones, for example, are central to everything we do. They hold our contacts, finances, navigation, and access to almost every part of our lives. But what happens if you lose your phone? Do you have phone numbers memorized to reach your spouse or family? Can you navigate from point A to point B without following the blue line on a screen? If you lose your wallet, do you know exactly whom to contact and what steps to take to deactivate your cards?
Beyond day-to-day disruptions, there are larger questions we often avoid. Do you have a financial plan if you lose your job? What happens if your spouse passes away? These are uncomfortable scenarios to imagine, but preparation matters. Living wills, medical power of attorney - documents that designate who can make medical decisions on your behalf and estate planning are not pessimistic, they are protective.
Incident response vs. Disruption recovery
Disruptions are unavoidable. When they happen, it’s easy to panic or freeze, unsure of what to do next. The longer we dwell on the disruption without taking action, the deeper the impact becomes. But when we have a plan, responding becomes easier much like how large organizations handle disasters with clear steps and failover mechanisms so operations continue.
This is where Incident Response Planning (IRP) comes in. In technology, IRP is an integral part of recovery process. It outlines the immediate actions required to contain damage and manage a crisis effectively.
In simple terms:
Incident Response Plan: What do you do the moment something goes wrong?
Disruption Recovery Plan: How do you stabilize, restore, and continue life forward?
Both are essential. One without the other creates chaos or exhaustion.
An incident can be any sudden event that shocks you, requires immediate decisions, and disrupts normal functioning like losing your phone, your child getting sick at school, your car refusing to start, or receiving a shocking message or call.
The goal of a Life IRP is not to solve everything at once. It’s to reduce panic, prevent poor decisions, create immediate safety, and buy time. A simple framework includes: detect what happened, contain the situation, stabilize what’s essential, and escalate if needed.
Disruption Recovery begins after the adrenaline fades. This is often when people struggle the most. Fatigue sets in, emotions surface, systems are still broken, yet life must continue. A Life DR plan focuses on continuity: restoring normal rhythms, reducing long-term impact, preventing burnout, and rebuilding confidence.
That process includes assessing what actually broke - home, finances, health, or access, restoring critical functions like food, sleep, safety, and cash flow, building temporary workarounds such as simpler routines or asking for help, and reviewing what worked and what didn’t.
For example, if you lose your phone while out: your incident response might involve stopping the panic, retracing your steps, securing your safety, borrowing a phone, notifying key contacts, and blocking payments. Recovery comes later like replacing the phone, restoring access, and adding redundancy like written phone numbers or backup payment methods.
Smarter way to prepare
We can’t plan for everything in life. But we can anticipate common disruptions and prepare for them.
We don’t plan because we expect life to fall apart. We plan because when something does go wrong, we want to meet it with a little more calm and a little less fear. Disruption recovery isn’t about controlling the future, it’s about protecting our ability to keep going, even when things don’t look the way we hoped they would. Sometimes, having a plan is simply an act of kindness toward our future selves.
Stay tuned for more.
Signing out,
Sana
Love how you explained this concept so clearly.