My father once told me that a very important thing you need to know how to do is break into your own house. He then spent the next several hours coaching me on how to do it, letting me think of solutions and try them out, gently guiding me, etc.
His explanation was this: If you ever lock yourself out or something, you’re actually the best person to solve that problem. You know your house better than anyone else, usually. And you’ll be more careful than someone brought in to do the job, like a locksmith – not to mention cheaper. But his broader lesson was that you needed to understand the way your things were protected. If your own house turned out to be shockingly easy to break into, that might be a sign you need to adjust a few things.
We tie a lot of things together in our modern lives. Imagine what would happen if someone stole your phone, for instance. Forget about protecting your assets from thieves accessing them via your device – how would you regain access to those things? Do you have a plan? What if the password storage system you have goes belly-up and you need to re-access accounts in a different way? Do you know how to navigate the various help desks and support teams and their labyrinthine ways?
It’s good practice to be able to hack into your own life when you need to. If nothing else, it’s a fun little self-assessment. But it might save you a major headache.
The Opportunity Machine 