Let’s face it: even though finding out about survivalism and preparedness has profoundly changed the way you think, being a newbie isn’t necessarily the best position to be in.
Newbie preppers make a lot of mistakes. They spend too much money on preps, they focus on one or two aspects of survival while completely ignoring critical ones such as OPSEC or their fitness levels… simply because they haven’t read enough about them to see their importance.
In today’s article, I’m not going to talk about some of these mistakes, I’m going to do something a lot better. I’m going to give you some pointers that will help you go beyond beginner level and will ultimately teach you how to think to take your prepping knowledge to the next level.
Tip #1: Don’t Believe Everything You Read
When I say you shouldn’t believe everything you hear or read, I’m not necessarily referring to the fact that you should listen to the gurus and ignore everyone else. Far from it. What I’m suggesting you listen toeveryone and then figure out who’s right and in what context by using your best judgement as well as common sense.
The reasoning behind this is that opinions are biased and, a lot of times, are the exact opposite of what youshould be doing.
For example, if a self-defense expert is telling you that you shouldn’t use a tactical light (or a flashlight) when a burglar visits your house in the middle of the night, that may sound like a good idea because you would make yourself less of a target. Since you know your house best, you’re more likely to shoot him than he is to shoot you.
This all sounds good but what if your have blurry vision? Without a light you miss and… I don’t need to tell you what could happen next. Plus, what if you have 2-3 kids inside the house, how will you know it’s not one of them you’re aiming at without a flashlight? Unless you have pretty good eyes, you won’t.
Now, I’m not trying to tell you you should or shouldn’t use a flashlight. The point I’m trying to make is that the more you read, the better you will understand what course of action you need to take.
The obvious question to ask yourself now is: how do I learn more about a prepping?
It’s easy. Google is your best friend. The trick is you gotta know how to search for what you’re looking for; to do it in such a way that Google spits out the best results only.
Sticking to only one search is simply not enough, you need you be a little creative. Instead of searching for “how to stockpile food”, for example, how about you follow that up with “food stockpiling mistakes”, “food stockpiling forum”, “survival food” and so on? Plus, once you find a different sub-topic, such as “food shelf life”, you can go ahead and search for that as well. You’ll be surprised to find there’s a to the point article for pretty much anything you search.
The key to learning is you want to do it in a “radial” way, as opposed to “linear”, by reading blog post after blog post written by a single person. This is what Google search is all about and that’s how your brain learns best.
Tip #2: Listen to Podcasts and Watch Videos
It’s one thing to read but you’re really taking things to a whole new level when you listen to prepping podcasts, YouTube videos and survival TV shows and movies. Yes, even though some of these shows have little to do with real-world prepping, they’re still fun to watch. At the very least, you’ll be able to better understand why average people think prepping is crazy and come up with comebacks to their objections.
To find them, you can use Google but you don’t really have to leave this website to get started. You can find a few podcasts here and videos right here.
Tip #3: Start Writing
One of the fastest ways to learn something is to write about it. And there are two options: you can either become active on survival forums or you can start your own blog. Both are fine because writing makes you responsible for everything you say it clarifies certain survival notions and ideas in your head. Writing also makes you become better at research because you’ll oftentimes find yourself in arguments with people that you just gotta win.
Tip #4: Try Before You Buy
A neat little way to make sure you’re getting the right gear is to go to brick and mortar stores and see it with your own eyes before you buy. Sure, we have Amazon as well as other e-stores with thousands of products to choose from. We also have lots of review articles and videos on the web that analyze them but nothing compares to you actually going to a brick and mortar store and holding some of these items in your hand.
The fact that you’re actually touching the gear will not only save you money because you’ll (avoid buying the wrong thing off Amazon when you get home) but it also introduces a new way of learning: by touch.
Tip #5: Try to Convince Others to Prep
Notice I said you should try, not necessarily to succeed. I know this is tough for a lot of people because there’s a lot of negativity surrounding the subject but think of it as an exercise, nothing more. Convincing anyone of anything, really, gives you a different kind of satisfaction that raises your self-esteem as well as a glimpse of the human nature and what it reacts to.
I hope this helps you with your research and that it changed the way you prepare. Instead of just kind of wandering around websites, consuming information they way THEY want you to, you are now smarter because you know how to dig for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.