As discussed in time management part 1, time management is one of our biggest frustrations with readiness and prepping. Unfortunately, many of us suffer from too much to do and not enough time to do it in. However, while we suffer from lack of time, we have people like Ryan Mitchell of TheTinyLife.com to give…

Time and time management is one of our biggest frustrations as preppers. Almost all of us suffer from a heavy dose of not enough hours in the day. While all of our great technology makes things easier, it also causes us to be busier.

Think about it. Most of us have a smartphone rooted in our hand throughout the day. When the phone isn't in our hand, we're in front of the computer or watching television. All of that time takes away from what we should be doing, becoming better prepared.

Sadly, we're not the first to suffer from this. However, unlike some others, we have a distinct advantage in overcoming our time constraints. That distinct advantage is Ryan Mitchell of TheTinyLife.com. Ryan, as you will hear in the podcast episode, or when reading the free downloadable transcripts below, is a self-made person.

Ryan has overcome adversity and struggles to now be independent and free. He's accomplished this through implementing the tactics and strategies discussed in the episode, which includes time management. At first, time can be difficult to manage, Fortunately, all it takes is time, dedication and situational awareness.

What, situational awareness!? Yes,  by paying attention to how we use the time we have, we'll be better able to fine-tune our use to where we should be. As we do, our available time will open and when it does, we'll be better off because of our effort.

Lastly...

Never forget, you’re just one prep away.

If you have any other thoughts or questions about prepper time management, please leave a comment below.

Stay safe, secure and prepared,

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Staying informed is crucial to maintaining and improving our preparedness. Without keeping abreast of up to date information, we may find ourselves having difficulties if things go wrong. After all, we all recognize that current information is a key to preparedness. In this episode on Staying Informed Internet Old School Electronics Physical Products – Internet In Person…

Are you new to prepping? It can be overwhelming at first, but you will quickly become better prepared if you cover four basic areas. It all starts with a mindset about covering all your bases so that you're ready in case of a crisis.

What to Focus on When You're New to Prepping

The best way to ensure that you cover all of your safety, security, and preparedness needs is through the four basics or pillars of preparedness. By incorporating the four basics of preparedness into your planning process, you will be more like to achieve 360-degree security coverage. In turn, you will be more resilient and better able to deal with life's many challenges.

We'll talk about those basics below.

Health, Fitness, Medical, Sanitation

Health, fitness, medical, and sanitation are important aspects of any preparedness-minded person. If we are not as healthy and fit as possible, we will not function as effectively as possible. Therefore, we all must do what we can to be in the best shape possible for each of us.

Those who are new to prepping should sit down and evaluate the health and fitness of each family member. 

Is anyone on prescription medications?

Does anyone have special dietary needs? (diabetic? babies?)

Is there any specialized medical equipment needed? (Nebulizers, CPaps, fridge for insulin?)

Do any of your loved ones have mobility issues?

Are there any chronic illnesses in the family?

How fit are your family members? If you had to walk a long distance, could everyone do it?

Figure out any problems that need to be addressed. Can you stock up on prescription medication? How will you power essential medical equipment in a long-term power outage? What are some alternatives for transporting those with mobility problems?

Almost every family has some special needs. Thinking these things through ahead of time will allow you to build a plan that takes these needs into account.

Sanitation is one of the most overlooked aspects of those who are new to prepping.

If we don't take proper sanitation into account, even the healthiest family won't stay healthy for long. Think about how you will stay clean, where you'll use the bathroom if the toilet doesn't work, and how you will keep sanitation-borne illnesses at bay.

Water, Food, Nutrition

Maintaining proper nutrition, eating well, and drinking plenty of water is an essential aspect of our lives. Water, food, and nutrition directly impact our health and performance.

Therefore, we all must work to ensure we maintain our diet and water consumption in good times and bad times. After all, if we don't fuel the machine, the machine won't run. In this case, we are the machine.

If you're new to prepping, start by doing an inventory of what you already have. You may be surprised to find that you have way more food than you thought you did. Then, each time you go to the store, try to add more shelf-stable items to your stockpile. Here's an article about creating a 3-layer food storage plan.

Make sure to create a water plan when you're new to prepping.

As for water, you need to think about three things:

Storing it

Acquiring it

Purifying it

The longer the emergency lasts, the more important the last two things become.

Personal Security, Physical Security, Operational Security

Personal security, physical security, and operational security are all critical elements of any preparedness effort. Without protecting ourselves, our family, friends, property, and information, we open ourselves to risk. When we introduce risk into our situation, we will eventually run out of luck and have a problem. Unfortunately, issues often happen at the worst time. The last thing any of us need in a disaster situation is to have a security issue.

If you are new to prepping,

Everyone is working hard to get prepared, but it's easy to fall victim to the biggest prepping mistakes out there. Our consensus of the biggest prepping mistakes is based on the results of a poll that was provided to over 1000 members of the Mind4Survival Facebook group. With its broad base of input, this provides a very realistic accounting of the five biggest prepping mistakes people make. 

And, of course, the best way to avoid these prepping mistakes is to know what they are!

In This Episode on the Prepping Mistakes to Avoid

So what are the top five prepping mistakes?

Dunning-Kruger Effect

All Talk, No Action

Mono Focus

All Buy & No Fly

Bugged About Bugging Out

Let's look at each of these a little more closely.

1.) The Dunning-Kruger Effect

The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when someone thinks they are better at something than they are. For example, in spite of being old, broken, inexperienced, some folks think they are better than most at a certain skill. Think about the guy who was the star of the high school football team - 35 years ago. He no longer works out and hasn't in years, but he still thinks of himself as that elite athlete. He has an evacuation plan that requires a high level of fitness, and he's confident he'll have no problem enacting it. If it was go-time and he needed to bug out on foot across 25 miles of rough terrain, rucking that heavy pack with 80 pounds of his "necessities," he'd get a reality check FAST.

It can also be mental - when clueless people are convinced they know more about a topic than they really do.  You often see this with people who are heavy on theory - they've read all the post-apocalyptic fiction books out there - but light on experience. Yet they try to argue with people who have actually been through an SHTF event, telling them, "That's not how it's going to happen."

Their misjudgment of the situation can be one of the most deadly prepping mistakes you can make.

2.) All Talk, No Action

This applies to the person who talks about preparedness and considers himself a prepper but doesn't take any actions.  They know what should go in their bug-out bag, but they haven't packed one. They don't complete family emergency plans with their loved ones. Their bug-out plans are too general to even be called plans, and they haven't properly inventoried and created workable bug-in plans, etc.

Often these people who make these prepping mistakes will be the first to advise others on precisely what steps to take, yet they don't take those steps themselves.

3.) Mono Focus

This happens when a person hyper-focuses on only one aspect of preparedness.

For example, maybe they have a huge arsenal but no food. Or, they have a ton of food but no water or medical supplies. They haven't balanced their pillars of preparedness and could discover to their dismay that they are woefully underprepared in some vital area.

Monofocus can also apply to people who consider only one possible scenario happening. Instead of basing their preparedness broadly, they're certain that a specific event is the one that they need to prepare for, and they don't consider the other possibilities. One person may be convinced that an EMP is going to take down civilization, while another person may think that a financial collapse will be the ruin of the world. Meanwhile, they haven't really stopped to consider the disasters that are far more likely, such as a tornado, a blizzard, a job loss, or an earthquake.

They have single-mindedly focused all their preparations on only one possible disaster and will be very likely to find themselves underprepared for other scenarios.

4.) All Buy & No Fly

We all know preppers who have tons of gear still sitting neatly in the box that it's shipping box? Buying gear and equipment and never using it is another of those pre...