How to Think Like a Prepper

Without succumbing to paranoia.

The promised and controversial nuclear survival post is well underway. It is incredibly long and is one of the most exhausting things I’ve ever written. Many in our Discord community have read it and offered excellent feedback. I will push it out as soon as possible when it’s ready. In the meantime, I wanted to talk about something that’s equally important in these anxious times.

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The most important tool in your preparedness arsenal isn’t a weapon, a tool, or even your physical strength. It’s your mind. How can you prepare if you can’t envision what to prepare for? And how can you handle disaster if you have no plan? And just as importantly, how can you develop your thinking without becoming a paranoid conspiracy theorist?

There is a simple outline:

1. Identify actual threats.

2. Ask whether those threats impact you.

3. Ask yourself whether there’s anything you can do about it.

4. Identify other problems the solution may solve.

5. Take action with confidence.

What best trained my prepper brain wasn’t the ice storm of 1994 when we sat in a cold, dark house for a week. Or all the tornadoes I’ve lived through. Or riots, car crashes, getting sucker-punched, my wife slicing off the tip of her thumb, or any of the minor calamities I’ve been privy to. It was having children. Three of them so far.

If you’re a parent, you probably know what I mean. It’s like you develop a spider-sense whenever your kid starts doing something stupid or a stranger is behaving oddly. Suddenly, even possible permutation of disaster flicks through your head and you spring into action.

If you’re not a parent, maybe you think we’re a little weird. But learning to think this way can not only prepare you for parenthood but for handling all of life’s troubles.