8 Prepper Principles For a Prepared Mind

by | Jun 13, 2019 | Emergency Preparedness, Headline News | 23 comments

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    This article was originally published by Tess Pennington at Ready Nutrition. 

    You can have a year’s supply of beans and rice; enough ammo and weapons to fight off the Golden Horde, a gaggle of zombies and a few renegade cannibals; acres of seeds and enough bandages to turn the entire NFL into mummies, but if you don’t have the prepared mindset, you will still struggle to survive.

    What is a prepared mind?

    It’s a way of thinking.  It’s a different philosophy of life than that of most of the population of North America. Someone who is mentally prepared processes everything differently: threats, challenges, and windfalls.

    There are many common factors to this philosophical viewpoint but here are the ones that are the most important.

    1. A prepared mind reacts to a threat by taking action. 

    In my self-defense class, I learned that there are two types of people: victims and victors.  A victim will curl up in a defensive position, perhaps sob, or even freeze in terror.  A victor, however, will react to the threat, even if she knows that she is outweighed, outgunned or outnumbered.  A victor does not give up.  A victor may choose not to fight at a particular moment because it is not the best opportunity, but she will watch for an opening and she will recognize it and be ready when it comes.  A victor knows when to stand and fight and when to run to fight another day.  Even a victor can be afraid, but fear does not rule her – she rules her fear.

    2. A prepared mind is situationally aware.

    A preparedness mindset makes one ever aware of what is going on around him. If an unusual vehicle is present, he takes note of it.  He knows what is normal in his surroundings and is quick to notice when something is different.  When he is in an unfamiliar place, he is actively observing, looking for potential threats and taking mental photographs which can be retrieved if he needs to elude danger or defend himself.

     3. A prepared mind considers privacy as a way of life.

    Privacy is more than just OPSEC; it’s a way of life.  A prepared individual carefully guards her internet privacy, by controlling settings on social media, taking care to avoid posting information that could aid a criminal in locating her, keeping a low profile by not posting attention-getting pictures, and using non-identifying usernames in forums.  She doesn’t share stories about prepping with friends, family, and neighbors unless they have been carefully vetted and are included in plans for the future, should the need arise.  Even with those she shares information with, there are things that remain secret, such as hiding places, survival caches, and the amount of supplies that she possesses.  She teaches her children to be likewise circumspect regarding family supplies and preparations.

     4. A prepared mind has a back-up plan to the back-up plan.

    There is never JUST Plan A.  There is also Plan B and Plan C, at the very least.  A prepared person has multiple evacuation routes and methods.  He has a bug out bag in more than one location.  He doesn’t have all of his supplies in one place, but in two or three, or even more, locations.  Every member of his family knows what to do in the event of an emergency, even if they are geographically apart from the other family members. He attempts to think of things that could foil his plans and then figures out how to deal with the issues before they arise.

     5. A prepared mind takes all possible precautions in order to avoid trouble.

    A person who is prepared is not looking for trouble; she is actively trying to avoid it.  She locks the door to her house, even if she is only stepping out for a moment or if she is at home.  She keeps her car locked and checks the backseat before she gets in.  She parks near the exit when going to a crowded place.  She maintains awareness of those around her in order to recognize a threat.  She carries multiple items that can be used for self defense, based on the laws in her area.  She makes her home uninviting to criminals by posting warning signs about her dog and her alarm system.  She avoids dangerous situations, like walking down a dark deserted alley in a bad neighborhood in the middle of the night, whenever possible.

    6. A prepared mind has a problem-solving attitude.

    Someone who is prepared is not hopelessly dismayed when something goes wrong.  He actively works to prepare broken items using the things he has on hand.  He attacks a problem from different angles until he solves it.  He doesn’t throw in the towel, but when met with undesirable results, tries something different.  He repairs instead of replaces, he substitutes one ingredient when he is out of another, and he figures out how to resolve issues instead of throwing his hands in the air and giving up.  Some might even call him “stubborn”.

     7. A prepared mind is flexible.

    When things turn out differently than expected or planned, a prepared individual does not get rattled.  She merely takes another look at the situation and makes another plan.  She recognizes when it is time to change directions and go about things differently and seizes the opportunity to do so immediately, without wasting precious time attempting to stick to a plan that clearly will not work.

     8. A prepared mind seeks versatility and simplicity.

    Why have two tools if one will do?  A person with a prepared mind will choose the most versatile piece of equipment whenever possible.  He would not select a device that can only be powered one way when he can have one that can be powered by either hand crank or battery.  He wouldn’t get 4 tools when he could get one tool that can do all four jobs.  Why get silly gadgets to do simple tasks when you can do those tasks yourself with no gadgets at all?  (The “boiled egg peeler” comes to mind.)

    Once you’ve changed your personal philosophy, you will notice how your new way of thinking affects your every day, non-crisis life.  Your independent thinking will allow you to succeed in the workplace and at home.  You will be alert and ever-ready to protect yourself, and you will avoid danger and mishap by merely being prepared for it, should it come your way.  That kind of confidence is a major deterrent.

    The first and most vital element of preparedness is the brain. Once you have your mind in the right place, the rest is easy.

    Tess Pennington is the author of the Prepper’s Blueprint.  A guide to preparedness for any situation and it’s especially easy to follow step by step instructions make it a great resource for the beginner prepper.

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      23 Comments

      1. John is gonna be pissed.

      2. “Privacy is more than just OPSEC; it’s a way of life. ”
        By the very fact that I comment on this site breaks this rule.
        The trade off is that I’m on the most remote island on the face of the Earth. You aren’t going to walk or drive here.
        I’ll probably never meet Nailbanger who is less than 60 miles away from me across one of the 10 nastiest Channel crossings in the the world to sail.
        We have both prepped well. But we get to “pop” off.

        • rellik, love ya man, but here are the most remote islands on Earth–Pitcairn is one, Easter Island is one, as is Diego Garcia, but Hawaii doesn’t even make the top 8.
          Other than that, aloha.
          Remoteness is still cool, though.
          ht tps://www.britannica.com/list/8-of-the-worlds-most-remote-islands

          More off topic..
          If I switch to proton mail and ditch gmail, can those a$$holes still read and log everything if the other person still uses gmail?
          Sometimes I think what the hell difference does it make (at this point) 🙂

          • Ketch,
            My rule of “remote” is the furthest distance from any continent.
            Hawaii wins hands down. Your definitions are more
            related to accessibility. My definitions are in kilometers,
            yours are pain in the A$$ factors.
            Did you know Easter island is closer to Los Angeles than Honolulu?
            Personally were it not for lost birds, I don’t think anybody would have ever found this place.
            Aloha Bra!

          • Ketchupondemand, unless both sides of the email are using protonmail, it is true they are not encrypted, and probably parsed for content. So of course you would never want to discuss or forward any sensitive or private information via email with anyone using a non secure email (yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc.) Funny memes and jokes are the limit. Anything more substantial should be sent via telegram, wire, or signal. The NSA can probably crack the encryption on those (especially if the end-to-end option/s aren’t used) if you are a target. However with regards to privacy, your ISP, cell phone provider, google, facebook, and all the other leaches on the internet can’t collect, buy, and sell your private thoughts and info to anyone they want. Use a paid VPN also, to eliminate the ability of our ISP and cell provider to see the websites you visit. Hope this helps 🙂

      3. What a fucking gimmie-gimme she is. “There is never JUST Plan A. There is also Plan B and Plan C, and at the very least, Plan Fuck Me. At least JUST never do Plan D on an empty stomach, or plan F while your neighbor’s dog is in heat, however there is also the double top secret probation Operation Animal House which is just so disappointing.

        • Bertie you need to unfeck yourself. Time to change them dribbies of yours cause they seem to be chafing you. Maybe a long walk on a short pier would do you some good.

      4. There’s a line of thought, in which you are either pressing forward or running away. Some people believe that it is suicidal or decadent, to remain still. Like the prey animal that is cornered in a bush or pile of rocks.

        Some say that you can die of thirst with a full canteen.

        I say, to make something real and not always live in your mind. Imagine, if you had to show some kind of productive labor or output and not procrastinate.

        I have been put in complicated situations, which are often broken into manageable pieces. (Eating the elephant one piece at a time.) Where to start. What is directly in front of you. Many people find it impossible to reason on a Karl Childers level. He appears to be in deep thought, but is not. Horse counting, I call it. It taps it’s hoof, possibly as a matter of cold-reading the trainer.

        I find that re-probe-ates cannot think on their feet, to save their lives. Simple questions have been answered, already. Do it.

        • “I have been put in complicated situations, which are often broken into manageable pieces. (Eating the elephant one piece at a time.) Where to start”
          I’ve never been in a “hot war” but I have been shot at and threatened with certain death and harm.
          The point you bring up is a good one. “Break it down to manageable pieces”. I’m not a professional soldier today.
          My service was not direct combat, but my job was to
          enable others to kill millions and destroy nations.
          You break it down to manageable pieces, so fear
          doesn’t run you over.
          I think that is why we prep.

          • We prepare for unknown unknowns, around invisible corners, and into the unforeseeable future.

            Anyone who is bored, or who cannot find anything useful to do, needs to look no further than directly under his nose.

            Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Matt 6)

            These emergencies are like science fiction. Science fiction is an exaggeration of the here-and-now. People would do great, to prepare for now.

            I have seen powerlifters move an airplane and a large boat, with a budge. The biggest hill or stumbling block is inertia itself, and were people to overcome this one thing, it would be the revelation of all revelations.

            • That’s called executive function, in the medical book.

      5. Would you like to know the future? Read the Bible. That is significant prepping, you might die from an accident before an outside force gets you.

      6. You know, makes are preppers too.

        • Telogeny, timocracy, and sortition are neat words.

          • Pardon my typo.
            en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegony_(pregnancy)

            Time for more blood sugar.

      7. Wow! Lay off the meds man, take it easy!

      8. I’ve never known anyone personally that ‘acquired’ a prepper mindset. Not saying it isn’t possible or, that once you have it, it can be improved upon. My experience is; “You either have it, or you don’t.”

        Some of us have been preppers BEFORE the word came into common use.

      9. There is no such thing as OPSEC anymore…if there ever was. Everything you do online is monitored and all data compiled in your file with a flag as to the level of threat . Your IP and location is logged when you access any website with a counter. And they all use them. Facebook, amazon and google have tracking cookies on almost all websites…including this one.Your phone tracks your every move and communication anywhere and your smart teevee and laptop cam record you. Alexa listens to all conversations at home and that smart meter shows which appliance or grow light you are using by wattage and amps and at what time. Smart thermostats tell them which room you are using. The doorbell cam tells them when you come and go and with who, what is delivered and who visits you. Your GPS computer driven car can be shut down at will and also tracks where you go and if someone is with you (airbag sensor).

        Don’t have any of this stuff other than a laptop with tape over the cam, but most people have a lot of spyware around them.

        1984 has been here for a long time.

        • Oh, yea…that Roomba? It maps out your house and just by doing that, any hidden spaces are also detected.

          Time for my Xanax.

          • JRS, I guess you answered my question about changing to proton mail…
            but I’m in the same boat–about the laptop with tape, nothing else ‘cept a dumb phone. 🙂

          • The government even admits there is no where to hide. The Pentagon funded a study done by the Strategic Studies Institute of the Army War College in 2018. Here’s an excerpt:

            “…it is clear the Americans no longer benefit from an assumption of privacy to the extent they are connected to the information grid. Virtually anyone now can be found exposed extorted, embarrassed, robbed, harmed, or intimidated from either open or anonymous sources so long as they remain “plugged in” and active on the world wide web. With the collapse of personal privacy comes the inevitable elimination of secrecy and operational security…”

            This is the reason all politicians are being blackmailed to do as the bosses want. It is the main reason they say one thing in an election and another after elected. It has little to do with R or D. Neither are allowed to stray from the narrative except for a few minor things the bosses let them do that don’t affect their overall plans.

        • 1. use a vpn (paid) on phone and computer
          2. use secure (paid) email
          3. use secure messaging for regular everyday texting (no facebook messenger, regular text, snapchat, etc.)
          4. use brave browser and privacy badger to block trackers and delete cookies everytime you restart your computer
          5. keep location services off on your phone unless you need it for something specific, then turn it back off
          6. keep your phone in airplane mode when you can use wifi
          7. never set your phone to be waiting for a ‘wake’ word for siri, alexa, etc, and never get one of those devices around you.
          8. use sudo or blur services to obtain a new phone number that will forward to your phone and that’s what you give out to people and businesses.

          The NSA can track you if you’re a HVT, but until AI is used, they simply don’t have the analysts to surveill everyone. You can eliminate 99% of privacy and tracking issues by doing the above. It takes work but nothing good is easy.

          • David, you have it all wrong. I shall illustrate.

            The military used the Thomson submachine gun in WW1. The better model was the M1928A1. This model would fit a large drum magazine and had cooling fins on the barrel that would allow for a certain amount of sustained, full auto, operation.

            The first users of it thought it was great but later in the war they were shunned. Why? Well, at first, the guys carrying them were amazed at their relatively light weight for huge amount of firepower it had. I think the RPM was something on the order of 600. As the war drug on, though, they became shunned.

            Why?

            BECAUSE WHEN YOU FIRED ONE UP THE ENEMY THOUGHT YOU HAD A MACHINE GUN AND THE MORTARS WOULD START LANDING IN YOUR TRENCH!

            Doing what you recommend above will get you noticed and monitored down to every last bit. These evil bastards actually believe their own bullshit in that they think that if you have something to hide then you are guilty. What you just did was recommend that people pull down long and hard on their Tommy Gun bang switch!

            The NSA laughs at your idea that they can’t read that stuff. Oh, sure, it takes a little more effort but, wow! Who needs AI to ferret out the bad guys when they’re going to pop up red flags the size of lake Shasta by encrypting their data.

            I run fully unencrypted. I don’t even like to use SSL (https://…) on my web connections. Why? Its a damned orange flag that your data is important and you want it hid. …and there isn’t a single packet of information the NSA doesn’t like to decrypt. Fortunately, now, however, everyone is SSLing so its not so bad. Also, if a majority of people were doing what you recommend, it would be a good thing but we are nowhere near that. Essentially, if everyone had a 1927A1, firing one wouldn’t give them a clue where to land the mortars.

            Why do you think you get a warning when you go to this site:

            https://www.netranger.org

            You can still continue on by hitting advanced and then making an exception (but it will warn you about the BOOGEY MAN!!!). The establishment media has brainwashed people into believing that its not secure. Its actually MORE secure.

            Most ever thing you are told about computer security is a lie. TPTB don’t like you going to sites like the one above because THEY DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO THE ENCRYPTION KEYS!!! Hahaha! I laugh every time I access the site, just for fun. Only I have the keys because I created the Cert myself. (Also, it rotates out every 17 minutes, so if they do manage to crack it, they’ll have to do it again in 17 minutes.) It would be too difficult for people to make an exception for every site. The sheep are like they. But, its the establishment that wants you to get an issued Cert. They *HATE* self signers. They can’t just dial up the decryption and watch what you do. You can waste all the money you want to on anti-tracking and VPNs, sure, go ahead. Its your money. But, you’re simply putting yourself on the radar and, in the end, they can just pull the keys from the Cert Signers database and watch your data. You can shield youself on the back end but they can read the front end anyways. It might take them 5 minutes instead of 1 to figure out your location if you have a VPN but they’ll find it.

            Personally, I don’t care if they track me and monitor me. I don’t do anything illegal. If you don’t have anything to hide you don’t have anything to worry about, as the bullshit flows. (Wink, wink…)

            In a sea of white sheep, the few black sheep are easy to see. Don’t be a sheep of any color and certainly not a bright orange one.

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