pre·pare
[pr??per]
VERB
- make (something) ready for use or consideration.“prepare a brief summary of the article”
In a recent discussion Commander Zero asked what people did for Paratus this year. Personally I just happened to buy 30 pistol mags, 10 rifle mags and a spare BCG for my AR on that day. Zero asked if I knew something he didn’t. All I knew was that I had money and there was a pretty good sale. I don’t need those magazines today. Heck I might never need them, but making purchases like that now, when they are readily available and I have spare cash is insurance against a day when they are rare.
Our friend Commander Zero did an excellent post recently that bears discussion. We prepare in advance for when bad times come. Even before I was a survivalist the concept that you save (like most kids I worked more in the summer) during the summer to have money during the winter when redneck manual labor jobs are few and far between. The $50 I put away instead of wasting is a couple tanks of gas.
In terms of preparation we have two big variables resources and time.
Resources vary to some degree as our lives ebb and flow individually as well as riding the waves of the economy. We have to use resources that are abundant (at least relatively) during the fat times to prepare for the lean times. You can’t very well put a thousand bucks into savings if you are flat broke, 2 months behind on bills and digging through the couch cushions for gas money. That money has to be saved while things are good.
Time is more problematic because you can’t surge and catch up. Now way to compress a year worth of eating right and PT (or combatives, dry fire, etc) into a month.
I’m not saying to do anything crazy, just to keep working and making slow consistent progress.
What am I working on?
-Finances. Stashing cash and shiny metals.
-Fitness. Getting back to where I should be.
-Rounding out gun (and gun related) stuff. Not so much new acquisitions but the little stuff. Some sights for this gun, zero that new scope, buy the expensive belt I really need, etc.
-Keep organizing systems.
Those things don’t totally occupy my life but they are a slow consistent part. A little money every paycheck and some work when I have time available. Slow and steady. The tortoise beats the hair.
Time is constant and always limited. The thing is we can’t cheat it. Some things like fitness are slow cooker concepts. Unlike resources (especially if you make a lot) which can be surged to get a lot of stuff done in a short period of time doesn’t work that way. There isn’t a way to cram a year or 5 of eating right, PT, combatives and IDPA into a month.