I was talking to my mailman letter-carrier today and we got onto the topic of absurd city politics and taxes and social programs. This further reinforces my belief that people who spend a lot of time in vehicles all day (truck drivers, letter carriers, etc.) tend to be fairly like minded. Not sure its a result of having not much to listen to except talk radio, or if people who are like minded wind up gravitating to those jobs. It is, however, kinda consistent.
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I’ve been trying to get into some better habits lately. Most notably, I really need to consistently leave things like my keys and phone in the same place every time I return to the house. There are plenty of things in this house that are always, always, always left in the same place in order to facilitate not having to think about it in an urgent situation. If something goes bump in the middle of the night, I know there’s a flashlight and gun sitting on the shelf by the bed. If I poke a hole in me, I know there’s a pretty comprehensive first aid kit in the living room, if I need to run outside in a hurry I know there’s always a pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt by the door…..that sort of thing.
But thats what habits are – an unconscious behaviour. Something that requires no active thought on my part, but happens automatically…like breathing or blinking. And a few months ago I had a hell of a time finding my keys when I was in a hurry and after thinking about it I realized that, yes, I need to have that same level of ‘don’t need to think about it’ going on with my keys.
From a survivalist standpoint, some habits (or routines, if you will) are bad… outside actors can observe your routines and take advantage of them. For example, my neighbor is a schoolteacher. I know, with utter certainty, when her house will be empty and for how long during the day. Were I of a different mindset, that information would be useful for nefarious purposes. But on the other hand, some habits… like always locking the door, checking the world news first thing in the morning, keeping gas tanks at least half full, etc…promote a more prepared life without exposing oneself to risk.
Many shortsighted (in my opinion) people equate routines with boring and mundane existence. I see routines as providing security and stability….two things I desperately want. All aspects of a personas life don’t have to be routine, obviously, but for me there are certain things in life I would like to have be predictable and routine. And there are some things I would very much like to be wildly unpredictable and spontaneous. But on the whole, for me, I crave the security, stability, and predictability that comes from having some things be habit and routine.
There are other routines/habits Im trying to develop, and all of them, I think, go along towards increasing my level of general preparedness. They are, however, a pain in the ass to develop when you’ve never done them before.
Anyway, thats my thoughts for the day. (Speaking of which, a good routine I need to get into would be a more regular posting schedule.)
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Thought For The Day:
GMTA.
For the last ten years I have consciously and deliberately tried to make as much of life an everyday routine as humanly possible. Razors and shaving cream and toilet paper and canned cat food ad infinitum don’t go bad every week, so there’s no point not having 6 months’ or a years’ worth already sitting there, saving extra trips to the store, or extra trips to the car when I do shop for things.
And given your latitude, although I expect there’s already three or nine levels of redundancy before you get to the sweat clothes, I’m kind of surprised you don’t have a snowmobile suit, wool beanie, long underwear, and heavy duty socks and boots somewhere not the house, in case you had to suddenly depart the bunker because say, it was on fire at 3AM.
Hereabouts, the Northridge Earthquake was only a moderate problem, because after the 4:31AM shock, the following morning dawned sunny, clear, and hit 85° that day; it could just as easily have been 45-50° and raining buckets.
And I always put my keys and wallet in the same place, because that morning, where I put them before bed wasn’t in the same place it was after I woke up, though after a small bit of digging around, I found them in the same general area. Dressers flying around the room will do that.
😉
The flashlights in the nightstands solved a lot of problems that morning.
‘s also why now there are now also chemlights velcro’ed over doorways, on both sides, and changed out every year.
If, for some reason, I can’t find the walls, I have much bigger problems than finding my keys.
I keep the chemlights on top of the doorways in each room also. I also picked up some tritium safety markers (thats a whole story all by itself) to use to denote the location of more appropriate lighting tools.
Hi, in basic military training we were taught;
It takes thirty days to create a habit
And
It takes four (4) days to break a habit.
Hope this helps,
G’day from downunder.
I bet there’s a lot of smokers who’d disagree with that four day thing.
I love the idea of “voluntary socialism.”
I have a younger cousin (a millennial) who is a self-identified Democratic Socialist. I like to remind him on occasion that he is free to volunteer additional taxes to the government when he files his taxes. If he thinks the government is so good at managing its revenue and channeling it to altruistic sources, he should be glad to offer them more of his money. Strangely, I don’t think he’s ever taken the opportunity.
Socialism is great, as long as you’re talking about taking other people’s money, and receiving a disproportionate share of the goods.
When I take off my pants at night, everything is transferred to tomorrow’s pants. Pistol and flashlight go to nightstand. If I jump up in a rush all I have to do is pull on pants, grab gun and light and go.
Putting things in the same place every time; I call it the “Helen Keller Method,” based on the old joke; How did Helen Keller’s parents mete out punishment? They rearranged the furniture!
I keep my EDC bag in a chair next to the bed. During the day, my wallet’s either on my person, or in that bag. My keys will be on the key ring hanger in the kitchen during the day, but in that bag at night… EVERY… night. I’m pretty much set so that if I have to bail in the middle of the night (or on a moment’s notice during the day), I can grab what I need within a couple of minutes and be gone. Think about it; if you work all day, you probably spend more time in the bedroom than anywhere else in the house. Base your disaster/situation response out of the place you’re most likely to be. The EDC bag, gun, and a set of clothes are all within an arm’s reach of the bed; slip-on shoes, too. I live in earthquake country, so broken glass on the floor is always a possibility. I have a hatchet in the bedside drawer too, in case a door gets out of line in a shaker, and I have to convince it to open. It also makes a hell of a close-in weapon! A file with all the vital papers is in the fire safe, also close by. The cell phone and ham handheld? Right there at the bedside as well, charging. The way I see it, I can’t pick the time for a disaster; only how I respond in the time after its onset. In a crisis, having to look for something or “get things ready” can cost you the race before you even start your engine…
Oh; and in the military, it’s not called “habit;” it’s called “training…”
Best place to keep keys are in your pockets. For the phone, in a pocket or belt pouch. If you need them in a hurry, you may not want to go to another room or back into the house.
Matt
Think “supporting infrastructure.” In my living room there were 3 light switches in a 3-gang box; I replaced one with 2-switch combo and one with a 2-outlet/2-USB receptacle and put a Command hook on the wall next to the 3-gang. If I’m up, and home, the phones are on the bookcase under that 3-gang, charging, and the “master” keychain on the hook (I always carry 2 keychains – the “master” with 1 of everything important, the “daily” with door and car keys, both have small LED keychain lights).
On the dresser top is a 1K UPS so the dresser-top light and the weather radio always have power, no matter what, and there’s another Command hook on the UPS front for the keys, at night the phones and a Surefire Fury adjacent to the UPS, wallet and pocket litter in a plastic tray in the front left of the top dresser drawer, directly under the UPS. The little red lights on the UPS are on as long as the UPS battery has juice, so it’s easy to home in on that from anywhere in the room. The BOB is on the floor in front of the wall mirror, shoes next to it, there’s a wall-mounted LED Maglite 3D adjacent to every bedroom door in the house (aimed up, turning it on bounces enough light off the ceiling to navigate easily), an LED headlamp on the nightstand, etc. Wall brackets and hooks – infrastructure – make it easier to build repeatable procedures, and an empty bracket or hook immediately IDs that “something’s been moved.”
The way to make any job term gender neutral is to replace man with fighter. Fireman = firefighter. Fisherman= fishfoghter. Police man= policefighter.
Congressman = Congressfighter? If only.
Some routine is good,keys in pocket,phone in belt pouch or on charger,things within your immediate control. But changing routine has real advantages,vary route to common destinations(work,store etc.) keeps you mentally prepared and familiar with alternative routes to avoid traffic,accidents,road closures,checkpoints,being followed,kidnapping/terrorist attack(military/LE), Change schedule leave early for work,go to store before they close(good way to get deals/rainchecks for sale items for future purchases),try different products(new toothpaste on sale-try it). Varying routine helps with boredom and complacency and keeps you open to creative thinking and problem solving.
Don’t confuse routine with eliminating redundancy.
Six ways in and twelve ways out is always good practice.
Having to look twelve places for your keys and wallet is stupidity.
http://dilbert.com/strip/2014-07-12
My keys are in my pocket from the moment I put my pants on until I take them off right before bed (or whatever). Then I place them on my dresser in the same spot. My phone charger happens to be right there too, and my phone is likewise on my person all day, except when I’m using it or driving, at which point it is plugged in to the car.
I always found it best to just never *not* have my essential items on my person.