There are actually two areas here that I want to make everyone aware of. Closely related but separate we must always have these in our minds when we are considering options and evaluating situations.
Objectives
Lets look quickly at objectives first. They usually create themselves and we go off chasing our dreams. But as usual we tend to get distracted and end up with so many objectives that we never really get anything done, but we have fun. Our prepping though is not so much fun, although many of us have fun doing it but a lifestyle choice. We choose to sacrifice certain things so that if something unexpected happens we will be ready. Our primary objective is to survive. How we do that is we set ourselves secondary objectives to achieve sub goals like become self sufficient, learn new skills, build a Bug Out Vehicle, etc.
Remember this though. Our primary objective is to Survive. Some of us have decided to Bug In while others have decided to Bug Out. Therefore we have secondary objectives to achieve these. Our secondary objectives may differ depending on many variables but for each of us our secondary objectives help us achieve the primary objective. You can break this down further with us having tertiary objectives to help us get to the secondary objectives. Such as building an Aquaponics system will help us achieve our secondary objective of being self sufficient.
Break them down as much as you want, smaller objectives are easier to achieve and give us a boost and a target to aim at. But we have to be careful we don’t get target fixation.
Target Fixation.
This is where we get so fixated on our sub objectives that we ignore everything else around us except achieving that objective. In our cases we are concentrating on the objectives so much that when something comes along that you miss the opportunity to use it or you may even discount the opportunity because it contradicts your beliefs in what you will get out of the sub objective.
An easy example if the guy who built a boat in his basement and when it was finished he couldn’t get it out. His primary objective was to go travelling on a boat, he was going to achieve that by building a boat, his secondary objective. He achieved his secondary objective but it always was non-viable and no good to him for his primary objective. We have the same problem but in a different way because we plan to bug out or bug in. That is our objective but we must never take our eye off the primary objective which is to survive. We must therefore question anything that threatens the primary objective even if it achieves all the other objectives and we should look at things that achieve the primary objective even if it doesn’t achieve our current secondary objective. There are many things that can happen to change your views on Bugging In or Bugging Out, don’t discount them because your previous plans went one way. Things change and your objectives may change with them.
In the Military Target Fixation is where you concentrate on the target too much that you miss someone targeting you. Snipers have this issue as they spend their time looking through a scope. That is one reason they have spotters so someone doesn’t sneak up on them and cut their throats.
Losing sight of the Objective
This sounds the opposite but isn’t. It means that you get sidetracked by something not on your objective list and you take your eye off the objectives to achieve a secondary or tertiary new objective, or even an objective that sounds good but won’t allow you to meet one of your key objectives.
As easy example, and one we all do, is to buy something that is impractical because we like it’s looks or reputation. So we buy a big dog we can’t train or feed and it won’t fit in the Bug Out Vehicle. We need to consider everything and what impact it has on our Primary Objective.
Make a flexible plan and stick with it?, if you cannot do one part of it do something else, every fraction of prepping inevitably adds to to the sum of the total.
Any forward progress is better than none.
Sure, its easier if you have a big budget for prepping as some here seem to have, anythings easier with money.
Less so if you dont have much I think, goals involving purchases stretch out infinitely to the horizon as the money you put away for something gets eaten up somewhere else.
Still as the old saying goes “the more you know the less you have to carry”
Knowledge is still relatively free via the internet and books.
Educate yourself, if you cant afford to buy much and buy stuff that has multiple uses if possible when you can afford too.
Dont be put off by not having money spare, knowledge is better than nothing, and improvisation is a good way of overcoming obsticles of lack of kit.
For example last week I changed a tyre valve on my trailer.
I used a blunt spade to push the tyre off the rim installed the new valve, easy.
Try and see other uses for common household stuff.
No whilst not ideal some/any kit is better than none to start.
Car boot sales can have cheap gear there, yes it may be a bright blue back pack, but nothing a tin of matt black car spray cant sort out.
Ideal? no but better than nothing.
The general idea is to make do and mend as they say, shopping trollies for example make excellent trailers for gear, just ask the local bag lady….
But you have to get over that ” i cant be seen with that” ego trip.
I think a shopping trolly is great for post shtf, how much more like a grey man refugee would you look if you had to relocate with all your gear hidden in plain sight, instead of in that mollie pack…
guess whos getting stopped for looking interesting first….