Prioritize To Survive and Thrive In Any Situation

If you’ve ever watched Alone, Naked and Afraid, Man vs. Wild, Outlast, or just spent an abundance of time outdoors, you know that deciding what order you’re going to accomplish tasks is a constant task in itself.

I’ve got good news and bad news for you – there is no secret recipe, guide, or checklist that I can give you to figure this out. You have to identify the needs of your situation and adapt to them accordingly. Think of it like this, sometimes a baby farts and that’s it, other times they need new clothes. You have to be ready to adapt based on the outcome of events.

– Medical: Consider both proactive (i.e., sunscreen) and reactive (i.e., bandaging a wound)

– Water: Finding and ideally storing a source of clean and purified water

– Food: Sourcing enough calories to at a minimum watch what you’re burning

– Shelter: Find or build what is necessary for the current situation.

– Fire: Functionality for warmth, cooking, morale, drying out, signaling, and more!

– Travel: Navigating effectively to reach safety and/or resources.

– Care of Equipment: Maintaining your tools and gear for effective long-term survival.

– Mental Health: The overarching necessity of maintaining a clear and calm mindset throughout challenges.

As I mentioned above, there is no one-size-fits-all in survival. You may think your number 1 priority is fire, but if you’re bleeding, think again. Or, SHELTER, I must make shelter to sustain through the cold winter. That shelter isn’t going to do you any good if you starve to death before winter hits. A great yet tragic example of this is Chris McCandless a.k.a. Alexander Supertramp – who met his end due to starvation. If you haven’t read the book or watched the film – Into the Wild – I highly recommend them.

You must remain flexible and, like an expert chess player, always be 5 steps ahead. Wait until the snow to build a warm shelter, it’s too late. Waiting until you’re thirsty to find water, good luck. Successful survival and thriving are all about understanding the situation you’re in and anticipating what you’ll need next. Don’t wait. Let’s go through a few real examples of when your priorities may dramatically change.

• Car Breaks Down/Snowed In – Winter, and you’re stuck due to heavy snow – anticipated overnight temp -4°

  • Your vehicle may be an appropriate shelter, but not without enough gas to run the engine for heat or a good sleeping bag. Start considering how you’re going to stay warm. Maybe build a new shelter, cover your vehicle in snow for insulation, or even start collecting firewood for warmth and a signal.

  • Stay warm to prevent cold injuries and start melting snow immediately to maintain a source of water.

  • Are you going to walk for help? Consider if navigating is a viable option.

  • Food can wait – you’ll last at minimum a couple of weeks without eating

3 very real and very different scenarios all dramatically change what order I am going to accomplish my needs. Don’t get too hung up on a single task either; some can wait until later. After watching the TV show Alone, I’ve noticed that contestants will often expend a massive amount of energy building heavy-duty shelters just to tap out before ever needing them. It isn’t that shelter isn’t important, but so is food, water, and all the rest. Each day, you should be working toward all your needs a little, unless something is immediately pressing. The one that we didn’t cover much here is your mental health. I believe this to be the number one factor in whether you live or die.

There are countless stories of individuals who survived seemingly impossible situations, and nearly all of them had an iron-clad will to survive. Others perished in the same scenario or even much less. This isn’t something that you necessarily do; it is a constant. Which is why it’s not mentioned above. You ALWAYS need to prioritize mental health. Think of it as a blanket that wraps around all your other needs.

After 15 years of professionally participating as a student and instructor in survival schools, I’ve seen my fair share of accidents. It was a beautiful summer day, and my students (8 of them) and I had just set off from our drop-off point. After a long discussion about prioritizing needs, they chose that we needed to travel somewhere to get water, then find somewhere to set up camp. We were probably 200m from our drop-off point, and down goes a student. To be honest, at this point, I was a bit calloused to complaints of pain. It was a common tactic for people who just needed a break to stop without owning that they didn’t want to continue at that point. So without much sympathy, we decided to take a break and took the opportunity to teach them about wilderness first aid.

 After about a 30-minute lesson on first aid, I encouraged the student to attempt to stand up. With great whales of pain, they said they couldn’t get up. The student was not what I would have considered an athlete, so I attempted to help them stand. Again, to no success and more wines of pain. In order to continue with our day, we decided to pull the student from training and have the medics come pick them up. We were on our own for the next four days, so I didn’t communicate with the medics at that time.

 As it turned out, my student, who I thought was going for an Emmy, had broken the Tibia and Fibula just at the ankle. This required surgery, 2 plates, and 13 screws to repair. While that student had the great benefit of having a team around that included medics with ATVs, that could have been a death sentence had they been alone.

A single moment can entirely change your priority list. Don’t get too hung up on any single objective. You must remain fluid and step away from your task often to consider what you’re doing and reprioritize if needed.

Plans are great, but they aren’t set in stone. A plan is just something to deviate from. Don’t be afraid to switch gears as your situation evolves.

The wild can be unpredictable, but you can still be prepared to meet your needs no matter what. A few small unsung heroes of survival situations can mean life or death. And all small enough to fit in your pocket!

If you made it this far, let me start by saying Thank You! I would love to hear your feedback for future blogs, videos, and more. What do you want to learn more about?

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———- NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE YOU ———-

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