Mastering Risk

Send us Fan Mail Very little is within your control, that's precisely all you need. The stoics understood that by championing your own physical, mental and financial health, you were independent of the world and could navigate whatever exogenous shock sent your way. You cannot assume responsibility for family and friends if you are in need yourself and you most certainly cannot assume a leade...

Send us Fan Mail No one is coming to help, whether you're a fan of classical novels from the 1900s like Dale Carnegie or Stephen Covey, or modern motivational series from then likes of David Goggins, Mark Manson, Mel Robbins or others. Simply put, in the positive world, the actual one you live in, it is your responsibility to ensure that you, as a human, are best prepared to navigate future e...

Send us Fan Mail We live in a modern, technologically enabled society that requires the ownership of physical goods to operate. The reasons we choose to acquire goods are generally within four categories - the item exists for a defined purpose (golf clubs), just in case (fire extinguisher), sentimental (Dad's picture) or we were persuaded by a version of the modern day influencer (latest gadg...

Send us Fan Mail Preparedness planning is free, only an investment of time and energy. Beginning with personal responsibility, defining family, building a shelter in place strategy and creating the trifecta of preparedness plans.  The Internet is saturated with YouTube and online personalities that present a list of things to stockpile - the top 10 for the new prepper, or the 15 things that will b...

Send us Fan Mail We know they're are a number of influential variables when emergencies occur. We know that a well understood and rehearsed preparedness plan will permit your family to execute their roles without needing instructions, that confusion cell calls or texts in the middle of chaos ar not required. Your family will be doing, while others are thinking. However, there are times when c...

Send us Fan Mail EDC, Bug out bags, get home bags - we've heard it all. What are the practical considerations for preparedness when we are away from our home, when accessing our shelter in place plan is not immediate. We being with a review of the first half of the ten weeks of practical preparedness, reviewing the trifecta of preparedness plans and the involvement of critical infrastructure....

Send us Fan Mail Your risk profile informs your life, it influences the decisions you make and the outcomes from those choices. Whether you're risk adverse and skeptical of society or you're an all-in individual who rolls with the punches, risk informs.  We discuss how risk tolerance informs you preparedness timeline, your shelter in place plan and preparedness mobility. It is a root cau...

Send us Fan Mail Risk is everywhere, there is no methodology that permits risk to be lowered to zero. No personal, no business or lifestyle choices come risk free. So how to we understand the risks we face in this chaotic decade?  How do we build a profile that informs our choices and aids in identifying the the risks we're exposed to? First, understanding that risk is individual and a functi...

Send us Fan Mail Preparedness is the totality of efforts undertaken in times of peace and calm that increase your readiness and ability to navigate through exogenous shocks. The intent is to have better post events, that is to have a far less impact from the disruption and to resume normal operations at the earliest opportunity. Your goal is to be prepared so that when something occurs beyond your...

Send us Fan Mail We live in a technologically enabled modern and connected society. We wake daily assuming a host of services and systems will function, from the power grid to the sewage system, from the cell network to the healthcare facilities. We assume away a host of risks that exist - to build a personal preparedness plan you need to understand the risks to which you are exposed to, assess th...

Send us Fan Mail Our relationships are the key to preparedness, it's a lifestyle not a stockpile. We build our social connections based upon norms of reciprocity - that people will do good for you, if you've done it for them, as well as trust - you'll do what you say. Those are the foundation of social capital, which is the potential resources that exist within your network of relat...

Send us Fan Mail We know disasters, natural and man made. We've seen their impacts, but there is another catastrophic event that is often overlooked and ignored in preparedness discussions - loosing your income. It doesn't matter why, whether it be another pandemic, a fire at the business, an owner's decision to retire, or you were simply not part of the restructuring plan. What do...

Send us Fan Mail Evacuation is the most dangerous event in preparedness for a family, the most impactful and life changing. Have a plan - a well rehearsed plan that you and your family understand. Evacuations are mandatory or voluntary, immediate or slow burn and they happen at the most inconvenient of times. The only practical advice is to have an evacuation plan as part of your trifecta of prepa...

Send us Fan Mail The totality of scenarios that may affect a family are on a spectrum, from the most likely, power loss, to the most dangerous, evacuation. We have all watched the panic evacuations from wildfires online, seen the interviews with families that have lost everything - this is terrifying for anyone. Hence, a well understood evacuation plan is one of the trifecta of preparedness plans...

Send us Fan Mail This first week of practical preparedness comes to a close with a discussion of a power loss scenario and the cascading impacts on families and society. Considerations from access to cell and internet, to point of sale systems, transportation, fuel, potable water in high density housing and a host of other impacts. Your employment may pause and in these times of increased inflatio...

Send us Fan Mail Power is the most important sector of critical infrastructure, the one that supports all the others and facilitates our modern integrated and technologically enabled society. Without it, we have significant disruption in our lives, so what can you do? These 5 practical tips, based upon understanding your minimum power profile, are the foundation of developing a plan that includes ...

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Year. Welcome to season 9, where we bring the theory and ideas from the first 8 seasons and translate those into a practical, 10 week presentation of actual and reasonable executable tasks for you to build a household emergency preparedness plan. We've spent the last 3 seasons championing the idea of personal responsibility, that you and you alone are responsible fo...

Send us Fan Mail Every year comes to a close, some with great memories and some with significant challenges. If we wish to grow and learn, we need to reflect on the year that was, warts and all, embrace decisions made, opportunities turned away and in essence, review to our best ability our annual performance.  If you did not have a personal strategic plan, then you're left with a bit of a da...

Send us Fan Mail Rocking 2024 requires no money, only an investment of time.  Economic barriers are a myth. This is the time where the social media feeds are deluged with ideas and recipes for everyone to become their greatest self in 2024. Happens every year, non stop. However, each one of these are not based upon you, your dreams, or your definition of success. Our recipe is for you to determine...

Send us Fan Mail We're going there, the quintessential preparedness foundation, the ubiquitous bug out bag that is the gold standard of idiocy in the prepper space. The kits are constructed principally for mental health, to provide a sense of security, the idea that you've taken steps to ready yourself and your family to navigate disruptions. But you haven't. Preparedness is about e...

Send us Fan Mail Leave the World Behind is a popular new film on Netflix, depicting the failure of modern society, the collapse of communication and the struggle of seven humans to navigate a situation. We discuss the film through the lens of each character representing an element of US society, and the greater western world, and how each of those choose to react to the world, the challenges prese...

Send us Fan Mail Community is your sense of belonging, of place; it's spatial, not bounded by geography, but crossing municipal boundaries. It may be based upon a faith group, service organization, extended family or your physical neighbourhood. Knowing that preparedness is the totality of attitudes and actions that empower you to navigate exogenous shocks, connecting you to the space in whic...

Send us Fan Mail Preparedness is a foundation, a lens through which you examine the world. The future is unknown, though 2024 will be a challenging year with economic, conflict, political and humanitarian strife. These are difficult things to navigate, the shocks are impactful and significant. They are also beyond your control.  In this episode we examine what is likely to occur in 2024, why your...

Send us Fan Mail Thriving vs surviving - our goal is to encourage you to thrive, to provide advice that will encourage you to create a preparedness plan that facilitates thriving in an emergency, vice surviving. Thriving is achieved when you are capable of conducting your full suit of normal activities despite the incident, your personal and professional life remains unaffected by the event and yo...

Send us Fan Mail Stress is worrying about the future, something that has yet to happen, likely will not and in any event, is probably beyond your control. In fact, we as individuals control a scant amount of events that we're expose to, an incredibly tiny fraction of what is going to happen is within your control, yet most of people choose to worry, stress and fret. Do you live in the positiv...