Making Preparedness a Part of Your Daily Routine

I'm surprised at the number of people who think all I do is preparedness stuff all day long. While I wish I could do that, things like work, social obligations, and life often require my attention which means that I need to integrate preparedness activities into my daily routine. Here's how:

• On Sundays, I read the newspaper, check out the ads, and make my shopping list for the week (this includes everything from sale items on food--some for the week's meals and some to add to my stockpile, ammo that is on sale at the local outdoor store, ziploc bags and toilet paper on sale at Walmart, et al).
• I plan for the week in advance by prepping for meetings, putting together reports or whatever else is needed for work during the week, thinking about how I can group activities (ie: if a meeting is near the outdoor store, I will hit the meeting then stop by and pick up the ammo that is on sale before heading home), and making sure that I have stuff on hand to grab for lunch when I will be out.
• Since my work is quite variable, I often have big gaps of time throughout the week during which I plan a project or two. I may sign up for a class (CPR, HAM radio, etc), learn a new skill (I'm going to try making yogurt for the first time tomorrow since I have no pressing things on my work schedule), or work on a bigger project (such as building a green house or gardening).
• I make lists. There are always more things to do either for preparedness purposes, for business purposes, or social purposes. I try to capture these things on a list (so my brain doesn't explode) and then chip away at the list whenever I have time. Among the things on my giant "to do" list: start practicing weekly for a spring shooting competition, I want to bike from Canada to Mexico so preps for that trip are on the list, develop more sources of passive income, things that I have offered to do to help others out, etc.
• There are many things I do on a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual schedule. Daily: exercise, take vitamins, do all email, update this blog and related website, etc. Weekly: add to my food and supplies stockpile, home projects (painting, up keep, additional safety measures), etc. Monthly: test the smoke alarms, take a look at the fire extinguishers, check on my finances, etc. Annually: clean the chimney, clean/rotate/reorganize all stockpile areas of our home, etc.
• I never pass up an opportunity to learn something new or have a new experience. I make it a point to always make time in my schedule to take advantage of anything that will make me more educated, more prepared, more knowledgeable, or add to my skills--you never know when these things will come in handy. For example, volunteering at the theater in the costume department gave me some great tips for disguises; backpacking a good portion of the Cascades taught me many survival skills, and interviewing illegal immigrants gave me a whole new insight into these people's survival skills.

The bottom line is to make everything you do a part of your preparedness repertoire. Everything you do from cooking a meal to learning a new language to plumbing a house will give you the skills you may need in a future survival situation.