Challenge: Specialize

Although Robert Heinlein famously quoted that specialization is for insects, today I am going to challenge that assumption and ask you to do the same.  Today's challenge is for you to specialize in something this year.  I don't care what you decide to specialize in, it could be taxidermy, HAM radio operations, website design, house painting...whatever it is you have the slightest interest in and/or whatever it is you have the easiest access to, I want you to go ahead and grab that specialization by the horns and conquer it.
Why?  A couple of reasons actually.  First, one of the biggest difficulties people have when looking to start their own business (or even finding side work after they have been laid off from their regular job) is that they are OK in many things but not really great in any particular field.  With months of work in one area of specialization, you will overcome this problem and have some solid skills to fall back on.  These skills may not make you a millionaire (but then again they could, who knows...) but they will make you a near expert in something.
Second, by specializing in something, you will have a usable skill should TSHTF and you have to bug out.  No matter where you go, should you have picked a reasonably useful specialization, you will make yourself a useful person to others who will need your skill set.  This will not only give you a way to earn money/a living/room and board/etc but it will instantly make you a vital part of the group you choose to bug out with.
Here's some ideas and how you may put them to work:

• Idea one.  EMT (emergency medical technician).  An EMT-B (as opposed to being a paramedic, EMT-P) isn't going to make you rich.  In fact many EMTs start off as volunteers, however the skills you learn from a basic EMT class can be extremely useful, not just for yourself but for your friends and family in an emergency.  EMT classes are offered all over the place, the time needed for the class is minimal (usually a couple of months for the class and to become certified), the experience you gain from working along side paramedics and hospital staff is invaluable, and in a pinch, you can always get a side job as a part time EMT in many communities.  From this one specialization, I have seen many people go on to get higher level jobs in hospitals, go on to train others, and even use these skills and credentials to start their own business (usually teaching fire safety and basic first aid skills).
• Idea two.  Range safety officer.  If you hang around most professionally run shooting ranges, you will note that there are usually some range safety officers on duty to make sure everything runs smoothly at the range.  Again, this usually starts out as a volunteer position and training (as well as certification) happens "on the job" but with this type of experience you will develop a wide range of skills that can be used in the future for earning an income.  Also, the more time you spend around the range doling out advice and information, the more opportunity you have to pick up on all kinds of useful things/information (ie: someone selling firearms for a super low price because they know you, someone giving you some free reloads because they made extra, the opportunity to take advanced classes at a discount because you are part of the range staff, the opportunity to get in a lot of extra shooting practice on the range's dime, etc).
• Idea three.  Butchering meat during the fall hunting season.  I know quite a few people who love to hunt in the fall.  I know fewer people who relish the thought of butchering their own meat (which is why butcher shops near prime hunting areas are usually overwhelmed in the fall).  Learning this skill--whether through formal instruction in a class, less formal instruction gleaned through the internet and lots of practice, or even less formal instruction by watching over your brother-in-law's shoulder while he cuts up his latest harvest--can prove invaluable.  By learning this skill and after continued learning, you will then have many opportunities such as being able to buy a side of beef at a super low price and butchering it yourself, teaching community ed classes on the topic to people eager to learn this skill, or even writing a how-to book on the topic and becoming an "expert".
• Idea four.  Website design.  There is a mountain of information available online to teach you this skill for free.  While you won't be an "instant expert", after pouring through this information, and with a lot of practice, you will become good enough to offer your skills in your community and make a bit of money on the side.  You might want to start here.   
• Idea five.  Blow your hobby up into a multiple-stream-of-income business (and if you don't have a hobby, then get one).  Many people have become "experts" simply because they had a hobby that they enjoyed, the learned as much as they could about their hobby, then they "went pro."  Which isn't as hard as it sounds because often becoming a professional simply entails finding a way to make money off your hobby.  Such as writing about it, teaching others about it, selling the results of your hobby (tied flies, bird houses, etc), etc.  I was introduced to a friend of a friend last summer who happens to be a professional fisherman.  He goes fishing, catches some fish, makes $50,000 (plus a boat in one tournament!) and now he is the advertising face of fishing lures and other fishing related equipment.  Another guy I know liked hunting, knew all of the best spots to go in the mountains near his home, and with a bit of business and marketing skills, ended up with several clients who came from as far away as Asia to go hunting with him each year.

So in tl;dr form: pick a topic you enjoy, learn as much as you can about it, practice it, get certified if possible (however this isn't always necessary), continue learning, find a way to sell your knowledge, continue learning, become an expert.

Summer Plan: 100 Radical Experiences

Do you have a plan for your summer yet? If not, here's some ideas to get you started, most which relate to survival and preparedness, others which will allow you to look fear in the eye and wink.

1. Go sky diving.


2. Go bungie jumping.


3. Go camping.


4. Go on an extended backpacking trip (seven days or more).


5. Do an epic physical challenge (marathon, month plus bike trip, etc).


6. Get ripped (in three months you can make some major improvements to your health and fitness).


7. Can fruit and vegetables.


8. Go geocaching.


9. Get your HAM radio operator's license.


10. Spend the summer boating (everything from a canoe to a kayak to a sailboat).


11. Make pickles.


12. Make jam.


13. Buy a whole animal on the hoof and dress it out yourself.


14. Go fishing.


15. Learn to SCUBA dive.


16. Participate in a contest (this, for example).


17. Join your local Search and Rescue as a volunteer.


18. Volunteer to teach merit badge-related topics to your local Boy Scout troop.


19. Do some home repairs yourself instead of hiring it done.


20. Empty out your BOB and replenish/update it.


21. Install a stellar security system in your home.


22. Join your local shooting range and actually participate (maintenance projects, shooting leagues, etc).


23. Become an "Extreme Couponer" and stock up your year's supply of food on the cheap.


24. Travel to a foreign country.


25. Apply for a passport.


26. Take the family on a road trip.


27. Write that book you have always been meaning to write.


28. Take a summer intensive foreign language course (or any other course you are interested in).


29. Get lost in the woods and find your way out with a map and compass.


30. Spend the day in the city observing people. What do you see? Bonus points if you blog about your experience.


31. Have the mother of all garage sales and use the proceeds to bulk up your emergency fund.


32. Check out a bundle of survival/preparedness-related books from the library and spend your lazy summer days reading up on these important topics.


33. Learn a new skill (how to ride a motorcycle, how to trap an animal, how to paint, etc).


34. Get all of your paperwork in order: update your Will, check your insurance coverages, update your home inventory, etc.


35. Do a "no spend" week...or month (in which you don't spend a single penny for the duration).


36. Go to garage sales and swap meets and learn how to haggle.


37. Barter for something.


38. Make a piece of furniture by hand.


39. Sew a complete outfit.


40. Raise a garden (or even just a few items on your windowsill).


41. Spend an entire day with each family member (a good bonding opportunity).


42. Get ready for hunting season.


43. Swim outside (lake, river, ocean. Be careful!).


44. Learn how to smoke meat and fish (you can even make your own smoker).


45. Cook all of your meals outside for the day (if you want to get fancy you can rig up a pizza oven or bake something in a Dutch oven covered with coals).


46. Create an adventure for the family or your survival team (scavenger hunt, for example).


47. Try a series of unfamiliar ethnic restaurants.


48. Put together an emergency fund (at least six month's worth of expense money saved).


49. Plant a tree that will outlive you.


50. Start a side business.


51. Learn how to rock climb.


52. Go to an adult summer camp (like this, for example, or this).


53. Take a CPR/first aid course and become certified (or better yet, take an EMT course).


54. Improve a system(s) in your home (add solar power, change out your old hot water tank for an on-demand system, etc).


55. Cook every meal at home for a week and be creative (note, each person in the family should take on this challenge rotating weeks so everyone learns this important skill).


56. Go to a casino and become proficient in all of the games.


57. Change your look completely--new haircut, new wardrobe, maybe some hair dye, etc.


58. Try something completely insane (ideas here. Disclaimer: we aren't responsible for your death or injury, proceed at your own risk).


59. Pick up a new hobby (golf, fly fishing, wood working, etc).


60. Go to a major summer event like Sturgis, Burning Man, or Maker Faire.


61. Watch a variety of TED presentations and become inspired.


62. Get a complete physical/check up and ensure you are in good health (or find out what issues you need to fix).


63. Challenge yourself to pay cash for everything for one month this summer, it will totally change your outlook on buying lots of random stuff.


64. Forage for food this summer (berries, mushrooms, shellfish, nuts, tree fruit, etc).


65. Put together a mastermind group (or survival team) and hold regular meetings.


66. Explore your state/local area. Pay attention to possible evacuation routes and potential bug out places.


67. Sign up for a fitness class (parkour or martial arts would be good options).


68. Walk the streams and trails of your county (there's probably lots more than you ever knew about).


69. Go through all of your outdoor gear and make any needed repairs/replacement of items.


70. Go to a HAM fest.


71. Join your local Volksmarch group or hiking group (it's good exercise, good motivation, and you will learn a lot about your local area).


72. Become a certified lifeguard.


73. Get a tattoo or a piercing.


74. Spend a weekend living with no electricity in your home.


75. Take a week-long digital sabbatical (no email, no FaceBook, no internet, no TV, etc).


76. Learn how to fly a plane.


77. Build your kids a fort.


78. Go places that put you out of your element (example: biker bars for some, churches for others).


79. Join and participate in survival/preparedness-related forums.


80. Raise an animal for food (everything from rabbits to chickens to pigs to cows).


81. Drive something bigger than the family mini van (a backhoe or semi truck for example).


82. Develop a solid retirement plan.


83. Set a big financial goal and reach it (everything from paying off a debt to having X amount of money in savings by the end of summer).


84. Do the 100-100-100 challenge (100 sit ups, 100 push ups, 100 squat thrusts).


85. Quit a vice (smoking, drinking excessively, etc).


86. Play in a poker tournament.


87. Register to vote.


88. Participate in the political process (everything from sitting in on a city council meeting to see how local politics works to volunteering for a national campaign).


89. Practice your tactical and off-road driving skills.


90. Chop and dry all of your firewood for the next winter season.


91. Go streaking or skinny dipping.


92. Talk yourself into a place that the average person would not be able to access.


93. Do a food challenge a la Man vs Food.


94. Make an entire weekend's worth of meals only from food your have foraged/hunted yourself.


95. Make your own beer, wine, or whiskey.


96. Give a speech in front of a large group of people.


97. Create a panic room in your home.


98. Find out what "they" know about you. Get your credit reports and your FBI file.


99. Mentor someone (this doesn't have to be career-related, you can teach someone how to be better prepared for disaster or for life).


100. Create your own radical challenge for the summer (the list is endless--it could be a blog challenge, a swim with the sharks or ride in a MiG challenge, a "let's sneak into Cuba challenge", or any other off-the-wall feat you can dream up).

CNI Challenge #11 Preserving Food

If you remember way back when we posted the first ten CNI Challenges, you will recall that each challenge offered up a task that you could do to improve yourself, your skills, and your knowledge of things that could help you out during a disaster/survival situation. Now we are on to the next ten challenges. Challenge #11 is to preserve your own food. Can you preserve food in the following ways?

• Freezing (fruit, vegies, meat)
• Drying (fruit, meat, etc)
• Pickling (pickles, sauerkraut, kim chi, etc)
• Canning (fruit, vegies)
• Jams and Jellies (fruit)
• Smoking (meat)
• Wine-making
• Beer-making

10 CNI Challenges

Here's a recap of the ten Code Name Insight Challenges:

1. No Spend Day/Week/Month
2. Live Out of Your BOB for the Weekend
3. Make a Fire Without Matches (or a Magnifying Glass)
4. Can You Walk a Marathon?
5. Take Public Transportation for a Month
6. Provide All of Your Food for a Day...Yourself
7. Do a Long Distance Hike
8. Earn $500 in One Day
9. Barter for Something Big
10. Set Your Own Amazing Goal

The purpose of these challenges? To get you to think outside of the box, to develop creativity, to develop strength in areas you never thought you had, to become better prepared, and to amaze yourself at what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it. Plus, if you can live out of your BOB for a weekend, walk a marathon, survive the Pacific Crest Trail, barter for a car, earn a blackbelt, and rub two sticks together and make fire, you can survive anything!

CNI Challenge #10 Set Your Own Amazing Goal

The idea of this challenge is for you to craft a goal to meet your needs. It needs to be a challenge physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc. The goal needs to be big, something you would otherwise never do, and it has to be useful. It needs to be something that makes you really stretch to reach it and something that requires a deal of blood, sweat, tears, time, investment, et al. For example, if your goal is to purchase a BMW with cash and you can easily write a check out of your money market account for it, it doesn't count. If, on the other hand, you make minimum wage and you have the goal of paying cash for a new BMW, that will take quite the large amount of effort and be quite the story to tell afterwards. Other big goals that require time, work, discipline, and creativity may include: earning a black belt in karate, getting a pilot's license, winning a national shooting match, finding a long lost relative, opening your own business...you get the idea.

CNI Challenge #9--Barter for Something Big

Old fashioned trading and bartering, for many people, has gone the way of the covered wagon. It's quaint, it seems, but no longer necessary. As money gets tighter for many people, I'm hoping to see a resurgence of this lost art. The challenge here is to barter or trade for something you need. I'm not talking a trade of corn for tomatoes--it needs to be something fairly substantial. If you want to learn how a man started off his bartering project with one red paper clip and eventually, through many trades, ended up with a house, read "One Red Paperclip" by Kyle MacDonald. You can also find his blog at http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/ Other useful information on bartering can be found at http://www.u-exchange.com/barter101. Give it a try! Bartering can be a fun, rewarding way to acquire the things you need while helping others to get the things they need.
p.s. My biggest barter was for teeth. A friend's mom needed dentures but he couldn't afford them. He was, however, in the business of installing flooring so we found a dentist who needed flooring to pull the mom's teeth and a guy who made dentures who's son needed flooring to make the dentures and, just like that, mama had new teeth.

Week Three--Bus Challenge Update

Three weeks ago I parked my car and decided to challenge myself to use alternate transportation for at least a month. The rules aren't hard and fast but basically I didn't want to drive my car at all--I would use the bus, ride with the spouse if we were going in the same direction, car pool with others, etc. Here's what has happened in the past few weeks:

• Looking at a map of the area I live in, it looks like a majority of our area is a long way away from a bus stop. I guess I am lucky that I live relatively close to the bus line--I only need to walk about a third of a mile to get to the bus stop closest to my home.
• I'm getting exercise! As someone who sits in meeting/at my computer all day, taking time to exercise was something I had to force myself to do. Now I get a lot of walking in while I am taking myself from the bus to where ever I am going.
• The bus is cheap! Although monthly bus passes run about $30 here, one of my clients provides half price bus passes to all of his employees. When he heard about my challenge, he offered me the same deal so the total cost for almost all of my transportation needs for the month is a grand total of $15!
• The bus system here is OK--it goes almost everywhere I need to go. The only problem I see is the limited hours (fortunately I work during the day but those who work nights would be out of luck because the last bus runs around 9pm), the longer waits as the system runs on the hour/half hour depending on where I am going, and the limited area that is served (fortunately almost all of my work takes place in the city). I much prefer the bus/subway system of larger cities like New York, DC, Tokyo, etc. as these buses/trains/subways seem to run every few minutes.
• I need to pay more attention to time. With your own car, you can be a little late with no repercussions; if you are trying to catch a bus you need to be on time. There have been a couple of times when I didn't actually run to catch the bus but I did have to walk pretty fast.
• I've pretty much got past the stigma of riding a bus. The first week it felt like everyone was looking at me; this is my own insecurity and status consciousness which made me feel that everyone was looking at me and pitying me for having to ride the bus. I even had a couple of people I know stop and ask me if I needed a ride while I was waiting for the bus; I had to explain it was an experiment and I was fine riding the bus.
• Safety concerns to date include: crossing the street (so many people who are turning right at a corner look to their left to see if cars are coming but don't look to see if they are about to run over a pedestrian who is in the cross walk to their right). secluded locales (no problems here but I would be worried about young females alone who are walking to or waiting at outlying bus stops). and some of the creepy people on the bus (no problem here either however some of my fellow passengers are decidedly odd, though to date not dangerous).
• The spouse flatly refuses to ride the bus. Period. This is again where status-consciousness comes into play and the "what will people who know me think" mindset also comes up. I say screw what other people think about me (but it took me a couple of weeks to get to that point).
• I've taken car pooling to an art form. I go to a lot of meetings which are spread out over half of the state. Fortunately there usually seems to be other people from my area who are also going to these meetings so to date I have been able to get a ride with them.
• I can now recite the bus schedules and Amtrak schedules by heart. I haven't had to take Amtrak yet but their trains do run between the major cities in my region so this will be an option if I can't car pool.
• Most of the people on the bus are pretty normal--many look like regular people who are fed up with high gas prices. However it seems that the closer you get to the inner city, the odder (and smellier, and less socially adept) the people seem to become.
• It is actually relaxing to ride the bus. All of the time that I used to spend driving I can now use to review reports, write notes, plan my day, read the paper, etc--this part is definitely a bonus.
• You need to be prepared. I learned this by watching what other bus riders do/have. Funny that everyone on the bus had an umbrella with them even on sunny days. I didn't quite figure out why until I ended up drenched from a sudden downpour. Now I am an official "bus person"--I have my trusty umbrella, a fully charged cell phone (before if I forgot to charge my phone I would just charge it in the car), a laminated bus pass, and am looking for a backpack of some sort (the messenger bag/briefcase slung over my should that includes laptop, et al, is threatening to do in my rotator cuff).
• As I said, the spouse still uses a car every day. I think it would probably be necessary for us to have at least one car as shopping trips, out of town trips, and going places where the bus doesn't go still come up, however with no cars and their related expenses, it could actually be more cost efficient to use a rental car or taxi for these trips.
• Speaking of costs, I have seen a couple of families on the bus (a husband, wife and four little kids in one instance). I think if our kids were still small, that riding a bus may be #1 too expensive (instead of paying for one bus pass you would need to buy six which could possibly equal out to what you pay for a car) and #2 too much of a hassle (I saw the parents trying to heard the kids on and off the bus and figured that would have been the first and last such trip for our family if that would have been us).

Overall, I give riding the bus two big thumbs up. It is super cost efficient, super easy to use, and having the extra time in my day to read instead of drive definitely has decreased my stress level.

CNI Challenge #8--Earn $500 in One Day

Here's a challenge that can come in quite handy sometimes. Can you earn $500 cash in one day? Legally? Ethically? The idea here is to be able to meet your emergency financial needs as quickly and effectively as possible while still earning the money in a legal, ethical fashion. First make a list of the things you could do to earn this money (the possibilities are endless--babysit 10 kids at $50 each for a day, cut up and sell a couple of loads of firewood, pressure wash five roofs in your neighborhood, build a website for a local business...). With people facing a variety of financial challenges these days--gas prices and food prices among the leaders--it is important for everyone to be able to, as Dave Ramsey says, get "gazelle intense" and actually meet this type of goal.

CNI Challenge #7--Do a Long Distance Hike

Hiking the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail is something that few people will complete but it is well worth the challenge. Completing a long distance hike of thousands of miles and months of walking will give you the survival skills that few in this world posses. You will realize what you really need to survive (not much as it turns out...just what you can carry on your back), you will leave behind the 9-5 life and get into the flow of nature (up at dawn, asleep at dusk), you will learn skills ranging from how to arrange food drops to what to do if a bear invades your camp to how to take care of your own medical needs to orienteering. You will also truly learn how to survive in the wilderness--something many people claim they will do WTSHTF but honestly have no clue how to do it.

Resources:

http://www.pcta.org/

http://www.trails.com/pacific-crest-trail.htm

http://www.fs.fed.us/pct/

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.jkLXJ8MQKtH/b.1423119/k.BEA0/Home.htm

http://www.nps.gov/appa/

http://www.trailplace.com/

CNI Challenge #6--Provide All of Your Food for a Day...Yourself

Could you provide all of the food you and your family need for a day? We aren't talking about going to the grocery store or the fast food restaurant to pick something up, but to actually go out and hunt, fish, forage, grow, glean, or otherwise come up with the food you need to sustain your family for a day.

It isn't actually too far of a stretch to see where these types of skills may be necessary in the future. Of course right now you have your minimum one-year supply of food stocked, however, in an apocalyptic world, after your stored food runs out, what would you do?

Consider all of the options near your home for securing enough food to cover three meals for the entire family for a day. Can you go fishing? Go hunting? Gather shellfish? Harvest items from your garden? Forage for wild edibles? Would you be able to provide a relatively balanced meal? Sure a duck would make a nice meal but if you could only provide a duck and no vegies or carbs, your sustenance plan would not last for very long. Try to come up with a wide range of items with the least amount of effort.

Here's some resources:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2100378_forage-wild-edibles.html

http://www.ngeo.com/pathtoadventure/handbook/survival/survival4.html

CNI Challenge #5--Take Public Transportation for a Month

Horrors! A bus?? With those kind of people? For most of the American suburban middle and upper class, taking public transportation is, um, distasteful to say the least. We Americans love our cars and to suggest people do without them is akin to anarchy. Granted, public transportation in many areas is sadly lacking compared to other locations around the globe and many large cities in this country, however it could be a workable possibility for many people given the right mindset and proper planning. After not having taken public transportation since I was a teenager (back in the stone age), I recently decided to take a bus to get from one end out our county to the other just as an experiment. Here are some thoughts on the validity of this challenge:

• Look at the financial impact of taking public transportation. If you lease an expensive car, pay insurance, pay for gas, and pay for regular maintenance, you can easily spend $1000 per month. Cost of a bus pass? $35 a month. Do the math. With a bus pass and selective cab rides, you can save an armload of money each month.
• We take public transportation in every country we travel to, why not take public transportation here? Except in cases where I need to hire a car and driver, I am perfectly fine taking subways, buses, jeepneys, rickshaws, etc. in foreign countries. A nice thing about our buses? The people don't sit so close together and there are no farm animals riding shotgun.
• We have a very out of proportion need for automobiles. A big percentage of people around the world can barely afford food yet there are five cars sitting in my driveway for two drivers. Craziness.
• Taking public transportation makes you think and plan ahead. It makes no sense to take a bus across town for groceries, bus to the other side of town for banking, and ride to another location, miles away, to go to the library. When you switch to public transportation, you will plan your route and plan your errands with more care so as to make each trip count.
• You get some uninterrupted time to read, listen to music, study, etc. Actually this challenge idea came about because a friend said she took the bus an hour each way to a class she was attending. I couldn't believe it, but when she said she saved hundreds on gas, didn't have to worry about driving through gridlock, and had two hours a day of uninterrupted study time, a light bulb came on in my head. Wow! Great idea!
• There are some things to consider: what will you do if the bus does not go where you need to go? what will you do about very real safety concerns such as walking to and from your bus stop or problems that may occur with other people on the subway? what if you miss the bus?
• What will people think???? Will your reputation survive the challenge? Many people are so afraid of what others think of them that they never try anything new; this is really limiting and impedes your personal development on a number of levels. By doing this challenge, you will learn learn how you react to new situations, be given a reason to try something new (tell people you are riding the bus for an online challenge), and you will learn to be more flexible (a definite plus when it comes to survival situations).

Good luck!

CNI Challenge #4--Can You Walk a Marathon?

A marathon...that's 26 miles. Could you do it with now? With practice? In a dire emergency? It sounds crazy and I wouldn't expect you to run 26 miles but it is necessary, in many survival situations, to be able to walk yourself away from a disaster, a war zone, or other unsavory situation. Besides being a necessary survival skill, walking is also an easy way to exercise, and best of all, it can result in lowered blood pressure, lowered blood sugar levels, and lower cholesterol.

Think of all of the people who suffered in the Louisiana Superdome for more than a week after Hurricane Katrina. Yes, people said they couldn't flee the city because they didn't have a car or couldn't afford gas, but aside from the ill, elderly, and those with many small children, I wonder why they didn't use the two feet God gave them to get to higher ground. I know, it's easy to say "why didn't you...?", I wasn't there and have no idea what other factors influenced these people's decisions, but the ability to take yourself from one location to another (no matter the distance) under your own power is necessary. If nothing else, walking a few miles or more every day will result in better health, but in a disaster it could save your life.

Here's some walking resources:

• Volksmarchers http://www.ava.org/
• Map My Run http://www.mapmyrun.com/
• The Walking Site http://www.thewalkingsite.com/
• Fat Man Walking http://www.thefatmanwalking.com/

CNI Challenge #3--Make A Fire Without Matches (Or a Magnifying Glass)

I actually don't know anyone who has ever been able to start a fire by rubbing sticks together. Can you make a fire without matches or a magnifying glass? It is easy enough to use a magnifying glass and the sun to set some kindling on fire and get a good sized bonfire going but can you actually rub two sticks together and get fire? This is one of the challenges I will work on myself in the upcoming weeks, but any input would be appreciated.

What this challenge will teach you: Having fire is one of the core needs of man so being able to make fire with just what nature provides you, should matches/lighters/other fire starters not be available, would be truly one giant step towards being prepared for anything.

CNI Challenge #2--Live Out of Your BOB for the Weekend

You have a BOB. It's probably been packed, repacked, evaluated, and reevaluated, however have you ever had to live out of it? Here's the challenge: Some Friday after work, pick up the family and everyone's Bug Out Bags then head to your local park or campground for the weekend. See if you can live out of your BOBs--we're talking food, shelter, clothing, hygiene supplies, EVERYTHING--without having to rely on outside help or supplies. On Sunday evening trundle the family back home and create an "after action report". What went well? What went badly? What supplies did you need but not have? What supplies did you have but not need? How can you refine your BOB to make your next challenge outing (or disaster experience) less challenging?

CNI Challenge #1--No Spend Day/Week/Month

Here's a challenge related to money. Can you go an entire 24-hour period without spending a dime? How about a week? How about a month? We often don't realize both how much we spend and where all of our money goes. From the time you wake up in the morning, money is often leaving your pocket at an alarming rate--kids need lunch money, pick up a latte on the way to work, lunch out with the co-workers, pick up dinner on the way home, shop online in the evening, etc. Here's what to do:

• Don't spend anything (money, debit card, credit card) for an entire day. Sounds simple but you will need to do a little pre-planning. You will need to have enough gas in the car to get to where you are going, bring your own lunch/coffee/water, not have any last minutes bills to pay, and say "no" to the kids when they ask for cash.
• Don't spend anything for an entire week. Obviously this will require even more planning. You will need to fill up your gas tank before the challenge week then limit your driving to make it last for the entire week. You will need enough food in the house to feed everyone for an entire week. You will have to make sure the bills that are due during the week will have been paid.
• Finally, for the hard-core challengers, could you go an entire month without spending anything? You would need to pay your bills for the entire month, buy some prepaid gas cards to use throughout the month (and make them last so you don't end up with more month than gas), you would have to stock your home with a month's worth of food and supplement it with produce from your garden. You would have to be strong when mid-month someone (the kids, the spouse, you) are having a consumer meltdown. You would have to get creative--bartering, trading, foraging for food, fishing, basically come up with a multitude of ways to meet you and your family's needs for an entire month without spending any money at all.

What does this teach you? A lot. It shows you how often we spend money mindlessly. It will save you A LOT of money. It will teach you how to pre-plan to be self-sufficient for an extended period of time. It will show just how creative you can be. It will show you what will happen during an economic disaster when money/consumer goods may not be available for an extended period of time.