32 SURVIVAL SKILLS

Knowledge is something that takes time to develop, so we need to start teaching the next generation now.  In case, God forbid, our children are left to fend for themselves or we are injured or even just to make your family more apt to survive, every child must learn these survival skills so they can pull their own weight and contribute as much as they can.

It’s not just physical survival we need to teach them but mental, emotional, and spiritual survival as well. If your family learns now to be a well-oiled machine, you will be more likely to survive any type of collapse.

Pick four or five areas and focus on them first. Then take another five, and so on. If you use the search function on your computer, you will find ample information to learn from.

1. Find water and identify if it’s safe to drink
2. Filter and boil water to drink
3. Have a natural curiosity and good problem solving skills
4. Basic first aid
5. How to stay warm, cool and dry in the elements
6. Make a fire and know fire safety
7. Cook on an open fire
8. How to safely use a knife
9. Basic hygiene practices
10. Grow vegetables from seeds
11. Have local edible and medicinal plant foraging skills
12. Knowledge of dietary needs and how to meet them using wild plants and game
13. How to shoot a sling shot
14. How to hunt small game with snares, traps and sling shot
15. How to fish and hunt-bow
16. How to clean fish and wild game
17. How, Why and When to stay hidden
18. How to make a basic weapon and how to use it
19. How to climb a tree- to get away from predators, get directional bearings, and hunt.
20. Be hard working and a self-starter and a family helper not a complainer!
21. Have a strong faith in God (morals, memorize Bible verses, prayers, songs, and have a                                       hope for heaven)
22. How to use a gun when old enough
23. Self defense
24. How to bargain and trade (Kids naturally do this with their toys so teach them at garage sales.)
25. Find or build a shelter in the woods
26. How to read a map and use a compass
27. Be able to run and walk a good distance and be in generally good shape
28. How to read the sky for directions, time and approaching bad weather
29. How to sew so they can mend clothing or any fabric and even make things such as bags or scrap quilts
30. Know where family and friends live if they need to find them
31. How to be responsible for themselves and to be aware of their surroundings at all times
32. Open a can of food with and without can opener (rub can lid ridge on cement and then pry open with knife)
33. Be able to tell if food is too spoiled to eat

Goals Completed

A number of years ago I was able to work with ten high school students, five each from two local schools, helping them learn about leadership. As a part of the class, we took the students to interview an exceptional leader. A couple of past leaders that were interviewed were Tom Landry and Roger Staubach.

Another leader was Jim Sirbasku, President of Success Motivation, Inc. (SMI) located in Waco, Texas. In Jim’s younger life, he worked as a butcher in a meat packing plant in Minneapolis. The compensation for workers was very low.

Jim and his wife found that they could not have children so they decided to adopt a child. The adoption agency told them that they qualified for everything except income. They simply did not have enough income to support three people. Jim and his wife were devastated. What to do?

Jim knew a fellow who was marketing Goal Setting programs and Jim wanted one really bad. The fellow told him that if Jim would give him the names of some prospects and if they bought, he would give Jim 10% of the selling price. If the fellow sold ten programs to people from Jim’s referrals, Jim would get a program free. The fellow found that when he talked to the prospect that Jim provided, that they were already sold. He did not have to do any selling at all. So the fellow talked to Jim and convinced him to begin to sell as well and quit the meat packing plan.

Jim took that advice and to make a long story short, he quickly rose in the ranks and became the President of SMI.

I took the ten students to Waco to interview Jim and it was a great interview. The students had developed a set of questions that had been previously been sent to Jim. At one point in the interview, Jim got away from the questions and went over to a closet with bi-fold doors and opened them. Behind the doors was a large bookcase full of three ring notebooks. Jim told the students that all the notebooks were full of pages of goals accomplished. Jim said that he set goals in all areas of life and the six shelves were for the six areas of life. He related that anytime he is concerned about something, he looks at all the notebooks and reflects on all the goals accomplished. His thoughts are that if he has done all of this, what could he NOT do.

So the challenge for each of us is to think about our goals accomplished and do our own reflection. Begin to write each goal on a separate page and begin to collect those you complete. You might surprise yourself.

Jim died a multi-millionaire in 2010 at the age of 71. He and his wife Judy had two children, a boy and a girl. Their family had the largest Egyptian-Arabian horse farm in the world.

The six areas of life have now been expanded to eight: 

Physical, Mental, Social, Family, Financial, Spiritual, Hobby, and Career.