We’ve all sat through that talk. You know the one, the one that included a story about a guy, somewhere else, who did something foolish and he became the focus of a teaching point. Chances are, you’ve probably sat through multiple talks like this and if you’re like me, you’ve said, “that could never happen to me.” Guess what, it can and if you throw caution to the wind, you may just become the anecdote used to teach others about your mistake. You don’t want to be that guy. You don’t want to be that story. How do you stay on the right side of wrong and avoid becoming the punchline of a joke? The answer is simple, practice these basic principles in what you do whether that be exploring the great outdoors, strapping on a pistol as part of your daily routine, or driving down the road. These address some of the common reasons the stories and statistics discussed here happen in the first place.

Avoid Multitasking

I own plenty of pocket tools that fall into the “multi-tool” category. These pocket tools can accomplish many tasks but compare to the dedicated version of the tools crammed into a compact package, the multi-tool isn’t as good. Human beings are capable of working like multi-tools with many projects and tasks at hand at once. We might fancy ourselves capable of juggling all of these but the reality is our attention is divided. You can argue you are capable of driving, talking on the phone, and eating breakfast all at the same time but I am willing to bet you don’t have two hands on the wheel, you’ve interrupted the natural back and forth of communication by biting, chewing, and swallowing, and you’ve probably dropped your phone or spilled food on yourself as you balanced your meal on your knee. Multi-tasking is not as effective as doing one task at a time. Think about how divided attention can lead to negligent discharges. Think of how losing track of your focus can lead you to forget something at home before a trip to the wilderness. Instead of taking on more work when your work is already critically important, scale back and focus in a distraction-free environment.

Work Before Exhaustion

We have 24 hours in a day and upwards of a third of the day is usually reserved for sleeping. This means we have time to recharge, heal, and let our mind rest before waking and tackling the next day. It is easy to drive on through the night and pull an all-nighter assuming you will eventually sleep but you must listen to your body. Lack of sleep is associated with numerous health problems and related to the activities of the folks reading this Fieldcraft Survival blog, this also means you can lack awareness when you preach valuing readiness. Think about it, falling asleep at your guard post would never be accepted in a combat zone. How is falling asleep when you are protecting your family be any different? The consequences are the same. Think about what happens if you drive on through exhaustion only to fall asleep at the wheel. Perhaps you don’t fall asleep but you just lose some of your reaction time. The consequences are grave. For the Fieldcraft Survival hunters out there, consider how many folks fall out of treestands every year because they failed to tie in and fell asleep. Value your rest and what it does to your senses as well as your body.

Check Your Ego

It’s easy to believe you are more than you are capable of. Take a single survival course and you may feel on top of the world capable of tackling mother nature. Take a single pistol course and you may feel you don’t need any advanced training. The reality is, you are a tool that needs constant sharpening and sometimes we overestimate our abilities. Each year, there are many calls for search and rescue for folks who strike out on trails only to realize they don’t have enough energy to get back down. Each year, some men and women start fights with others they believe they can take only to wake up in jail or wake up with a friend telling them “you got knocked out.” Each year, some people make mistakes just because they let their perceived self get in the way of their actual self. It is OK to admit when you should pass on an opportunity. It is OK to come back stronger and more ready. It is never OK to make a foolish mistake because of your ego.

The reason why the stories from these training classes stand out is that they are relatable. Perhaps you embody some of the characteristics of one of the subjects in any of these stories. It is easy to “read ahead” in this book you are writing each day by evaluating the decisions of the people you hear about compared to your own. In the end, learn from others’ mistakes and don’t make them yourself. Don’t become a statistic or a story unless that story is one of success.