The Mind4Survival Podcast

Let's talk about some stuff that does it make people feel very comfortable - disaster situations. Every area has certain disaster situations to which they are more prone. Considering disasters from a “what-if?” mindset allows us to be one step ahead of the event if and when it happens.  I look at disasters in two types: Micro disasters - may struggle in isolation Macro disasters - struggle feels more tolerable as a group struggle. And of course, when it rains, it pours. In many cases, disaster situations are not isolated events. Disaster Situations Can Often Lead to Further Disasters Often, the initial disaster leads to a series of crises. For example, after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, Texas, multiple disasters followed. Major flooding swept through areas that don't typically flood. The power was out. Residents near reservoirs were forced to evacuate as engineers released carefully limited amounts of water to keep the spillways from pouring out uncontrolled deluges. Looters and scammers swept into the area like vultures. And to add to the crisis, the Arkema Chemical Plant suffered severe damage that caused fires and multiple explosions. Since a couple of days after the storm hit, officials from Arkema Chemical Plant in Crosby, Texas have warned that their plant was going to explode and there was nothing they could do about it. The system cooling the toxic chemicals stored at the plant were relying on generators to continue working. When the generators were flooded and ceased to work, officials warned that it was only a matter of time before the entire plant blew. Small fires had been erupting across the plant, and last night, the second of nine trailers holding chemicals blew at around 6 pm Eastern time. So, let's be clear about what happened here. First, there was a hurricane. Then there was a flood. The spillways at the reservoirs threatened to burst, spurring mass evacuation. Scammers and looters victimized residents. After all that, due to flood and hurricane damage, a chemical plant caught on fire and suffered multiple explosions, leading to even more evacuations. It's important to understand that disaster situations are quite often NOT isolated events. What Are Some Other Complex Disaster Situations? The series of events in Houston is not unique. There are many other examples of complex disaster situations. Double hurricanes, called "proximate tropical cyclones" by meteorologists, are rare but can occur when two cyclones spring up closer to one another than usual. There can also be a double landfall from the same hurricane when it hits land, goes back out to sea, picks up more power, and hits land again. Another example was the 7.9 magnitude San Francisco Earthquake on April 18, 1906. The earthquake set off a fire that raged through the city. The fire chief died during the initial quake, which hampered the response. In the end, 3000 people died, and 25,000 buildings (490 city blocks)were destroyed ( 90% by fire). Hundreds of thousands of people found themselves homeless. Eventually, riots broke out throughout the city as people scrambled for limited resources. In 2004 the Indian Ocean Earthquake occurred. The 9.3 magnitude earthquake resulted in 100 foot high tsunamis that killed over a quarter-million people.  This article talks about other disasters that occurred on a massive scale, many of them with a cascading series of follow-up emergencies. The Covid Pandemic Has Resulted in a Cascade of Crises When running into a series of disaster situations, you have to get through the first one and immediately be on the lookout for what comes next to be ready again.  The Covid pandemic affected people in different ways from other large- and small-scale disasters. When it rains, it pours.

In this episode, we're going to discuss the Atlantic article, "We Should All Be Preppers," by Bradley Garrett. Come along and see what he got right and what may be a little off-target. Never forget, you’re just one prep away. If you have any other thoughts or questions about social isolation mindset, please leave a comment…

Prepping groups or going it alone? That's always a raging debate in the preparedness world, much like the "best gun," where you should live, and whether to bug out or bug in. While the first Rambo was a great movie, it set a bad precedent for many people in the preparedness niche who now feel they can go it alone during a disaster or other difficult times. Since I first began prepping back in the ‘80s, there is always talk of people going solo during difficult times, while others swear by having prepping groups. Well, we're in a difficult time right now, and how does the idea of being completely on your own, reliant just on yourself, feel? While living like John Rambo in the woods of Washington may seem doable on the big screen, is it really? And it is smart? Most People are Not John Rambo, Even If They Think They Are Most people are not John Rambo, and those who are even close would probably tell you it's not a good idea. But people who know less are often the ones who are most apt to make this lone-wolf survival ideal the basis of their plan. Part of this is something called the Dunning-Krueger Effect. Psychology Concepts website defines it: The Dunning Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which individuals, who are unskilled at a particular task, believe themselves to possess above-average ability in performing the task.  Let me know if you're a professional that is ready to go out and do everything solo. You have it one hundred percent wired. You can live out of your backpack for the rest of eternity and do your own thing. I imagine not many hands went up. And if your hands did go up, well, man, please call me because I'd love to have you on the podcast because you must be the tactical solo survival genius out there who can do it forever. The truth is most people don't have the mindset, don't have the capabilities, the skills, and knowledge to go solo for really long periods of time. You're going to have to interact with people because we need that support, and that's just one reason why prepping groups are so important. Even most movies show that going it alone is difficult, if not impossible. In the movie "Cast Away," how ready was Wilson to help Tom Hanks? Daily survival needs never stop. Did he help him get water? Did he help him start a fire? What did he help did? No, he was a do with a handprint on. It was a ball with a handprint on him that Tom Hanks used to have somebody to talk to and break the social isolation he was dealing with. And other than that psychological effect, Wilson was absolutely worthless for helping Tom Hanks, his character, do anything right.  The movie "Leave No Trace" shows how it's not hard to get hurt or sick, yet if you're solo, it may be hard to get help. It really shows how you are so vulnerable to what goes on out in nature when you're on your own. So I recommend watching, Leave No Trace, and you can see what happens when you're solo. “Alone” shows professionals had a difficult time. These are trained professionals on there, Alan Kay and everybody else that was on there knows what they're doing in the woods, and they still have a difficult time. Prepping Groups Help Us Survive Those who are a part of prepping groups have a higher chance of survival. Eyes in the back of your head or when sleeping? None of us can be locked in one hundred percent of the time watching everything, too, and everything around us. It's impossible to do that. You will wear out if you're on your own, and you're trying to be hyper-vigilant and watch everything going around you. It would be best if you had a team for that. We cannot control what happens in nature. Trees fall, sometimes on us. Storms happen, damaging our structures or causing extreme temperatures. We get sick or injured. But no matter what is happening, our food, water, and shelter needs still have to be met.

Knowing how to prevent heat illness can do more than save you in the short term - it can also prevent long-term heat-related issues. Did you know that nearly 1,000 people die each year due to heat-related illnesses? Not to mention, tens of thousands of people who suffer from heat-related injuries sometimes have issues for the rest of their lives. As a paramedic and heat casualty myself, I know first hand the serious and prolonged problems heat illness can cause. If the summer heat hasn't hit where you're at yet, it's just around the corner, and you should be getting ready for it. One of the best ways to get prepared is by understanding what goes into becoming a heat casualty so that you're aware of it and know how to prevent heat illness. Medical problems up to and including death happen when our body's internal cooling system cannot keep pace with the environment around us and our activity load. What Is Heat Illness? A heat injury or heat illness happens when our body's ability to reduce the amount of heat that it has on it doesn't keep pace with the amount of heat coming in from the environment around us.  Problems happen when our ability to reduce our bodies' heat doesn't keep pace with the amount of heat we are taking in from the environment or creating through activity. Heat Cramps The symptoms of heat cramps are muscle spasms that are usually painful, involuntary, and intermittent. They go away on their own, and they don't usually last that long. So if you have muscle spasms or are with somebody who's suffering from muscle spasms, it could be related to the heat. If you believe this issue is that they've become overheated, the answer is simple. Administer fluids and electrolyte replacement. Try to help them get cooled off, whether that means going indoors, getting wet, or using a cooling cloth. Catching the issue when you are just at the point of heat cramps is a good way to prevent more serious heat illness. Heat Exhaustion Heat exhaustion is a heat-related illness that can happen at any time after you've been exposed to high temperatures. There are a couple of types of heat exhaustion - salt depletion and water depletion. It is more serious than heat cramps. Treating this the same way as heat cramps but note that it's a bit more urgent than heat cramps. Heat Stroke Without proper intervention, heat exhaustion can progress and become heat stroke, which could lead to brain damage. As per the Mayo Clinic, the symptoms of heatstroke are: High body temperature. A core body temperature of 104 F (40 C) or higher, obtained with a rectal thermometer, is the main sign of heatstroke. Altered mental state or behavior. Confusion, agitation, slurred speech, irritability, delirium, seizures and coma can all result from heatstroke. Alteration in sweating. In heatstroke brought on by hot weather, your skin will feel hot and dry to the touch. However, in heatstroke brought on by strenuous exercise, your skin may feel dry or slightly moist. Nausea and vomiting. You may feel sick to your stomach or vomit. Flushed skin. Your skin may turn red as your body temperature increases. Rapid breathing. Your breathing may become rapid and shallow. Racing heart rate. Your pulse may significantly increase because heat stress places a tremendous burden on your heart to help cool your body. Headache. Your head may throb. It screws with the organs and can cause death, so we want to treat it aggressively. If you believe someone is suffering from heatstroke, it's time to get them to the doctor ASAP if at all possible.  If professional medical treatment is unavailable, the Mayo Clinic recommends doing everything possible to cool the person down. Get them to a cool place, remove as much clothing as possible, put them in a cool (not cold) bath or shower,

Do you have a list of things to do, but you're sitting there watching YouTube (or reading this blog) and eating a snack? Do you put things off - sometimes until it's too late? Would you like to know how to get over procrastination and finally get things done? Read on. What is Procrastination?  To understand how to get over procrastination, we have to understand what it is. We all often put off doing something even though we know we should be getting it done. In other words, we procrastinate.  It could be long-delayed. It could be something we truly intend to do but we never get to it. Think of New Year's resolutions. On January 1st or January 2nd, I might say, "I'm going to go start working out again." And in February, we're not working out anymore, so we say, "I might go do this, or I might go paint the house." Whatever the case may be, whatever our goal is, we find reasons not to do things. We oftentimes procrastinate because something seems difficult in our subconscious. It may not seem difficult to us as we're thinking like, "Oh, that's not going to be hard," but subconsciously, our mind doesn't want to deal with it. Our mind feels insecure.  Don't think that every time you're waiting to do something, you are procrastinating. If you are intentional about it, there's a reason you are putting off the task. If you are delaying because you're waiting on more relevant information or more information that really is part of your decision-making process, then maybe you aren't procrastinating. Maybe you're trying to develop that situation. Why Do We Procrastinate? For example, let's say you're trimming a tree for the first time. You're uncomfortable because you've never done it before. It's easier to get sucked into doing something else because trimming the tree makes you nervous. Are you using a chainsaw for the first time? Are you going to be up on a ladder? What are you doing? That uncertainty comes in. That's an uncomfortable feeling.  That's why mindset is so important because when it's uncomfortable, and you start investigating it within yourself, you can, a lot of times, find out what your hang-up is: why are you not doing that. Is it just a matter of being fearful or a matter of not knowing what you're doing? Well, maybe you could fix that. Maybe you can ask for some help or advice, whatever it is. You can find a way to get around that. Many times procrastinating feels good in the moment, which is called delay relief. You don't do something that feels uncomfortable, so you feel relief in not doing it ... for now. Our minds lock in on the good feeling we get in delaying the task, and that good feeling sets up a positive reinforcement loop in our brains to not do it. Your brain takes it in as, "When I procrastinate, I feel good because I avoided the thing that makes me feel bad (which is the thing I need to get done)." However, later, we feel bad because we didn't get it done, so what do we tell ourselves is, "I'll get to it tomorrow, next week, when the weather's better, pick-another-reason" etc. How to Get Over Procrastination Think about something that you need or want to do. What is it? Understand that procrastination is in your mind. Oftentimes, avoiding something because of our unfamiliarity with it.  Create a plan  Make the project/task manageable by biting it off in chunks (milestones) Just do it. Get started. We often don't start because we don't know where to. Remember to create a starting point/step in your plan, and do it.  Make your environment conducive to completing your task.  Have others hold you accountable. Tell your family, friends, etc., you will have "X" done by this date, and tell them to bust your balls if you don't. Basically, ask them to help you hold yourself accountable. Celebrate reaching your milestones, your accomplishment. 

Founding Father Ben Franklin was sharing prepper quotes well before anyone ever thought of a term like "prepper." His wisdom has held true throughout centuries, and so much of it relates to just thinking ahead. Some of My Favorite Ben Franklin Prepper Quotes Had I listened to Ben Franklin's words of wisdom, I may have found myself better prepared to get on the road when I headed for the woods and bugged out last year. I often read these old quotes to maintain my personal, situational awareness and assess how either I've done things that align with those quotes or things that are not. Then I consider which of those have been beneficial and which haven't. “If You Fail to Plan, You Are Planning to Fail.”  The most effective time to plan is before the plan is NEEDED. If you wait to figure out what to do in the middle of an emergency, you are wasting valuable, potentially life-saving seconds. Think things through well in advance and create your plan ahead of time. And of course, since plans don't always go smoothly, consider your plan a framework to get the job done. Don't stop at just one plan - consider plans B, C, and so forth. “You May Delay, But Time Will Not.” Prioritize the most important things, and particularly time-sensitive things. Farmers become pros at this - you've probably also heard the saying about "making hay while the sun shines." Farmers have to harvest crops in the fields at just the right time. Homesteaders must preserve the things you've harvested before they spoil. These things simply can't wait until it's a convenient time. And it's not just the everyday things you need to do in a timely fashion. You need to remain in a state of readiness because emergencies and disasters aren't going to wait for a convenient time before they occur. The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami hit the day after Christmas, with a beach full of people enjoying the holidays. Twenty-two tourists were killed visiting what they thought was an inactive volcano that erupted without warning. People delay important tasks because they believe there's plenty of time to get better prepared. But one day, when an emergency or crisis occurs, you will fervently wish you had those preps you'd "planned" to get in order. “Well Done Is Better Than Well Said.” Don't talk about it, actually do those preventative maintenance and service checks. Don't talk about equipment, use it. Finally, don't just make a plan, execute it in a practice run, and troubleshoot it. Talking is great and helps with your mindset. But too many people are all talk and no action. Actually doing the thing prepares you better than all the conversations about it in the world. “Lost Time Is Never Found Again.” I highly encourage experiencing lazy days as often as possible. I think downtime is a healthy endeavor. But as one of the most important prepper quotes reminds us, every day can't be a lazy day. When it comes to survival, it's just that: SURVIVAL. Therefore, a missed opportunity to work on your survival skills is one more opportunity to NOT survive. Survival skills take time and energy. So, when it comes to survival, take care of what's most important first and as far in advance as possible. Go get your water and store it away properly. Build your food storage supply. Create a way to shelter yourself from the elements now, rather than later. Practice your chosen self-defense methods regularly (shooting and using other weapons are perishable skills.) Create a medical kit, stock up on essential medications your family uses, and brush up on your first aid skills. You never know what may be coming down the road. Focus on those most important needs right away, before it's too late. Then move on to the less essential details. “Being Ignorant Is Not So Much a Shame as Being Unwilling t...

Let’s reach back in history, going all the way back to talk about the Scofield Coal Mine Disaster, which occurred on May 1st of 1900 in Utah. One of the greatest parts about being a prepper today is the ability to look back in history at previous disasters to see what happened and what went wrong. We can use that information to help make a more secure future. What Happened During the Scofield Coal Mine Disaster? The Utah History Encyclopedia shares the tragic story of the Scofield Coal Mine Disaster: The Scofield mine disaster occurred on 1 May 1900 when an explosion ripped through the Winter Quarters Number Four mine located west of Scofield. Men working in the mine were killed outright by the explosion, which occurred when an excessive amount of coal dust ignited inside the mine. Other miners, working in the Number One mine which was connected to the Number Four mine, died from the deadly carbon monoxide gas or "afterdamp." Hearing the explosion, but not knowing where it occurred, the men in the Number One mine tried to exit by the shortest route--through the Number Four mine--and consequently encountered the deadly gas on their way out. The official death toll was 200 miners, but the actual number isn't known for sure. That's because there was no record of how many miners were down there when the explosion occurred. Some put the death toll as high as 246. At the time it happened, it was the deadliest mining disaster that the United States had experienced. Lack of Planning Exacerbated the Scofield Coal Mine Disaster  A lack of advance planning complicated the disaster response. If a plan had been created and enacted, those not killed immediately by the explosion may have been able to escape with their lives. Back in those times, people didn't always plan as well in advance. We know now through a history of disasters that we should prepare for potential emergencies and come up with a loose framework of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in case something happens.  Another thing that might have saved lives would have been to let the situation develop. Find out some more information before rushing into what might be an even more dangerous situation. The miners lacked communications options. It was probably difficult to figure out where the explosion had occurred. Everyone in the coal mine disaster just rushed for the nearest exit to flee to the surface to find out what had happened.  Slow Down If you are safe for the moment, take it slow to find out what's going on in an emergency like this. You wouldn't be happy sitting in the mine wondering what the heck happened, but you'd be safe for the time-being.  What do you need to determine if you're not safe for the moment? You need more information. By gathering that additional information, you're able to make a more sound, rational decision. This circles back to the situational awareness that we always need to be striving for. You must have the ability to calm yourself down, to come in and interrupt the emotional mind and get to that rational mind. Take that tactical pause to analyze your situation. Determine if you run off in a particular direction, what might go wrong? Communication and Information Are Essential Next, think about how you're going to communicate. Who do I need to notify when something happens? If I have a cell phone and I know I have five percent left, it's about ready to die. Who is the one person I need to call? And does that person who I need to call know that I'm planning on calling him? Does he know what to do after I alert him to the situation? You need to have a coordinated communication plan. Once those communication channels are in place, the contacted person can spiderweb out the communications like the old phone tree. They can call some other people or whatever you have pre-planned. When it comes down to accountability,

I literally received the best message I’ve ever gotten on Facebook. I don't think the person that sent it to me understood why.  Here's what I received.  "As much as I believe you have great credentials to speak on a lot of subjects related to survival, I just cannot get on board with your seeming…

While society may be opening back up soon, the coronavirus will still be around. So have you thought about how you're going to go about your day so that you don't risk infecting yourself or the people you most care about? In this episode on Social Distancing, we talk about: Why I feel that society…

Have you given much thought to what life after May 1st might look like? Well, if you haven't, I have. And I'm here to share my top 10 possible predictions for what life after May 1st may look like for all of us. Top 10 Predictions for Life After May 1st, 2020 (Possibly) Top 10…

Creating your own best daily routine is incredibly helpful in finding more free time to do the things you LIKE to do. Daily routines also help increase your confidence and overall satisfaction with yourself and your day. Establishing the best daily routine for you can be accomplished in four easy steps: Finding Your Motivation Deciding What to Include in Your Routine Mapping it Out Taking Action! (This is the hard part!) Understanding why a routine is important to you and how it will positively change your life will help provide you with the added motivation to make it happen. To stick it through. To make it a routine! Finding Your Motivation to Create Your Best Daily Routine Let's get you into this. Let's talk about some of the things you need to do to become motivated to begin establishing a daily routine. Why is a routine important to you? This is something you need to think about. Maybe sit down and write it out. Help get those thoughts out on why this routine is important to you. Saves time - Most of us are sitting at home, and our hectic lives typically seem or feel like we don't have enough time in a day to get done. What we want to do or a routine helps with that. By creating a routine, we don't spend as much time deciding and planning what we need to do with our day because we already have it written down. As a result, our lives become more efficient. That means the tasks we are doing or need to do, and we're getting them done more efficiently.   Creates good habits - A routine creates a sense of accomplishment and helps us develop those good habits that align with our daily goals and long-term dreams. And by establishing good habits that we do throughout the day, we lessen the amount of time we have for bad habits, right? So good habits can displace bad habits. If we typically wake up in the morning and don't know what we're gonna do, we sit around for three hours trying to figure it out. That might be a bad habit. And a possibly more effective good habit is to go, you know what? This is what I have on my day because I have my routine all set, and I'm running with that. So you don't have to think about it next. Less stress, less indecision, more confidence - Routines provide a framework for our lives. And by structuring our lives, we can better maneuver through the days with less stress, less indecision, and more confidence. Deciding What to Include  When deciding what to include in our routine, approaching it through an easy-to-remember system helps ensure you take care of your most important tasks. You want to remember to pick the kids up from school while also allowing time for the things in our life that may not be necessary but make us happy, fulfilled, and confident. Mindset: Includes how you approach your day, your positive mental attitude (PMA), and how much you stick to your routine. Assessment: Helps you determine if what you are doing is on track with your goals. Survival: Represents taking care of the basic needs we have in life, eating, bathing, teeth brushing, etc. Secondary Essentials: Represents the things that are NEEDS that are more flexible and less time-sensitive, such as grocery shopping, doctor's appointments, health, and fitness. Self: Our personal time and our wants. Time to relax, time to go out, date nights, time to read, and improve ourselves in alignment with our interests and desires. Don’t forget to make sure you include YOU in your daily routine. Mapping Out Your Routine Scheduling time increases your flexibility and responsiveness.  Be specific - Make a list and get as specific as possible to make sure that we achieve our goals and follow through on our routine. Choose your routine according to your preferences - One thing to put in your mind when you're ...

As a long-time paramedic, wearing disposable nitrile examination gloves is an essential part of my Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and has been since 1987-1988. That is when, in my experience, EMS agencies in Southern California began "allowing" people to wear gloves in response to the HIV-AIDS epidemic.  Before that, EMTs and Paramedics often got bloody and wore all kinds of other people's bodily fluids. Sometimes, our uniforms stayed dirty for hours, if not longer. As the HIV epidemic worsened and became more well known, I recall running on my first patient, confirmed to have HIV. Yes, back in the pre-HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) days, medical diagnoses were routinely passed on. Anyhow, I can recall how nervous I was to work on this patient. At that time, as with now, there was a lot of conflicting information, rumor, speculation, and uncertainty surrounding HIV and how it transferred between people. To say that people viewed HIV as a scary, long, miserable death sentence is an understatement. The Early Days of Protective Gear Now, when it comes to my first encounter with a person with HIV, as I said, I was nervous. Not only was I worried about myself, but I was also worried about treating the patient well. I was nervous about becoming infected with an unseeable, untreatable, microscopic death sentence. The idea of getting it and passing it on to my friends, family, and others was as equally nerve-racking.  So, as my partner and I headed out, I recall calling my paramedic supervisor named Rick and asking something, for the time, that was crazy. And here's how that conversation went: "Hey, Rick."  "Hey, Duff, (that's what most people called me back then) what's up?" "Well, Rick, we're running on this person who has HIV, and since we know at least one route of infection is by bodily fluids, can we get some rubber gloves, just to be safe?" (Remember, we didn't wear gloves back then. Not only did we NOT wear gloves, but we also didn't have any on any of our rigs. Yep, that's right, no gloves, period. When it came to equipment, it wasn't a big deal if it was bloody or covered with other bodily fluids. The accepted practice of the day: quickly wipe down and put the gear back in service as fast as possible, to be used on the next patient. That goes with all equipment, airways, cervical collars, etc.) We Had to Get Special Permission to Wear Disposable Nitrile Examination Gloves After voicing my concerns and request to my supervisor, Rick, I heard a sigh and a medium-length pause on the other end of the radio.  (This is also pre-everyone had a cell phone days. It seems like the stone age now. No, ATMs, no texting, no nothing compared to now.) Finally, Rick came back on the radio and agreed we could wear gloves with a couple of stipulations. Yes, requirements about protecting ourselves from a deadly virus. The stipulations were: Our organization would not purchase gloves for us.  We had to purchase our gloves. If we didn't buy our gloves, we could take (steal) them from a hospital. [Here's the cherry on top] While we were allowed to wear gloves, we weren't allowed to wear them on any known HIV patient because of the potential for perceived discrimination. Yes, discrimination, because we did not wear gloves on ANY patients then. So, wearing them only on HIV patients was viewed as potential discrimination. Great! So, all of us got to suck an egg.  Eventually, Changes Were Made Fortunately, some years later, people realized the old way of "gloves are for the weak and scared," was complete insanity. In turn, the thought of NOT wearing disposable nitrile examination gloves as protection against disease went the way of the dinosaur, and taking precautions against infectious diseases was encouraged. And, with that,

Common Humanity In today’s episode, I discuss this post from the Mind4Survival Facebook group:                       To help shed some light on this, I ask us all to consider two things, the common humanity of the situation. What is the other person, or persons experiencing? Does…

Coronavirus and Healthcare Workers In today's episode, I discuss: I speak with Lisa (Budget Equestrian) and Dale Goodwin (Survivalist Prepper) about their lives, Lisa a healthcare worker during the coronavirus and Dale, her husband. I also speak about the last fundamental of preparedness, SELF   SHOW NOTES COMING SOON!   Lastly… Never forget, you're just one prep…

What Does Trust Mean When It Relates to Preparedness? Trust is both earned and given, and it is an integral part of how we approach the world and our interactions. That is especially true during times of crisis. Because it is so essential, in this episode, I break down and define the levels of trust we have in others. It's our level of trust in others that is the foundation of our interactions and expectations. It's the levels of trust that we put into others that we can segment into four groups or ranks. What does trust mean in each of these groups? Strangers Acquaintances The Dependables The Trusted Strangers When we first meet a person, we have not interacted with the person to make a solid judgment on the value and reliability they bring to our lives. Therefore we either overtly or covertly interview them to determine if their values and mindset align with ours individually and as a group, establishing our baseline with the wild card. During our interview process, we also begin to silo people by their strengths, weaknesses, and how they impact ourselves and the group. Some things to look for in a person beyond shared values are their levels of integrity, competency, accountability, and concern for others. As we begin to trust strangers more, they become viewed with higher regard of respect and acceptance within our family unit. Acquaintances Acquaintances are the people we don't know well but who have passed beyond the level of being a stranger on one level or another. Based on how we are introduced, some people may bypass the stranger category and move straight into the acquaintance category. Acquaintances can be looked at as the person who is making the right decisions, giving more than they are taking, and trying to make their world a better place. And as acquaintances are a step above strangers, they are still looked upon with some reservations, which requires more significant work, oversight, etc., for others. As acquaintances prove themselves, they can progress into the ranks of the dependables. The Dependables The dependables are people in whom we have confidence. Confidence is the belief that we put in someone based upon past interaction, performance, and so on, that they will do what we feel is right. Confidence is necessary because it's the people with whom we have confidence, which we and others are more likely to follow and listen to. People we have confidence in often become leaders. And it's during difficult times that our level of confidence in others must be as stable as possible. That's because if we don't have confidence in someone, it will likely cause problems within the dynamics of the group. Arguments can arise, such as others shouldering more responsibility, work, etc. People we have confidence in require very little oversight to do what is right, what is needed, and in general, do positive things. As people gain our confidence, they then move up our mental ranking system to become trusted agents in our lives. The Trusted People we "trust" are the people who we put our faith and belief into. Trusting someone means that we accept them, their strengths, weaknesses, and everything in between. Because, in our mind and heart, they have proven themselves to be worthy of our trust. People won't move up our internal rankings unless their values, integrity, competency, accountability, and concern for others align with ours. This level of trust is not blind trust, which is also not confidence. This level of trust is based upon building a relationship where you know with almost 100% certainty how a person will behave and respond to difficult times. The Trusted are our fire-and-forget missiles. They are the people who, in a time of crisis, we can depend on. Not depend on to be successful, because that's never guaranteed.