Hi! A bit of background: we love to host campfires at our house, and I also have a bunch of life philosophies. So I thought it might be fun to combine the two: to occasionally have ‘fireside chats’ and talk about one of those philosophies and how it might relate to prepping.

Today’s topic is doing the ‘little things’ that help other people.

I read this tip in a business book a long time ago – sadly, I don’t remember which book it was so can’t give proper credit – but what it boils down to is that you should watch for opportunities to help that are low-effort for you but high-impact for the people you’re helping.

In a business context, this might mean making an introduction that you know will help the person, or asking a question on their behalf that’s no big deal for you but might make them super nervous to ask themselves.

I thought about how this concept might play out in a prepper context and had a couple of ideas. First, we can all support each other in the preparation phase. If you’re an expert, please share your knowledge! You don’t have to create your own blog or anything, but you can chime in on Reddit threads or other discussion forums and provide guidance to people who have questions. I’ve often been pleasantly surprised by how supportive the prepper community can be for people who are just getting started – we all had to start somewhere, after all.

If you’re a more established presence in the prepper world, try to help out those people who are getting started. Come across a new blog? Throw a like or a follow at them – it will help them build a following – or even add a comment to share your expertise or support something they said. None of those things takes you very long, but again the goal is to maximize the impact for the recipient.

Out there in the world, pay attention whenever someone seems interested in prepping, and do what you can to help them get started. Give them advice on dollar-store preps, show them what’s in your bug-out bag, or share gardening & canning tips. There are some very practical steps people can take to get started, and you’re in a good position to teach them those steps. Or if you’ve historically been nervous to tell people about the fact that you’re into survival and the prepper lifestyle, try to push through that and bring it up at a party. I do this all the time, and I guarantee that it will make you one of the most interesting people there! Again, pay attention to who’s interested and try to help them with next steps on their own prepping journey.

To put this into practice, ask yourself: 1) is this low-effort for me? and 2) will it have a positive impact on the other person? If the answer to both of those is ‘yes,’ do it! You’ll get a dopamine hit from helping another human out, and they’ll benefit from your knowledge or connections.

I’ve focused here on people who are experienced, but even if you’re one of those people who’s new to prepping, you can start to live out this principle. Again, contributing to online communities is one great way of doing this, either by asking questions or by providing your own insights. You might not be coming from a place of deep knowledge, but you still have valuable thoughts to share. Find a good resource? Share it with others who might benefit. Learn a good tip? Throw it on a message board. Ask questions in the comments of blogs – you’ll be helping to get the conversation started.

These are just a few ideas I had when brainstorming about this. Do you have other ideas? Please join the fireside chat and share them in the comments!