We watch a fair amount of NASCAR. I am continually impressed by the amount of strategy, teamwork, and hard work that goes into this sport. The drivers work hard to be in good condition so they can endure the 500-600 laps races. The teams have meetings to figure out what they can do better and how to improve their chances of winning. When it all comes together, victory is sweet.

Prepping is or should be like that.

As a prepper, you have should have a plan or a strategy. You should have attainable goals and be seeking to accomplish them. In racing the team wants to win, of course. However, they set their goals to be improving their time, their position, and have a better performing car. You should be looking to improve your skills. You should be continually working towards your goals. You should have a plan for what you are preparing for and how you can be ready. You want to win at prepping too and that is only achieved when a situation hits and you are ready. In the meantime, you should be looking to improve all the time.

Notice I mentioned “team”? Yes, you can prep alone and a fair amount of people do. However, prepping is a lot more effective when you have people who are helping you and prepping alongside you. Whether you have a prepper community, group, neighbors, or your family, your prepping will go a lot smoother and be better when you have people on your team. Just like these racing teams who have a driver, crew chief, pit crew, and car builders, you should have a team of people who are willing to be part of your prepping success too.

You should be talking to your “team” too so that you are all on the same page. On a racing team, everyone has their roles and their jobs. Whether your team is just your family or a group, everyone should know what they are doing in a situation. Everyone should have their roles and their jobs assigned and they should be practicing what they need to do. I also think people should be cross-trained in case a person is down or not able to perform their duties.

In professional racing, the driver and the pit crew are in better condition than a lot of athletes. Sitting in a hot car, racing hard for 3-4 hours, and having to be constantly aware and on alert during the whole race is a lot for a driver. That takes a lot of endurance and endurance is only created by working out intensely. These drivers run marathons, bike 30-60 miles at a time, participate in Ironman competitions, and/or workout intensely every day. Their pit crews are the same way and most of them were college/professional athletes. That does not happen by sitting on the couch, watching YouTube, and wishing to lose weight.

As a prepper, you need to be in that kind of condition. I encourage everyone to start prepping, but I really encourage everyone to start taking care of themselves. I am not in the best shape either, but I am trying to lose weight and workout more too. We need the same endurance that professional racers and pit crews have to get through the race. We need to workout, walk, run, bike, swim, and do whatever we can to be in the best condition possible so we can survive whatever situation we are preparing for.

Preppers also need to make sure they have what they need to survive a situation. You need the right tools to survive just like a racing team needs the right tools to work on the car and make the car the best car on the track. You need a good shelter, food, water, cooking source, heat, and all the other things preppers need to survive and thrive. You need the right tools.

Sometimes you might wonder if you have the right tools, but you never know when you need them so you should always have them. For example, I rarely use my camping stove except to try it once in a while to make sure it is working. However, I don’t want to be without it because I can cook with it if we are out of power. When you get a glimpse of the NASCAR haulers, you see a lot of toolboxes and closets. They bring everything with them because they might need it. The same goes for your prepping items. You might need it so you should have it.

Which brings me to another point: you should probably have more than one. Yes, the phrase is ‘two is one and one is none’ in prepping. The same goes for most professional racing teams. They bring replacement parts, cars, fire suits, and a lot of other things just in case they need it. Your prepping should be similar. Do you have more than one way to cook food, gather water, resupply your food stockpiles, and make a fire? You need to think about having more than one way to do things and having more than one of everything.

You might have thought what can prepping and a professional racing team possibly have in common, but the answers are pretty clear. We can all learn a lot from watching others and sometimes even sports. Prepping takes a plan, strategy, teamwork, endurance, the right tools, and a good supply.

How do you think you can improve your prepping?

Thanks for reading,
Erica

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