Who’s Your Influencer?

by Todd Walker

John C. Maxwell once said that leadership is influence. Having the position ‘leader’ means nothing. You’re only a leader if people are following you. Otherwise you’re just taking a long walk by yourself.

I’ve been there, done that, and got the lesson I deserved.

Position does not equal leadership. A wise leader must understand that he/she may hold the title of ‘leader’ in an organization, or group, or family – but not be the real leader. If you’re in that scenario, your job is to influence the influencer – their voice gets heard over positional leaders.

When times are rosy, this principle applies. After the SHTF, leadership becomes even more important.

Here’s why.

I’ve read leadership styles promoted within the prepper community. Many have said that it’s crucial that one person take control of their retreat group or prepping community. No ruling by committee. A single leader needs to micro manage everything.

The problem I have with this model is – what if that person is not the influencer? Force and coercion would be needed to make followers follow.

Pride in position blurs a leader’s vision. Misguided assumption #1 – I’m the appointed ‘leader’ so people should follow. If they don’t, I’ll make them. That’s coercion, pure and simple. A leader is a leader when people voluntarily follow. Swallowing your pride is the first step to being an effective leader.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

We’ve all seen real life examples of top down leadership. Dictates come from the top and everyone below is expected to jump. Our military, corporate world, schools, churches, and even our government are models of this centralized system of control. Fear of reprisal keeps followers following. Forced association wins.

I have more questions than answers on leadership. Is our present model the cause of the mess we’re in now? Why do we need to be told what to do, what to think, and how to act? Can individuals practicing self-ownership thrive in a group? Who owns you? Can we really self-govern? Why do we clammer for a “leader?”

What I’ve unlearned from school history class (this has taken a lifetime) is that individual initiative is far superior to listening to dictates from a Dear Leader. Schools teach compliance. So does organized religion along with all the previously mentioned institutions.

Here’s a way to determine your follow-ability. Try this the next time you’re in a church service. When it comes time to bow your head, close your eyes, and pray, do the opposite. Keep you eyes open and look around while you pray. Pay attention to how you feel. Do you feel defiant? Does it seem ‘wrong’? Does God really care if you pray with your eyes open – in a church service?

Did you feel a creepy uneasiness crawl up you legs and spine? If so, ask yourself why? This doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s just a simple test to determine the level of your programming. To what degree do you feel programmed to comply?

Here’s another experiment. When they pass out the donation card during a job luncheon or faculty meeting to raise money for the United Way or Relay for Life or other charity, to give your company or school bragging rights for meeting the fundraising goal – sign the card and write why you are not giving across the top of the card. Don’t give because you’re expected to give. If you choose to give, give anonymously where no one can give you credit. It saves a lot of chest thumping.

Not participating in this public display of giving may have made you uneasy. Why? The unease is planted in you by the collective to influence you to “fill in the blank” and comply. The goal is to destroy your ability to provide for yourself and your family.

You might be shocked to find one or two others that don’t participate in compliance rituals. You’ve just discovered that some people reject mass compliance and think for themselves. Connect with these people. They are unconventional, independent thinkers, and good influencers.

Finding your influencers

Below I’ve compiled a list of non-compliant influencers that have helped me on my journey to self-sufficiency, liberty, and freedom.

Lew Rockwell – The most viewed libertarian site on the planet. Coming from a lifetime R voter, I highly recommend you read this site at least once a week. Daily is better.

Mark Sisson – The godfather of the primal/paleo lifestyle movement. He changed my lifestyle and attitude towards food, personal responsibility, and primal prepping.

John Taylor Gatto – He’s responsible for confirming what I’ve always thought about our public school system. Whether you like schooling or not, you’ll enjoy his poetic skill with words.

James Wesley Rawles – I discovered SurvivalBlog 6 years ago and have applied many concepts from his blog and books – even though I’m not moving to an unknown Western state.

Durable Faith – DF is someone I respect highly for his lifestyle of no-compromise and his pursuit to wake up the institutional church. He’s the guy you’d see ramming a whaling ship with a dingy if he was in GreenPeace.

Daisy Luther – A frequent contributor to this blog, Daisy is an activist prepper I hold in high regard. Love her style!

Claire Wolfe – Not only great at preparedness stuff, she’s Freedom Outlaw worth your time.

Gaye Levy – Practical prepping advice without all the hype.

Brain Clark is responsible for waking me up to the realization that there really is no box to get outside of. He’s the founder and CEO of Copyblogger Media. While I don’t advertise on my site, I’ve found his copywriting principles have improved my writing – at least in my mind.

You – my Sherpa community

Dirt Road Girl – I saved her for last. She inspires me. Y’all should see her write. Maybe she’ll listen to your request to share stuff on this blog. I’m still trying to convince her to start posting here.

Your turn. Who has influenced your lifestyle of preparedness, self-reliance, and liberty? Please let us know in the comments.

 

 

 

 

Prepare for the Probable

Gaye Levy’s article falls in line with sensible priorities for preparedness planning. Check out all her resources at Backdoor Survival.

Prepare for the Probable (and Not the Extreme)

November 29, 2012 The Survival Woman

We had a conversation in my household this morning about our prepping and more specifically, whether we need to take it to the next level – whatever that is – or not.  The context in our case was firearms and ammo but it could have just as easily been medical supplies and food.

This got me thinking about prepping in general and the various stumbling blocks that many face along the way.  Undoubtedly for many if not most, the stumbling blocks include expense (money for food, supplies and gear) and time (learning skills, organizing preps, forming community groups and such).  The pressure to get it all and to do it all is great.

Prepping Priorities

For some, planning for family safety and security during rough times or a disaster is foremost.  And for that, you will not get an argument from me.  Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires and storms are all things we can relate to.  But what about preparing for a doomsday scenario such as a nuclear holocaust, or a massive world-changing EMP, or global economic collapse?

I will be the first to raise my hand and say that of these three examples, the latter – global economic collapse – seems most probable.  Once that begins, the nations of the world will crumble like a set of dominoes and a major, global depression will occur.  The will be no money, no industry, no jobs and no rule of law.  There will be chaos of a grand scale and those of us in the Western world will need to learn to fend for ourselves as

did the pioneers of years gone by.  That is my opinion, anyway.

But I digress.  The point I am feebly attempting to convey is that we each need to come up with our own set of probable scenarios and prep for that over and beyond  the extreme, more apocalyptic scenarios.

Read the rest here

Six Tips for Dealing With the New Prepper

Gaye Levy, also known as SurvivalWoman, is the owner of Backdoor Survival and a Contributing Writer to Activist Post, a Guest Writer for Wake Up World and a Reporter on Before Its News. Six Tips for Dealing With the New Prepper was originally posted on Backdoor Survival and shared here with her permission. Thanks Gaye! She’s one of the Regular Gals offering common sense advice on preparedness and self-reliance I mentioned yesterday.

Doing the stuff,

Todd

______________________________

by Gaye Levy

November 1, 2012 The Survival Woman

Over the last few days we have seen one the biggest storms in the history of the US slam into the east coast of our country.  And then, a week ago, a huge 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the northwest coast of British Columbia.  In the case if the former, there are – as of this writing – 62 casualties with more expected.  There are still six million homes and businesses without power and the cleanup efforts will cost billions.

On the other hand, we lucked out with Canadian earthquake.  Luckily, it was located a bit off shore on a sparsely populated rural island.  There was a tsunami warning but the tsunami did not materialize.  But can you imagine the devastation if the earthquake had occurred in nearby Vancouver or Seattle?

Which gets me to the point of this article.

In the weeks and months to come, friends, relatives and neighbors who thought you were a bit nuts with all of your prepping may now be thinking: ”Heck, those crazy preppers may have been on to something”.

And this, as far as I am concerned is a good thing.

What to say the the new prepper?

Today I would like to encourage you to coach newbie preppers in the best way you can: with common sense and practicality.  No mention of “I told you so”, no fear mongering and no recrimination.  Instead, consider the following six tips for dealing with the new prepper.

1.  Go slowly and exercise patience.

It takes months for seeds to produce viable food and it takes years for a tree to bear fruit.  Prepping is no different.  I like to promote the one-month-at-a-time method of prepping which adds new tasks, skills, and food items each month until, at the end of the year, a decent and well rounded set of preps is good to go.

The prepping one month at a time overview here on Backdoor Survival is a good place for the newbie to start.  It also makes for a good review and check-up for the more experienced prepper.  In addition, you can access all twelve months of my series on Getting Prepared One Month at a Time from a single page.  Here are the links:

Getting Prepared: 12 Months of Prepping, One Month at a Time
Getting Prepared One Month at a Time

2.  Compare prices.

I really want to emphasis the importance of comparing prices to insure that you are not be subjected to a price that has been artificially inflated.  That is what happened shortly after the Fukushima disaster and it was heartbreaking for me to hear of people that spent double, or even triple the normal price for something.

Food and gear for survival and emergency purposes does not have to be overly expensive. In many cases, you can shop your own home for the items you need to get started and use the savings to fill in with additional items. The recent article Back to the Basics: The Bug-Out-Bag talked about this and offered some suggestions for gathering items you already own to make up a starter – or even a spare – bug out bag.

The best advice I can give in this regard is to be aware and spend your money accordingly.  Stay calm, stay prudent, and if it sounds too good to be true, it is probably best to move on.

Read the rest here