1. Read Or Watch Survival Stories

If you have read many true wilderness survival stories, you know that many people who probably shouldn’t have survived did so because they refused to give up. Attitude matters, and to get the right attitude, you need to be able to truly believe that you will find a way to survive. Knowing what people have faced and overcome before makes this easier. If you are with others in a survival situation, you should even tell those stories to them, so they can see that survival is possible and even likely.

2. Tell Others Where You Are

This is something that has to be done before you have a survival situation, which means before you head off into the woods. And if you decide to take a new route, you may want to leave a note where it can be found, just in case.

3. Know Your Priorities

Protection from the elements and water to drink are usually at the top of the list of priorities in a survival situation. However, every situation will be unique. Think carefully about what is most important and urgent. For example, searching for food is a waste of time if a cold night is coming and you have no shelter. Do the important things first.

4. Learn First Aid

If you don’t take the time to learn a few basics of medical first aid, at least carry a small booklet that outlines basic procedures. You can find these in many first aid kits.

5. Be Aware Of Possible Shelters

If you are possibly facing a survival situation (not sure if you are lost, for example), start looking around for what kinds of shelters are available. Are there piles of dry leaves you can crawl under to stay warm? Are there caves or overhanging trees that can protect you from the rain or snow?

6. Always Plan Ahead

This may be one of the more important survival tips. Don’t wait for problems and then start looking for a solution. Before you get thirsty you should be looking around for sources of water. Before the rain comes, you should be thinking about how to stay dry. With sufficient foresight, getting lost in the wilderness for a few extra days should be nothing more than an inconvenience. Don’t let it become an emergency.

7. Always Have Fire Starters

Anytime you will be in the wilderness overnight or longer, have at least two ways to start a fire. These can be matches and amagnesium fire starter, or a lighter and the magnifying glass on your compass. Being able to start a fire can save you from the biggest killer in the wilds – hypothermia. A fire also provides comfort and better sleep, both of which can keep you motivated to do the right things.

8. Learn What Is Edible

Food is not usually a priority in a wilderness survival situation. Water, shelter and getting found are more important. Psychologically, however, you will be less stressed and more willing to face the situation if you know a few plants and animals that you can eat. Try eating some cattails or wild rose hips on your next hike.

9. Learn How To Navigate

Even if you have lost your backpack, with the maps and compass, you should know how to determine the cardinal directions. That way, if you know that there is a road to the north, for example, you will know which way to go. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, of course, but there are other ways to determine direction. Why not learn a couple of them?

10. Know How To Stay Warm

Learning a few tricks about staying warm can save you life. Since hypothermia is the number one killer of people in wilderness survival situations, this may be the most important of these survival tips. Stay dry and think of ways to insulate yourself when it is cold. Stuffing a jacket full of dry grass or leaves or cattail fluff could save your life.

The more you plan for crisis mode, the less scrambling you’ll have to do the next time your association is struck by controversy, scandal, crime, or accident. Below are examples of the kind of information you should prepare so you’ll have it at your fingertips when you need it most.

1. General organizational information. If a crisis shines an unexpected spotlight on your association, you need to provide the media with information so they know who you are and what you do. This could include an organizational fact sheet, annual report, membership overview and mission statement.

If you don’t have this material already, prepare something—even a one-page summary is better than nothing—and be sure to keep this information up to date. Have it available in the press section of your Web site as well as in a form you can easily fax, e-mail, or hand out. Generally the media will use the information you provide; if you provide nothing, they will find other sources maybe even your competition.

2. Specific organizational information. Once you have your organizational fact sheet, prepare one for relevant subgroups. This could include your foundation, for-profit subsidiary, and/or high profile chapters. Keep it simple. Just tell what each does, where they are, who’s in charge, and any other information that will be useful for explaining yourself to reporters who may know nothing about you.

3. Resources to help with potential crisis situations. Meet with key people in the association to develop a list of the most likely crises that might occur; once you get people thinking, you’ll create a list easily. Possibilities include financial or tax scandals; natural disasters, accidents that could result in injury, or terrorist attacks; employee misdeeds; and problems specific to your association’s field or location. In reality, lesser incidents that aren’t handled immediately also can become crises (or at least unfavorable headlines): protesters at your annual meeting, a pick pocket at the conference hotel, or food poisoning at the keynote lunch. It’s often these sorts of everyday occurrences that can do you in.

Next collect any information available—reports, clippings, internal actions, minutes of meetings and create a file for each potential crisis you identify. Include whatever might later help you discuss what happened, why it happened, and what protections or preventive measures were in place to keep it from happening. If similar incidents occurred in the past, have available all information on what was done to correct the problem. Again, keep these files current.

4. Key messages. For each potential crisis you identify, develop three key messages that you will include in all communications about the crisis. These depend on the situation but should convey, at a minimum:

• your association’s concern and sympathy about what happened;
• that you had procedures in place to prevent the situation from happening;
• that you are taking all possible actions to resolve the crisis

5. FAQ list. It’s pretty easy to figure out what questions the media will have about certain crisis situations. Take advantage of their predictability and develop for each potential crisis a list of frequently asked questions (and answers) that you can have at hand in case something happens. With this list at the ready, you’ll just have to update it with currently relevant Q&A as the situation unfolds.

For example, if you are in the meat industry when a finding of mad cow disease occurs, you’ll need to be prepared to answer questions about (1) what exactly mad cow disease is; (2) whether the entire beef supply is at risk; and (3) what the industry is doing to contain this outbreak and prevent future occurrences. You could easily come up with a more extensive list of potential questions, and it would be a good idea to do so—with answers, of course.

Although these generic items will help get you through a crisis, you’ll likely think of other things to include in your crisis response arsenal that are specific to your business or industry. The important thing is to take action today to have the help you need at hand if a crisis hits tomorrow.

If you already own a firearm, you need to start stockpiling ammunition. Chad has all the ammo you can buy over at Sportsman Outfit.