Perfect is the Enemy of Good Enough and Problem Admiration

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I have had a couple of discussions where I hit a wall with guys. Good (internet) guys I know reasonably well. The topics were caches and bugging out. I think there are two major issues going on here.

The first issue is these guys are looking for a perfect answer. Perfect answers don’t usually exist in situations with finite resources. Unlimited resources can solve pretty much any issue but that isn’t reality for most of us.

Finding the perfect answer isn’t realistic. There are inherently compromises which must be made. We have to find the best answer that we can. This means looking at where we are willing to cut corners or accept risk.

I am reminded of a time I was selling a used car. The paint was rough and so was the interior. The drive train was pretty good. Price was like $1,200. Some guy was looking at it and said “This, that and the other are wrong with it.” to which I replied “Yeah and that’s why it is this price.”

It would be great to have the perfect set up. I would love to have a few Sarah Conner Terminator Caches, a dozen Jason Borne safety deposit boxes with cash and new ID’s, 3 different passports under my real name and houses in each place. Hell, a jet with a pilot to take me between them would be nice too. Fleeing to my awesome compound in some paradise with everyone I really care about and some random hot chicks in my sweet jet Dan Bilzerian style sounds great. Why not? In fantasy land anything is possible.

The thing is that most of us sadly do not live in fantasy land. Being able to apply huge sums of money to problems is not a luxury most people, myself included, have. So what we need to do is realize that in a world of finite resources (money, time, etc) we aren’t ever going to get a perfect solution. As our friend Commander Zero recently said “Preparedness is really about resource management in regards to risk reduction – we try to get the most for our money when we take steps to protect ourselves from future problems.”

Second is the issue of problem admiration. Guys will see a problem and just look at the issues over and over. They keep staring at the problem. At some point you aren’t going to get any new relevant information within the span of time you have to make a decision. Then you have to weigh the issue, pick a number and put your damn money onto the table.

Look at the problems you face. Understand that you have limited resources available in order to address them and that this inherently means you will have to make choices. Take your time. Unless your house is on fire or there is a mugger waving a knife in your face there is time to sleep on it. Do your research and think. You have time but not forever. At some point you will have to decide how to best use the resources you have and execute the plan.

This sort of thing isn’t as catchy as talking about what the coolest survival knife is or the 12 items you need for a bug out bag. I know that. I know this type of thing doesn’t get the comments and discussion of the “talk about cool gear and validate each others decisions” posts. Honestly I don’t care. Selling stuff or making money isn’t my goal here. I am trying to work through my own problems and help you all do the same. I hope you choose to use this stuff to help yourselves.

Get out of the problem admiration phase.