In nearly twenty years of teaching preparedness, I’ve never begun an article quite like this one. But then again, I’ve never written an article quite like this one.
I’ve written well over a thousand articles on preparedness. I’ve taught classes, spoken to audiences across the country, and spent nearly two decades encouraging people to become more self-reliant. During that time, I’ve shared practical ways to prepare for life’s interruptions, inconveniences, emergencies, and unexpected detours. But today, I want to share something different.
In fact, I believe what you’re about to read may become the single most important preparedness principle I’ve ever shared. Not because it replaces everything I’ve taught over the last twenty years, but because it explains it. If you truly understand this one principle, I believe it will influence every preparedness decision you make for the rest of your life.
For years, I’ve taught you what to prepare. Today, I want to begin teaching you how to think about preparedness.
That may sound like a subtle distinction, but I don’t believe it is.
As I reflected on nearly twenty years of writing and teaching, I realized something that had been quietly present from the very beginning. Every article I’d written, every principle I’d taught, every recommendation I’d made, and every encouraging word I’d shared were all pointing toward the same truth. I just hadn’t recognized it yet.
I’ve never believed preparedness begins with a pantry. I believe it begins with a person. That’s why the first principles of preparedness focus on who we become long before they focus on what we own. Preparedness is first about character, then capacity, and finally resources.
Over the years, I’ve written about strengthening our faith, protecting our peace of mind, improving our health, developing practical skills, preparing medically, providing appropriate clothing and shelter, securing dependable fuel, ensuring access to water, intentionally buying a little extra of the foods we already use and rotating them as part of everyday life, becoming financially resilient, and maintaining the ability to communicate when normal systems fail.
At first glance, those may seem like completely different subjects. They aren’t. They’re all expressions of the same principle. I just didn’t have a name for it.
Now I do.
It’s called margin.
Margin is the intentional creation of breathing room before life demands it. It’s the quiet space between where you are today and where tomorrow unexpectedly asks you to be. Once I finally recognized that, I realized something else I had never fully articulated before.
Every one of the Ten Principles of Preparedness exists for the same reason. Every one of them creates margin.
Spiritual preparedness creates margin before life’s greatest trials test your faith. Mental preparedness creates margin between an alarming event and your response. It expands both your mindset and your skillset so you can think clearly instead of simply reacting. Physical preparedness creates margin by giving your body the strength, endurance, and ability to meet life’s demands.
I could spend the next several pages explaining how every one of the remaining principles creates margin. The truth is, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for nearly twenty years.
Every principle creates margin.
Every act of preparedness creates margin.
Every wise decision expands the space between today’s peace and tomorrow’s uncertainty.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized something else.
Margin isn’t something you collect. It’s something you cultivate.
That’s an important distinction.
Anyone can accumulate supplies. Cultivating margin is different. It’s a way of thinking before it’s a way of preparing. It’s a way of making decisions that quietly strengthen your life long before they’re ever tested. That’s what preparedness has always meant to me, even before I had the vocabulary to describe it.
There was a time when I was working in a commission-only position, and money was incredibly tight. Every dollar already had an assignment, and there wasn’t much left over for anything extra.
Around that same time, my nieces and nephews had just finished an exhausting week of twelve-hour band camp days. I wanted so badly to surprise them with donuts from one of their favorite shops. It certainly wasn’t a necessity. I simply wanted to do something that would make them smile.
As I started doing the math, reality quickly set in. There was the cost of the donuts, plus about an hour of driving to deliver them. I honestly wasn’t sure I could justify spending the money.
Then I remembered something.
Costco had a habit of running out of my favorite protein drinks, so I’d gotten into the habit of buying a few extra whenever they were available. Not because I was expecting some catastrophic event, but because I knew I’d eventually use them and didn’t want to make a special trip only to discover the shelf was empty.
As I stood there thinking about the donuts, it suddenly hit me. I already had enough protein drinks at home to get me through the month. By simply postponing that month’s Costco purchase, I had enough money for the gas, enough money for the donuts, and enough margin to do something that mattered.
That experience became a clear illustration of preparedness. The margin I’d created for one purpose became the margin I needed for another. What began as a little extra convenience became an opportunity for generosity.
That’s margin.
Once you begin seeing margin, you’ll discover it everywhere. You’ll notice that taking your shower the night before instead of rushing through one the next morning is creating margin. Filling your gas tank when it’s half full instead of waiting for the warning light is creating margin. Getting enough sleep instead of borrowing tomorrow’s energy is creating margin. Learning CPR before someone needs it is creating margin.
None of those decisions may seem particularly remarkable on the day you make them. In fact, most of them feel almost ordinary. That’s the beautiful thing about preparedness. The decisions that seem the smallest today often become the biggest blessings tomorrow.
I’ve come to believe that preparedness has very little to do with dramatic moments. More often, it’s built through ordinary decisions made consistently over time. One thoughtful choice leads to another. One wise habit quietly supports the next. One practical skill, one intentional purchase, one act of stewardship, one meaningful relationship—they all add a little more breathing room to life. They all create just a little more peace, a little more confidence, and a little more margin.
Then one day, life asks something unexpected of you. It may be a job loss. A medical diagnosis. A broken-down car. A storm that interrupts normal life. Or maybe it’s nothing more dramatic than an opportunity to bless someone you love. Whatever the circumstance, you’re no longer making decisions from a place of panic. You’re making them from a place of margin.
As I reflected on all of this, another realization dawned on me.
For years, many people have thought Preparedness Pro was teaching food preparedness, financial preparedness, medical preparedness, and emergency preparedness.
I wasn’t. I was teaching margin all along. I just didn’t know it yet.
If you’ve followed Preparedness Pro over the years, you’ll probably notice something changing. The practical advice won’t change. The Ten Principles won’t change. But I hope you’ll begin seeing them through a different lens.
My hope is that Preparedness Pro continues to be a haven for common sense—a place where peace is valued more than panic, wisdom more than worry, and margin more than mayhem.
Preparedness should reduce your stress, not become another source of it. If my articles ever leave you exhausted instead of equipped, then I’ve failed my mission. Preparedness Pro will never compete to see who can predict the next disaster. I’d rather help you become the kind of person who can handle whatever tomorrow brings. If this article has accomplished nothing else, I hope it has given you one new question to carry with you into everyday life. Not just when you’re standing in the grocery store. Not just when you’re deciding how much money to save. Not just when you’re thinking about emergency supplies. Every day. Every decision. Every opportunity.
Ask yourself:
Which choice creates more margin?
I have a feeling that if you begin asking that one question consistently, it will change far more than your preparedness. It may very well change the way you live. And once you begin seeing margin… You’ll discover it everywhere.
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