A Survival Tips and Techniques Blog | UrbanWoodsman.com

It seems as though he WORLD is prophetically hearing what the Spirit is saying while he church and other religious entities are growing more deaf or seemingly unable to HEAR what the Spirit is saying- the Consciousness that we are, that I AM. I’m not saying those who are hearing are understanding, but we, someone surely should be. 

Whether knowingly or not, the Obama campaign heard what is resonating with mankind all over the world. It’s time for CHANGE! Who knows what that exactly means? For Obama, it’s a political phrase; however, it is far more than that. A major change in consciousness (substitute the word “spirit” if that helps you). The old time religion no longer works! I’m not surer that “religion” ever worked but it was a vehicle on which spiritual things were to hopefully be carried.

It’s the SPIRIT (consciousness) that we ARE that people truly need!

And then there’s the Gloria Gaynor song, sung in the first person, but crring the message to all, ” I Will Survive”. In case R&B or Motown hasn’t been in your journey, here are a few of the lyrics-

First I was afraid, then I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live
But, I will survive I’ve got all my life to live
I’ve got all my love to give and I’ll survive

It took all the strength I had, not to fall apart
kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart
and I spent oh so many nights, just feeling sorry for myself
Now I hold my head up high and you see me somebody new
I’m not that chained up little person.

We’re in bondage and don’t know it- the worst kind. It’s like deception, but the worst sort is self-deception. There is MORE to life than this physical life. Voltaire said, “It is no more surprising to be born twice than to be born once.” Can you dig it? (I say that on this day that we lost Isaac Hayes). Robert Alexander, PhD of Philosophy at Georgia State University said, ” We now have, for the first time in the history of our species, compelling empirical evidence for belief in some form of personal survival after death.”

Unfortunately religion has been majoring on the promises of an after life when the need to having been “born again” in this life, surviving in this life, and most of all prospering in “this life” should be the emphasis.

Yes, we WILL SURVIVE (the here and now), but HOW?

Please feel free to use this article as long as credit is given to the resource box.
© Copyright Arthur Levine, 2008
Words: 471
Keywords: Recession, Survive, Prevent, Debt Control

We can’t prevent a recession from happening, but there are a number of things to do so that we survive it with a minimum of pain.

1. Have the proper attitude – you have to have faith that you can do something positive if you are going to survive the coming recession.
2. Have faith in yourself – you have to believe in your own abilities if you want to be successful at surviving a recession.
3. Don’t panic – this is not the time to start selling the investments in your 401K. We are probably closer to the bottom than the top and you don’t want to create a tax liability for yourself.
4. Think long term – You are probably going to recover most of what you have lost if not all when the recession is over. Historically things get better over time.
5. Reduce Your Expenses – Sit down and make a budget. Try and decide what expenses you can reduce if you lose your job and you need to make limited resources do.
6. Decide what’s Important – Do you know what is really important to you? Is it your home, your car, your medicines, or your life style? Something is going to have to be cut.
7. Alternate Income source – If you want to survive this recession you may need an extra source of income. Examine your talents. What kind of part time work are you good at? A second income is better than none.
8. Marshall your assets – Are you sitting around holding onto antiques or jewelry or other unused assets that you don’t like or need? Sell them and build a nest egg to give you more security in these trying times.
9. Your family – If you are really experiencing trying times it is okay to ask relatives for a loan to help get you through them as long as you intend to pay it back. Worst case you can move in with your relatives or if you are doing okay have them move in with you.
10. Debt Control – Talk to your lenders, your mortgage holders, your credit card company. They can help you spread out or defer your payments so that you both recover from these trying times.

It’s really up to you. You can survive this recession if you believe that you can. This is not the end of the world. It is only a stage in your life that you are going through. So are the rest of us. We all have to learn to cope.

Warren Buffett once observed this about economic downturns: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” Well, the water’s receding and unless your company is at the absolute top of its industry, you’re probably more than a little worried about your level of “exposure.” Do you have what it takes to survive in these troubled times? It’s a scary question. But you can’t afford to spend too much time wallowing in anxiety and (to torture an analogy) scanning the shore for the nearest towel to cover your inadequacies.

If you play your cards right, you can reduce your pain during this downturn and come out stronger. People still need products—not just any products but the right products—and someone needs to provide them. No reason it can’t be you. But you need to get started making changes right away.

There are three steps you can take that will dramatically increase your chances of surviving—and even thriving—in our dismal economy:

Survival Strategy #1: Cut the waste. (And we’re not talking about reusing paper clips!) It’s time to reinvent the one function in your company that is more wasteful than any other. It’s your new product development, where the average company squanders over half its R&D resources on new product belly-flops. Can you think of any other function—production, accounting, HR—where this level of waste is tolerated?

Most companies don’t have enough R&D people to drive existing projects at a rapid pace. How would you like to “hire” dozens or hundreds more people who already know your company’s culture, customers, and technology… and can start work tomorrow? Don’t you think that would save your company? Well, you can do that: Just kill the dumb projects that are destined to be duds—really kill them, don’t just wound them—and set these people free to actually do some good for your company.

That sounds great, you may be thinking, but I don’t know which projects will be duds. Precisely! You don’t know. But your customers do! Instead of huddling with your colleagues around a conference room table to decide what your project portfolio should look like, let’s get a little crazy. Let’s ask customers what they want you to work on.

First ask customers what outcomes they want (which is much different from showing them your potential solutions). Then have them rate the importance and current satisfaction levels for each outcome. Do this with several customers in a market and you get the Market Satisfaction Gap for each outcome. A high Gap means customers are dissatisfied with an important outcome… and are eager for you to fix this.

Our clients have created Market Satisfaction Gaps in hundreds of markets, and they are usually surprised to learn what customers really want. But better to be surprised before development work begins than after the product is launched.

Survival Strategy #2: Harvest the “best practices” of other companies. It’s easier than you think. Simply by learning what works for other organizations, you can immediately increase your effectiveness in key customer-facing activities, such as pricing, sales management, and marketing communications. Have you ever left a company to work for another and discovered the new outfit had some pockets of mediocrity? Your new hires may be having the same experience. Instead of waiting for new employees to randomly cross-pollinate your organization with improved practices, you need to be much more proactive. You need to find, adapt, and drive these best practices into your business fast.

If that sounds overwhelming, I have two acronyms for you: APQC and ISBM. The American Productivity and Quality Center is one of the world’s leading benchmarking firms. Based in Houston, Texas, APQC has probably already benchmarked any area you can think of. Instead of forming a company benchmark team that will take three months just to frame their work, check them out at www.apqc.org.

But if—like most people—you tend to learn more from people than reports, find an organization to tap into. If you are a B2B provider (not consumer goods), you can’t do better than the Institute for the Study of Business Markets. Based at Penn State, the ISBM counts as its members over 100 leading researchers and 70 of the most advanced B2B firms. To check out a wealth of reports, consortia, workshops, and other learning opportunities, visit www.isbm.org. You might be surprised by how much “inside information” these thought leaders are willing to share.

These firms know that companies that simply “hoard their secrets” fall behind those that continually share and adapt. As Ralph Oliva, Executive Director of ISBM, puts it, “It’s really about how you implement new tools. Tiger Woods wouldn’t be worried if I used the same golf clubs as he did.”

Survival Strategy #3: Ask customers what they want. (Novel concept, huh?) The third and final tip can be practiced only by companies that provide products and services to other companies (not consumers, in other words). Solid research done by Huthwaite International indicates that the best way to sell a product is to ask customers what they want. In designing my new-to-the-world New Product Blueprinting process, I asked: If that’s true, why wait until the product is already developed? Let’s ask customers before it’s developed so we can a) develop a better product and b) engage them so they’ll be primed to buy.

This isn’t practical if you sell toothpaste to millions of people, but it works quite well if you’re a B2B provider and would like to influence your ten largest customers. I have developed a host of tools used to interview B2B customers in a very respectful, peer-to-peer fashion that leaves customers very engaged in your new product development. Of course, new products can take more than a year to develop… so how is this going to help you now… in the middle of an economic downturn? That’s the fun part—and one of the unforeseen, unintended consequences of his brand of B2B product development.

We were focused on long-term product development, but our clients began telling us that their newly learned interview techniques so impressed prospective customers, that it cast them in a new light. Imagine you are the customer: The last ten suppliers have tried to sell you something they already have, and here comes a supplier that listens to you to understand your needs. Who would you want to work with?

A marketing manager in Europe had been trying to start one new product project with a customer in the United Kingdom for years. At the end of his first New Product Blueprinting interview, he left the customer with six projects in hand. Customers are simply looking for suppliers who are competent and care… about them.

The bottom line? It’s time to put these three tips into practice and keep a cool head about you. Human nature being what it is, chances are good your less astute (and more fear-driven) competitors won’t.

When the tide goes out and the economy turns down, your competitors will be tempted to forego their long-term prospects in favor of short-term survival. You should hope nobody dissuades them. As Napoleon said, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

And here’s the best news of all. Have you noticed that none of these three tips asks for near-term/long-term trade-off? In every case—reducing R&D waste, adapting new best practices, and engaging customers—you will reduce your short-term pain during the downturn and increase your long-term gain afterwards. So regardless of the tide, keep your swimsuit on and enjoy your swim.

# # #

About the Book:

New Product Blueprinting: The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth (AIM Press, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-9801123-4-4, $35.00) is available at bookstores nationwide and from major online booksellers.

For more information, visit www.newproductblueprinting.com.

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Disasters assault you at the most unexpected moments. They arrive without warning, leave the victims comfortless and lives shattered. There is no second chance in the midst of disaster, just total devastation.

Whether it is death, divorce, illness, fires, or acts of terrorism, the agony that is cause has a common aspect. It hurts!! So how do we survive so much pain?

In the initial stages you are overpowered by the anesthetizing state of shock and utter disbelief, where the fullness of the reality is unable to register. This is the body’s way of coping. If the fullness hit home immediately, no one would survive!

Then comes the roller coaster ride of a concoction of disbelief, anger, guilt and a whole range of sentiments, which has your world spiraling like a runaway jet.

This is the time you need you need to give yourself some small breathing space to attend to your wounds and wait for a small ray of the healing process to commence, through an unhindered expression of your grief. For even though you don’t believe it now, over time you will heal. The fact is life will continue and you will have no choice but to keep on going for where there is life there is hope. Yes, you may have lost an entire way of life, a loved one, or good friends, but you are still living. Your heart is still pumping and your body demands you take care of it.

Time and again disasters have proven to be periods of opportunity. Opportunity that shows up the community spirit, as has been seen by the response to the catastrophic bush fires that have desolated the southern part of Australia. Opportunities for the humblest individual in society to become a champion. Opportunities for people to extend a helping hand to others they have never even met. Opportunities to reveal a true expression of empathy towards the sufferers. Opportunities to let others reach out to you. Being of use to others is often the best and most healing road you can choose, even if it is only in the way of giving a comforting shoulder for someone to cry on.

It is often in times of disasters, you come face to face with your fears, in living three-d. Fears that plague you in the still small hours of the morning, when life is at its lowest point. Nightmares that are finally brought out into the open. However, you will usually find the reality easier to cope with that the haunting fears of \”What if..?\’\’

Disasters bring you to the realization that life is unpredictable and you are forced to deal with situations you did not anticipate. Disasters that turn you into refugees. People who must fashion a different way of life. People who know what it is to lose everything. No matter what you feel like, you simply can’t lie down and die when disaster disintegrates your life.

It is not an option to sit and indulge in a self-pity party. Feeling sorry for yourself hurts only you. Disasters are the time when you need to reach deep inside yourself, to reveal strengths you never imagined you had.

The key to surviving is that you have to become a realist and an optimist at the same time, as life-destroying circumstances change you forever. You will come out the other side a different person.

Disaster divides your life into before and after the tragedy. You will never look at even the simple things of life in the same way. Yet, the end of one thing is always the beginning of another, for it has been proven that human nature will rise, just as out of the ashes the phantom phoenix rises anew.

How then are you to live through the grief of disaster? You look back and learn the lessons from the past, but more importantly you look forward and take one small step. The tallest mountains in the world were conquered one tiny step at a time. You can do it too. You can take the next step, no matter how painful. Let the future and the big things take care of themselves. Just make the decision to survive through today.

A brief comparison of rural and urban living based on my own experience. I will continue to be loud as silence does not make change nor does silence offer a glimpse of the other side of the coin. Unfortunately when a person who has lived here in Newfoundland all their life attempts to convey their message it is often dismissed as biased. Being a person who has lived both urban and rural lifestyles I am neither biased or prejudiced. This is how it is.

“Quality time with the family.” Taken in the Sequoia National Forest and National Park. High Stakes ‘Merica! Dedicated to Kevin from survivalistboards.com

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!!!!! Last week was the first of hopefully many shows. The cutting edge is broadcasted live and recorded, and uploaded as a podcast for you to listen to at any time. The show covered survivalism. We were delighted to have two guest on the show along with listeners who called in and e-mailed us with questions. Our First guest Patrick former military and well educated in survival. Our second guest Richard D, Whos spent Thirty plus years in the study of heavy metals, Richard is also a published author, PHD and podcast extraordinaire. Thank you everyone for subscribing! The Cutting Edge Radio Show Website: digitaladdiction.wordpress.com Facebook: bit.ly Twitter: twitter.com Revolutionary Roundtable Group: www.youtube.com Website: www.globalgovernmentnewscorp.blogspot.com

From time to time we hear of catastrophic events and disasters in far away places, but the news gets more and more unsettling the closer these tragedies get in proximity to where we live, as well as their increasing frequency. We operate on a daily basis mostly without worry of any major changes in our living quarters or environment. It would in fact be counterproductive to become unnecessarily preoccupied with a pessimistic view of the future possibilities of disaster. By the same token, it is a big risk not making any advance preparation.

In this modern era our survival is weighted most heavily toward how we fare in the workplace and our propensity to bring home an adequate paycheck. We rely on society’s highly interdependent, evolved system of specialization. Drawing upon each of the various components as needed brings us enhanced utility with added convenience to boot.

As opposed to earlier civilizations, we exchange for and gather from an ever-increasing base of available goods and services that have the deceptive appearance of being infinite in supply. The modern term for participation and pursuit of the self-production and construction of necessities for life (food, clothing, and shelter) is “hobby.”

When disaster strikes, you have nobody to rely on but yourself, and your survival is no longer considered to be a “hobby.” Your forethought, preparation, and careful planning will dramatically increase your chances for survival. You will be thankful for your own advance consideration of a variety of possible future disasters. This may even include things such as unemployment or underemployment.

Plateaus can be most frustrating! There you are, making the correct food choices, moving and exercising, staying positive… and the scale won’t move! Learning why they exist can help you understand the science behind the plateau. In addition, we’ll provide you with information to help you stay on track while weathering the difficulties of a plateau.

What is a Plateau?

A plateau is the body’s natural defense against starvation. In all reality, it is a marvelous protective mechanism and, in time of famine, would help preserve your life. If we can learn to appreciate “what” a plateau is, then we can begin to view it as a benefit to our overall survival and not as such a dreaded enemy.

What Can You Do to Help Get Over a Plateau?

There are both physical and emotional components that are needed to survive a plateau.

Physically, you need to double-check your food intake to make sure you’re not exceeding the calories needed to lose weight. Sometimes, we tend to begin eating a little more and push the calories up enough to maintain our weight rather than continuing to lose. Other times, as Ana calls it, we indulge in BLT’s (bites, licks and tastes). What we consider to be “little” indulgences, can actually add up to more than a 1,000 additional calories.

To be sure you are physically on track, you may find it useful to journal your food intake. Write down EVERYTHING you eat and the associated calories. CalorieKing is a site I have found quite useful; there are others. This site shows the calorie content, the nutritional values and serving sizes of common food items. In addition, the same information is available for many items featured at national restaurants and fast food chains.

If you are exceeding the caloric intake necessary to lose weight, adjust your food plan and reach out for additional support.

If you are physically remaining at a calorie content that will allow weight loss, then try the following activities to jump-start your metabolism.

Activity #1

Days 1 and 2 – Lower your normal caloric intake by 200 calories (example: if your daily caloric intake is 1,400 calories, lower your calorie intake to 1,200).

Day 3 – Increase your normal caloric intake by 200 calories (example: if your daily caloric intake is 1,400 calories, increase your calorie intake to 1,600). By consuming the additional calories, it sends a message to your brain that you are not starving. It signals your body to release the fat it has been holding in reserve.

Day 4 – Return to your normal caloric intake (example: if your daily caloric intake is 1,400 calories, return your calorie intake to 1,400).

Activity #2

Change your exercise routine from day to day. This keeps your muscles in a state of confusion. In this state, your body does not know what to expect and your muscles stand ready to accept the physical challenges you present. This allows your body to achieve the maximum benefit from your exercise.

You see, our bodies have a remarkable way of adapting to changes in our environment and physical activity levels. If you continue to do the same exercise routine, day after day, your body becomes accustomed to it and knows what to expect… it adapts. In doing so, it no longer requires the same amount of energy to perform a task it is becoming accustomed to. While your effort remains constant, your body has adapted and now uses less energy to perform the same function. It really is remarkable and part of the grand design that assures our survival as a species, albeit frustrating when trying to lose weight.

Emotionally, a plateau can present challenges. You begin to doubt yourself and your efforts and start questioning whether you should just give up.

Is this really what you want? Do you want to give up on YOU and the progress you’ve made? Do not allow failure to be an option!

Rather than looking at this in a negative manner, why not reverse your logic? Why not look at where you’ve come from and celebrate your success? Why not celebrate the fact that you are determined and strong and that you are not gaining? Why not reinforce the knowledge that your body will give way to your efforts of healthy eating and exercise once it realizes you are safe and your survival is not threatened?

Attitude is Everything! Here is a story that was recently shared by my friend.

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll braid my hair today.’ So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. ‘H-M-M,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.’ So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.’ So she did, and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head. ‘YAY!’ she exclaimed. ‘I don’t have to fix my hair today!’ Attitude is everything.

How Do You Survive a Plateau?

Understand that the science behind a plateau is the first step to surviving these episodes. Let your brain reinforce this knowledge and calm your fears. You are not failing. You will lose the weight. It will take a little more time and require persistence to continue on your plan when the scale does’t move.

Implement one or both of the activities described above to help shorten the length of time you remain at a plateau.

Accept that a plateau is a normal survival response and not anything you are doing wrong.

Persist in the healthy eating and exercise behaviors that will bring you success.

Maintain a positive attitude. Just as the tortoise won the race in his slow and steady pace, know that you WILL win this race as well!

Reach for the support of friends to uphold you during a plateau. They can provide the encouragement and motivation to see you through a plateau and join in celebrating your success!

A Few Final Thoughts…

“A strong mental attitude is built the same way physical strength is gained- by repetition.” – Unknown

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert Francis Kennedy

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge

“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” – William Feather

“A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure till he gives up.” – Unknown

Stay true to yourself! YOU CAN DO THIS!!! It is our dream no one has a right to prevent us from reaching it, least of all us.

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