Survival Resources - Innovative Thinking for Survival

Limited resources are always a problem during a crisis or disaster. Existing supplies always seem to vanish quickly no matter how well you work to conserve them. Finding replacement items can be a difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible task. A little innovative thinking on your part can make this task less difficult.

Unfortunately, innovative thinking has two enemies that work against it. Those enemies are change and routine. It is a well known fact that most persons become quite comfortable with things in their life and any change is not readily accepted. If you have to change jobs, move to a different area or take a different route to work due to construction, these are changes that can affect the normal routine of our daily lives and any interruption in our normal routine can be difficult to adjust to in a proper manner. This is where innovative thinking can help you prevail in a crisis.

Because of the “comfort factor” accepting change can be a difficult thing, especially if it causes us to vary from the “normal” routine of our daily lives. Changing the way we look at things will require a little innovative thinking on our part in order to restore normalcy in our lives.

One of the major changes in our normal routine during a crisis is the lack of resources. Resources are often severely limited by a number of different factors which we have little or no control over during a crisis. Transportation of goods may be interrupted, water sources may become contaminated or emergency services may be limited. You will need to find other means to accomplish things in order to restore your normal routine and minimize the effects of that change.

Changing the way you look at your resources is quite often a very simple process. Keeping things simple is one of the easiest ways to avoid making a task into something that may be almost impossible to accomplish with limited resources. Don’t allow your thinking to create arbitrary limits on your resources. Here are some simple survival tips to assist you in being a little more innovative in your thinking process during a crisis.

Survival Tips for Innovative Thinking

1. Think of everything as a resource.

 Although the need for an item may not be readily apparent, you don’t want to find yourself in a position where you could have used that item to serve a useful purpose. Even the smallest and most insignificant item may be needed in a crisis to meet your needs.

2. Think of everything as a multi-use item.

Many times items can be used in a different manner to achieve the same or similar results.  Sometimes they can be used in a different manner to achieve different results. Items can often be used to serve a similar purpose that is comparable to their original intended use.

3. Think of everything as the last one in existence.

Respect your resources. With limited resources, you will need to be extremely conservative in their use and avoid abusing your current resources that are available.

Innovation is simply a new way of using something that you have been previously using in a routine manner.

Got innovative thinking?

Staying above the water line!       

Riverwalker