Top 7 Things People Must Have to Survive in Any Situation

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It was supposed to be a quick run to the grocery store—just fifteen minutes, tops. But suddenly, your phone blows up with texts, calls, and an emergency alert. The disaster that’s worried you—”Yeah, that one!” is happening and is happening right now! And you have to act—and act swiftly! PEOPLE ARE DEPENDING ON YOU! What you do in the next few moments may determine whether, at the end of this day, you’re relieved and grateful or rocked by the worst day of the rest of your life.

Your heart races, and your thoughts scramble. Stunned by the terror at the prospect of loss and failure involving you and your loved ones, “What do I do!?” screams from within your mind.

It’s your answer to “What do I do right now—that can save the day?” that, outside of luck, is likely to determine whether you succeed or fail. And it’s preparedness that gives you the best chance to correctly answer “What do I do now?”

People who prepare hash through possible struggles ahead of time. They gain knowledge, learn skills, and gather resources so that they are as prepared as possible to respond effectively. And, because they make an effort to face what worries them, they are more ready to handle the curve balls that come everyone’s way.

After all, emergencies don’t announce themselves politely. Instead, they can strike without warning, leaving the unprepared, stunned, panicked, and helpless to those who need them most.

Your survival shouldn’t rely on luck. Preparedness and survival are about knowing the critical things you must know, developing the essential skills you need, and having the right resources—along with an effective mindset to respond decisively when life goes sideways.

And that’s what this article is going to cover. This article walks you through seven essentials that will help prep you to answer the “What do I do!?” question. It’s a question that, because of your preparedness, you’ll answer —with clarity, confidence, and control.

1. Foundation of Survival

When it comes to survival, new people often think about gear and supplies first. While those matter, they’re not your strongest asset. True preparedness starts within you—it begins with your mindset and your ability to clearly see and understand what’s happening around you. Mindset sets the stage for effective situational awareness, and together, they fuel smart, confident decision-making.

Mindset

Mindset is the most powerful thing people must have to survive. When people talk about preparedness, they often jump straight into discussing gear and how you better get ready NOW, or it’ll be too late. Sure, gear matters—you’ll need your essentials—but your most valuable survival tool isn’t something you can buy at the store. It’s your mindset. I’ve seen it firsthand—over and over again: your mindset is the foundation upon which everything else rests.

Your gear can be lost, stolen, damaged, or destroyed, but your mindset? It’s always with you, always there when you need it most. Cultivating mental and emotional resilience isn’t complicated. It’s about being introspective, staying calm under pressure, maintaining awareness of your world, and believing in your well-balanced ability to face whatever challenge comes your way. If you start with your mindset, everything else gets a whole lot easier.

Situational Awareness and Decision-Making

Situational awareness is your ability to not only detect what’s happening in your personal environment but also have an accurate understanding of whatever is happening. It’s about using the information you gather to come up with the best courses of action and plans possible—then take effective action.

Being alert to and understanding what’s happening to the true reality of what’s happening in your world can mean the difference between capitalizing on an opportunity and getting smacked by a curve ball that you didn’t see coming. Perhaps the time you took to study the map (or Google Earth) of your area this last weekend showed you a side road that shaves 15 minutes off your busy commute. Maybe situational awareness is what prompted you to pump your breaks to give the cross traffic an extra second or two to stop.

Fortunately, situational awareness is a skill you can practice daily. There’s no special equipment needed, just a sharp, attentive mind. Watch the flow of things. See if you catch people’s moods. Look to see what doesn’t seem right. Think about possible problems and how you would handle them—then “what-if” your previous answer. Try to notice when your mood changes, or when the hair on the back of your neck stands up, or you get that weird feeling in the pit of your stomach. If you can figure out when it changed, you might be closer to knowing why it changed. 

2. Safety & Security

Your safety and security always come first. Safety is about giving yourself the ability and space to avoid problems. A wise old prepper (me) once said that a problem never encountered is a problem never encountered. In other words, if you avoid a problem, you don’t have a problem.

That means:

• Rather than smashing the gas pedal when the light turns green, you pause for a couple of seconds just in case someone runs the red. While you’re paused, quickly scan to your left, right, and forward before punching the gas.
• Safety is installing traffic circles—eliminating the potential for the highly dangerous right impact collision (also known as a T-Bone accident), as opposed to the glancing blows experienced in traffic circles.
• You budget for and install some low-cost, low-visibility security upgrades to your home.

Security is your capability to eliminate or recover from a problem that was unavoidable.

• Pulling over and calling 9-1-1 because the guy next to you smashed the gas pedal and was T-Boned by a car that ran the red light.
• This includes having the highest-performing airbag system in your car, just in case.
• Having the ability to gather your family in the DIY safe room you built for the unlikely night that someone tries to kick your front door in.

Feeling as safe and secure as possible is foundational to preparedness.

3. Emergency Kit Essentials

Emergencies don’t come with warnings or conveniences—they strike unexpectedly. Your emergency kit is your first line of defense, packed with supplies to sustain you, keep you safe, and support your basic needs when the unexpected happens. A disaster supplies kit should include essential items to sustain life and ensure safety during emergencies.

Here’s an entire resource page of emergency kit items.

4. Essential Survival Skills for Critical Situations

Knowing how to effectively take action is crucial during emergencies. Essential survival skills—like first aid, fire-starting, shelter-building, and navigation—can truly save your life when things get serious. Here’s a quick rundown of the skills that will keep you safe, confident, and capable when you need it most.

First Aid

Knowing basic and advanced first aid skills can help prevent further health complications and improve your situation. To ensure everyone has the best opportunity possible to keep oxygen flowing to their brain, we need to know Basic Life Support (CPR training) and how to stop life-threatening bleeding (Stop the Bleed). Learning basic and advanced first aid skills is also beneficial in helping with the nicks and scrapes that come with an active preparedness situation.

Fire-Starting

Being able to start a fire can be important. Fire is energy that provides warmth, light, and an additional source of heat for cooking food and purifying water. It’s also a moral builder and can be used to signal if we’re lost. Knowing how to safely start a fire using primitive skills is also a meditative skill that connects us with nature and the world around us.

Shelter

Exposure to harsh conditions can quickly lead to hypothermia, heatstroke, and other life-threatening problems. Your shelter doesn’t need to be fancy, but it must protect you from the environment, both hazards of mother nature and living creatures. If your home is unusable, knowing how to create a shelter can provide protection from the elements. That could mean setting up a tarp, setting up your car, or getting to a nice hotel away from the disaster zone.

Navigation

Having the know-how to get to and from important places without a GPS can keep you from getting lost or delayed when it matters most. If there’s a problem with your kid, and for whatever reason, the GPS decides to crash that day, you can still take care of your family. Learning how to travel by memorizing roads and routes also forces us to keep our heads up and observe the world around us rather than being buried in a navigation screen or our phone all the time. And that’s a good thing for the human spirit.

5. Hydration, Sleep, and Sustenance

Your body has critical needs that simply can’t be overlooked, especially during emergencies. Hydration, sleep, and food form the trio that sustains your energy, sharpens your thinking, and maintains your physical strength. By prioritizing these essentials, you’ll ensure your body and mind stay capable, focused, and ready to handle whatever challenges come your way.

Water

Water is a non-negotiable. Your body won’t last more than a few days without it—less in warm or active conditions. Aim to store at least one gallon per person per day. Keep some simple purification tablets or filters on hand to ensure you always have clean drinking water—even if the tap stops flowing.

Sleep

Never underestimate the power of rest. Lack of sleep quickly leads to impaired judgment, slower reaction times, hallucinations, forced micro-sleeps and reduced resilience. In the Rangers, we trained to experience sleep deprivation and how it can cloud thinking and impact critical decisions in stressful times. Having a sleep strategy—even during a crisis—is as crucial as food and water.

Food

Although your body can technically survive weeks without food, going hungry quickly weakens your physical and mental capabilities, which are crucial when we’re trying to figure out our way forward. Keep practical, nutritious, shelf-stable, and healthy foods on hand, such as canned goods, dried beans, rice, protein bars, and other calorie-rich snacks. Focus on the most nutritious options for your situation and dietary needs.

While it may not be what you care for, a 2000-calorie daily emergency food stockpile can be as simple as buying these five items that you can purchase on Amazon to provide 12 days’ worth of long-shelf-life emergency food for one adult.

Here’s the Amazon 12 Days of Food Preparedness List!

6. Staying Capable

Preparedness isn’t a one-time event—it’s a continuous practice. Staying capable during emergencies requires ongoing effort, from having a clear, actionable plan to maintaining your health and regularly updating your supplies. Here’s how to stay sharp, informed, and ready to respond effectively whenever the unexpected occurs.

Have a plan: Being prepared means having a plan in place, knowing what to do in an emergency, and having the essential supplies to do what needs to be done.

Current information: having access to accurate and up-to-date critical information can help you make informed decisions during an emergency

Expired items: regularly checking and replacing expired items in your emergency kit can help ensure you have access to essential supplies

Healthy habits: maintaining healthy habits such as regular exercise, a balanced diet, regular health checks, and good personal hygiene can help you stay safe and healthy during an emergency situation

7. Community Support

Survival isn’t a solo sport. We are naturally social beings, and having support from others is essential. Support comes in the form of someone to help us when we get behind the power curve with something. Our self-defined family of loved ones is the smallest form of community there is. However, it’s a community that provides resources, skills, and emotional support that we all may need at some time.

Family members: A communications plan that ensures all family members are safe and accounted for can help ensure everyone’s sanity and safety in an emergency.

The Bottom Line on What People Must Have to Survive

You can’t count on survival to happen by chance—it’s the result of thoughtful planning, preparation, and knowing exactly what’s essential. By focusing first on cultivating a resilient mindset and sharp situational awareness, you’ll create a rock-solid foundation for every decision that follows. Stocking smart, practical gear, mastering critical survival skills, and ensuring you’re physically and mentally capable all work together to build confidence, reduce stress, and help you respond calmly when it matters most. Remember, preparedness isn’t about fear—it’s about empowerment. So take the next step today, and be better prepared to answer—”What do I do!?”

Stay safe,