For some survival preppers, it’s all about the big things: the well-stocked retreat home, buying yet another firearm, or getting a super-fancy generator. While these things can certainly be classified as preparedness endeavors, it isn’t the expensive and dramatic gestures that make us truly prepared people. A mark of devoted survival preppers is seen in how they live their everyday life. So on that note, check out this list of 10 traits that real survivalists possess.

10 Daily Habits of Survival Preppers

The way prepared people spend their time before an emergency is the real key to survival, and this is something that no amount of money can buy. It’s the small daily habits that become an innate part of our everyday lives – habits that may not even be noticeable to someone outside the lifestyle.

Real survival preppers, the ones you should look to for advice if you happen to be new to preparedness, are the ones who quietly conduct their daily lives with an eye towards readiness. Not only are these the qualities you should strive for yourself, but they are also the qualities that can help you to determine whether someone is the “real deal” or just an armchair survivalist. Scroll down and find out if you have the mark of a real prepper.

#1: Prepared people think beyond “Plan A”

Anytime one disaster occurs, several others are bound to follow closely in their wake. One of the most dramatic examples of this was the tsunami that followed closely on the heels of the 2011 earthquake in Japan, resulting in one of the most horrific nuclear disasters in the history of the world. But it doesn’t have to be on such an epic scale to qualify.

No matter how excellent your survival plan is, if things go awry you must immediately be able to accept that monkey wrench and adapt your plan to it. Prepared people understand that even the most perfect plans can go wrong, and they are willing to abandon it and act on the fluid situation at hand.

#2: Prepared people react calmly

Panic kills. When something terrifying happens, if your reaction is to freeze or to run around like a chicken with your head cut off, you’re probably going to die. Panic can show itself in two ways. For example, during the King Fire, a massive forest fire that burned over 97,000 acres of California wilderness, we witnessed some very visible panic in some of our neighbors.

Alternatively, panic can manifest in the inability to act. This is a biological impulse related to an overload of stimuli due to extreme stress. It can also show itself in as an irrational sense of calmness as the brain denies the reality that a horrible event is truly happening. Prepared people know that the ability to calmly accept the event, make a speedy plan, and then act on that plan is the key to survival.

#3: Prepared people are critical thinkers

Thinking critically is an important skill. Those who passively accept everything they see on the TV news are missing the concept of propaganda. Six enormous corporations control just about everything seen on mainstream television. Through this control, they can promote their own desired agendas by putting their own spins on events.

They can influence how the American people think about guns, about our nation’s enemies, and about the food we eat. It’s vital to think about how these corporations earn money – through advertising dollars. Will they really show the truth if it negatively affects their advertisers? Prepared people are able to assess the information provided to them and distinguish the difference between facts and manipulations.

#4: Prepared people carry a kit with them everywhere, everyday

If you don’t have a basic everyday carry kit, you can’t consider yourself to be a prepared person. I personally carry the basics for fire, water, and safety in my purse at all times. I also have an extensive emergency kit stashed away in my vehicle for times that I am far from home. Prepared people know that disasters don’t usually give warnings, so it’s necessary to have a few basics on hand at all times.

#5: Prepared people are MacGyvers

Remember this awesome TV series MacGyver? We are amazed how he can get away and stay alive in an emergency situation because of his ingenuity. People who are prepared don’t really solely rely on tools and preps though. They rely on a mindset that allows them to create what they need from what they have on hand. Being able to work with what you have and develop solutions is a vital skill for preppers. Prepared people are creative problem solvers who enjoy challenges to their skills.

#6: Prepared people live a skills-based lifestyle

It isn’t enough to just plan.  You have to have the ability to execute that plan. And the only way to know that you have that ability is to make the skills a part of your day to day life. You need to practice skills like marksmanship – we put some ammo down range every single weekend without fail.

If hunting if your plan is to provide meat for your family, you’ve got to practice hunting. You have to practice preserving the food that you raise or acquire if you intend to eat in the winter. Prepared people practice what they plan. They focus on productive hobbies and live a skills-based lifestyle that is closely related to their SHTF plan.

#7: Prepared people are physically active

Prepared people generally work some kind of fitness into their day-to-day lives. They work a physical job, they walk or jog, they go to the gym, and they don’t sit at a desk for 8 hours, only to relocate to a couch until bedtime. Moving more in your day to day life is a great way to gently break your body into a more active lifestyle. Just walking daily can make a world of difference to your fitness level.

#8: Prepared people require purchases to be multi-purpose

Most of us do not have unlimited storage space, and we have a lot of things we want to store. For this reason, we tend to pass on the “one-hit-wonders” unless they are truly remarkable. We have supplies that will serve more than one purpose. Our pantry basics can be used to make cleaning supplies. We stock large amounts of items like vinegar, duct tape, and baking soda. Our tools are versatile instead of narrowly specialized. Prepared people seek out high-quality products that multitask and limit purchases that only serve on purpose.

Check out my favorite canned meat, the perfect survival food solution with no expiration date.

#9: Prepared people are not wasteful

How far can you stretch your leftovers? What kinds of things do you reuse that others simply throw away? The ability to make one’s supplies last for as long as possible isn’t something that just appears overnight.If your friends think you’re a “cheapskate” you’ve probably got this habit nailed down.

Prepared people live frugal, non-wasteful lives now, and they’ll be far better suited to make things last later. One day, a situation could arise in which the supplies we have are very limited.

#10: Prepared people practice situational awareness

Over the past few years, we’ve heard about all sorts of incidents of mass violence, both in the US and abroad. Practicing situational awareness at all times is a habit that helps you to instinctively assess the baseline of normal for your location, and in turn, notice early on if something just isn’t right.

This helps you to react more quickly if a threat occurs, and often those brief seconds can be essential. Prepared people spend time participating in activities that enhance their situational awareness. My kids and I used to play a “game” of identifying exits when we went to new places.

Check out this video for more survival tips for preppers like you! 

Preparedness is not some finite goal that is achieved when you have amassed a certain amount of beans and bullets. It’s something that is an ingrained part of your personality. Our habits become such a natural part of us that we don’t have to think about them when we find ourselves in the midst of an emergency. The way you live your day-to-day life is the real key to survival, and this is something that no amount of money can buy. Penny for your thoughts? Tell us what you think about this list by dropping your two cents in the comments below.

Looking for prepping tips for the mobility challenged? Check it here! 

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on December 20, 2015, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.