If you are a person who is striving to be better prepared, it applies to you too. With this in mind, perhaps the best way to up your prepping game is to find some prepper friends.

Whenever we're surrounded by people who don't understand what we do, it makes it a lot more difficult to maintain motivation. It's so easy to slide into their habits when that becomes your "norm." Regardless of what you want to achieve – whether it's a higher level of preparedness, self-reliance, weight loss, business success, or some other goal – surrounding yourself with people on that same path can propel you to success much more rapidly.

Now, I'm not saying you have to ditch your best friend or your spouse if they aren't on board with prepping. Definitely not. However, networking with people who are more into preparedness is a very good idea.

Here's a real life example of how we can be influenced by those around us.

When I lived in California, I had to go to the courthouse to fill out paperwork for my Concealed Carry Permit. The City Clerk's office happened to be on the same floor as the criminal court. There was a marquee just across from the elevators, and while I was waiting for mine to arrive, I overheard a conversation that really got me thinking.

A mom and her boy, who was maybe 6 or 7, were looking for her name on the board to figure out which room to go to. They found the mom's name and before they turned away, the boy read off another name and said, "Hey, isn't that Daddy's friend who was at our house last week?"

His mom confirmed it was indeed Daddy's friend. Then she continued to read the board and pointed out a person she had gone to high school with and a distant cousin.

Now, obviously I don't know the entire story, but if their names were on the board, it is likely that they had been charged with crimes.  Whether or not they were found guilty that day, I have no idea, but all of these people within the woman's circle of acquaintances are facing some type of criminal legal trouble.

It made me wonder what kind of future that adorable, precocious little boy would face if this was his experience from the beginning.