There are six crucial steps you should be taking to help make your life easier if you ever need to rely on your survival gear and knowledge long term. They will help you take stock of what gear you have, keep motivated and learn how to use your supplies effectively.

What are the six things you're doing right now that are messing up your chances of survival in the future?

1. You’re not incorporating solar electricity in your daily life.
Incorporating solar into your daily life is easy, relatively cheap, and important to do. It’s going to get you into the habit of being battery-conscious and sun-conscious. You need sun for electricity so you’ll begin to look out for it and learn what works for your solar kit and what doesn’t. Also, you’ll begin to be conscious of how much battery power you’re wasting because you’ll need it to last longer when the SHTF.
2. You’re not cooking one meal a week with your bug out kit.
Cooking just one meal a week using your bug out cooking gear can make a drastic difference in the comfort level and safety of your bug out group. You need to be an expert at cooking using the things you’ll be stuck with if the SHTF. You also need to know if that gear is crap and needs to be replaced, upgraded or downgraded.
What do you need to do? Cook just one meal a week (preferably a dinner meal, as they tend to be larger and more complex) using the cooking items in your bug out kit. Notice I said cooking items and not food items. The point here is to be proficient with your tools.
3. You’re not incorporating your prepping food into your routine meals Incorporating your prepping food stores into your regular meal plan will reap large benefits post- SHTF.
You need to know what’s in your food stores and what is not. You also need to learn to cook with that type of food (be it dehydrated, freeze-dried, etc). Water-absent foods like those we popularly use for food storage require extra steps in the meal-prep phase. You need to know how to get the best results from your food before the SHTF.
Don’t assume everything in your storage has the same expiration date. Check, label, know. Finally, you need to know what is working in your food store and what is not. You also need to know what you need more or less of. Appetizing meals post-SHTF will help raise morale, keep your group healthy, and decrease stress. What do you need to do? Incorporate your prepping food into your regular meals. If you don’t use your food stores routinely, you’re not going to know what’s in there, and not going to know how to use it.
4. You’re not taking one day a week to be free from all electronics.
Disconnecting from the electronic world for a day can help you in the post-SHTF world. Going from a world where technology permeates every part of your life to one where technology is almost entirely absent will be a massive culture shock – and one that can be avoided by learning to live without the tech. This is going to make your life much easier when you don’t have a phone to quickly call someone, quickly google that question or hop on youtube for a ‘how-to.’
5. You’re not buying knowledge preps, you’re buying gear preps
The internet will be no more post-SHTF, so all the things you use the internet to learn are going to be replaced by books, which will become your new lifeline. Stock up on books that cover any major survival factor you’re not a total expert on. Build up a library to replace Google in the post-SHTF world. If you find a piece of knowledge online, print it out.
Buy books in areas that you lack knowledge. If you can’t tear apart your car’s engine, go get the book from Autozone. If you’re not a master gardener, go get an organic gardening book. If you know nothing about electricity, canning, or medicine, buy books. You don’t have to read them immediately (although it would help you later) but you do need to have them.
**Bonus tip: throw in a few fiction books from authors you like but don’t read them. This will help you ease your mind later when you truly need a mental escape.**
6. You’re not embracing the suck
Do things the hard way, the more productive way, the way that instills discipline and character in yourself. This will help you adapt to rapidly changing, often uncomfortable environments post-SHTF.
What do you need to do? Deliberately put yourself in situations and environments that force you to overcome your discomfort and find ways to mentally cope. This could mean taking cooler showers, eating food room-temp or cold, or walking to the store instead of driving. You could also eat foods you dislike, sleep with lights or noise, or choose the longest line at WalMart to learn patience.

A lot of these tips tie directly in with comfort and motivation. While not taking these steps won't necessarily lead to your mortal downfall, they may certainly impact your WILL to live. A future relying on survival gear is a future that will be devoid of most comforts, so it's important to be mentally ready. Embrace the suck.

This excellent article courtesy of Survival Life where you can read more about these pertinent survival tips.