The ‘DIY or Die’ Mindset

A state of mind to process certain critical and dire situations by assuming control of it, while overcoming the lack of skillsets or resources for it.

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” –Stephen Hawking

Sometimes we’re put in a position where we must rely on someone situationally more capable than ourselves (even if not present) or depend on luck / hope (even if unwarranted) to get through it.

With this process, if you get stuck in a situation and you seemingly lack the requirements for a resolution and there’s no one to help, then it’s a mission: failure.

This is the ‘get help or die’ mindset.

At other times we embrace these seemingly impossible situations and push through it, finding a way beyond our personal limitations and capabilities of the current situation that’s needed to move forward.

With this process, you never really get stuck in a situation because the requirements for a resolution is dynamic, not singular, making it mission: active.

This is the ‘do it yourself or die’ mindset.

This state of mind is strategic, not stubbornness. It’s the practice of adapting to any situation to maneuver an outcome, not inefectively forcing an outcome.

Just because you lack a particular skill, doesn’t mean you can’t solve the problem that skill was meant to solve. There’s usually multiple paths to an answer.

But first you must understand that sometimes you need to take care of the problem yourself, even if you have no training or knowledge of the task at hand.

That if you can’t or won’t try and there’s no one to help, that means utter failure – death.

There’s nothing wrong in getting help but you can’t always count on a third party. But you can count on yourself to at least analyze and attempt.

Sometimes you just have to do it yourself.

[The featured photo was taken at the Catskill Mountains in New York during a survival exercise.]