What are your most important things? We talk a lot about getting rid of “stuff” on the show, and in our lives that’s what we’ve tried to do. We’ve gotten rid of just about 3000 things this year alone and have a couple hundred people who’ve joined in on it by accepting the Edit & Forget It Challenge.  While we have opted out of following the mass consumerism that most in our society hold dear, there are still some things we ourselves hold dear. We created a scenario: "What 5 things would you grab if your house was on fire?" and then put ourselves to the test to figure out what possessions, out of our entire home, are the most important to us.

As we went through this exercise it really challenged us and realized that by spending some time thinking about your most important things...those top 5 things that you would grab out of your burning home, it greases your mental gears to:



Identify the your most important things. Things that mean the most to you and why.


Contemplate whether you’re giving those things the attention they deserve day to day.


Identify ways to keep those things safe now and ready to carry out if necessary.


Condition yourself to more easily part with things that didn’t make the list.


Get you thinking about being prepared in case of an emergency.


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Main Topic:
Your House Is On Fire, You Can Save 5 Things...What Are They?
The first time Dan thought about this was over 10 years ago when a colleague of his lost all her possessions when her apartment caught fire. She was devastated when she got the news and came home to find everything gone.
He's been saying for a while now that we need to sit down and talk about what we’d do in an emergency. What would we take with us if we had the opportunity? What are our most important things?
In the military we use lots of different techniques to teach lessons....like Attention to Detail...a skill that could be transferred and applied to other things. We also talk about planning. To use our own corollary to Dwight Eisenhower’s quote: “Plans are worthless, planning is priceless.” It’s in going through the exercise thoughtfully that will give you the most value. The Plan isn’t as important as the ability to narrow down what’s important to you and why. That is priceless, and something we should do on a continual basis.
Sure, the exercise was all about discerning those 5 things that are really important to us, but the real benefit of the exercise comes from following the natural course of things and asking some follow on questions like:



Am I giving this the attention it deserves right now?
What are some ways to keep this safe now and ready in case of an emergency?
Am I better prepared to part with things that didn’t make the Top 5 list of your most important things?
Am I better prepared for an emergency? And will I feel less stress if an emergency did occur?


Conducting the Exercise:



Assumptions: Obviously in a real-world situation, you and your family's safety is the first priority.  But in order to alleviate a lot of  "what if" scenarios, we thought it best to establish some basic "assumptions":

You, your kids, your loved ones (including beloved pets) are safe, sound and out of the house.
Following the “fire” all your basic survival needs will be met (food, shelter, etc…).
You can choose 5 things that you can carry out of the house (not a couch, bed or pool table).






List your Top 5 things and ask the following questions: 

What is the Thing and Why?
Am I giving this the attention it deserves right now?
What are some ways to keep this safe now and ready in case of an emergency?






And then ask 2 final questions:

How has going through this exercise helped condition you to more easily part with things that didn’t make the list?
Do you feel better prepared or better able to plan for  emergencies? Do you think that by doing this you might possibly feel...