Feeling Prepared? Don’t Get Overconfident!
We've all seen the memes. Today the folks you might call "preppers" are getting the last laugh. Many of these folks have in the past been characterized as paranoid or, with all due respect, "kookie".
But in this time of Coronavirus and Shelter-At-Home, they are more ready to comfortably isolate than the rest of us. As I say, the last laugh is theirs. But as Hans Solo said to Luke Skywalker - "Don't get cocky kid"
An article in EurekAlert says that feeling prepared is great as long as you stay focused on exactly what you’re actually prepared for. Researchers from The Ohio State University found that feelings of preparedness in one area made people more confident in their beliefs about something in completely different areas.
Study leader Patrick Carroll, “Ultimately, preparedness is about knowing how to respond to future outcomes." Ok, makes sense. So along comes the event for which you have prepared and bingo - you get a confidence boost based on you responding properly.
But a boost in confidence coming from the preparedness for sheltering from a pandemic, doesn't mean that same level of confidence should roll over to areas of life for which you haven't prepared to the same great degree
In other words, people should think more closely about how they arrive at important decisions in their lives. Don't let confidence gained from having enough toilet paper and water on hand lead you to think you are now a skilled epidemiologist!
Still, the preppers may be on to something. No Zombie Apocalypse or Electromagnetic Pulse but Coronavirus caught a lot of us off guard. Maybe there are some lessons to be learned....so check this out.