This survival stuff is just a solution to one of life’s many problems. I have found life in general to be a giant pain in the ass. Preparation can make a major calamity into a minor irritation. I have made a wide variety of mistakes, so I try to arrange things so that I don’t have the same problem coming up over & over. Example: spare keys, tools in truck, useful items for EDC, etc. Reading is the main way we learn what others know. There is good advice elsewhere on this forum about learning by doing. There is no substitute for experience. Don’t be an armchair “expert”. You’re never too old to learn. You have to evaluate problems in terms of probability and consequences. A home invasion is extremely unlikely, but would be a disaster of epic proportions. A leak in the cellar is more likely, but it probably wouldn’t kill anybody. Thus, I plan more extensively for the one and less for the other. You have to learn which “experts” really know their stuff, and which are full of hot air. One advantage we have is that we know we don’t know everything. The ones that run into trouble are the ones that don’t ask questions and just assume everything will be ok. “Normal” can come unraveled very rapidly. The fact that you’re asking is a sign that you are thinking about the world as it really is, not how it appears at first glance.