Order of Man - August 19, 2016


FFN 017： Everyday Carry (EDC)


Episode Stats

Length

8 minutes

Words per Minute

217.32808

Word Count

1,893

Sentence Count

143


Summary

In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan discusses the importance of an everyday carry, or EDC, and some must-haves you should be carrying every day to help you accomplish the tasks and situations that you find yourself in on a daily basis.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 You're a man. You're committed to the work required to forge your own destiny.
00:00:04.600 Your blood, your sweat, your tears. You will not be defeated. You cannot be deterred.
00:00:11.480 Nothing stands between you and the victory you seek. You're a rock. Steadfast, resolute,
00:00:17.020 and unwavering. And at the end of the day, the job will be done. Welcome to your Friday Field Notes.
00:00:25.080 Gentlemen, what's going on today? This is Ryan Michler, your host and the founder of Order of
00:00:29.120 Man. I want to welcome you back to another edition of your Friday Field Notes. You should know by now
00:00:33.480 that this is a short show of my ramblings, my thoughts, my ideas, my insights, my inspirations
00:00:38.740 throughout the week. So I try to keep them short and give you just the boost you need for the weekend
00:00:43.040 and until Tuesday when we release our full interview show. Now I'm a little under the weather. You can
00:00:48.940 probably hear it in my voice, so you'll have to bear with me this show, but I do want to have a
00:00:52.340 conversation. I'm committed to bringing a Friday Field Notes each and every Friday. I don't want to
00:00:57.000 miss a day just because I happen to feel a little under the weather or don't particularly want to
00:01:01.460 record. I'm still doing it. I'm still here for you guys. So with that said, I want to make sure that
00:01:05.960 you subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or wherever it is you get your fix of the Order of Man podcast
00:01:11.560 so you never miss a single episode. We are dropping some serious knowledge, some serious know-how
00:01:16.880 on this show, and I don't want you to miss any of it. So with that said, let's just jump right into
00:01:22.480 the show today. We're covering an interesting topic and one that was suggested by a member of
00:01:27.100 the Order of Man, which by the way, if you want, you can join the Order of Man. It's as simple as
00:01:31.820 going to facebook.com slash groups slash Order of Man. Now today we're going to talk about EDC,
00:01:38.680 also known as Everyday Carry. Now I'll be the first to admit that sometimes when I see guys in their
00:01:43.960 everyday carries, this gets a little out of hand. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. And my first
00:01:47.660 response is, how the hell does any man carry all this stuff that he says he does throughout the
00:01:53.160 day? But my vision of an everyday carry is this. It's the practical tools and the equipment that
00:01:59.860 you should be carrying every day to help you accomplish the tasks and the situations that
00:02:04.820 you find yourself in on a daily basis. So to me, the everyday carry is not about having everything
00:02:08.520 but the kitchen sink. It's about having the select, highly efficient, highly practical tools
00:02:13.900 at your disposal so you can face the things you're going to face throughout the day.
00:02:18.500 So I want to talk with you about why this everyday carry is important. I want to talk with you about
00:02:23.100 some must-haves of your EDC. And I'm going to give you a couple of resources that you probably should
00:02:27.360 check out for yourself if you're interested in upping your everyday carry game. So let's break this
00:02:31.640 down. First, the basics. This is what I carry. Obviously, every man should carry a wallet, right?
00:02:35.980 I opt to go, for me personally, a leather wallet for the sake of professionalism and durability.
00:02:41.060 One mistake I see men make all the time is packing that thing to the brim. And it reminds me of
00:02:47.540 George on Seinfeld and his wallet. If you haven't seen that episode, Google it, look at it on YouTube,
00:02:52.700 go check it out. It's a classic and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. You probably already
00:02:56.100 do. But I carry the absolute minimum I have to in my wallet. I carry my driver's license. I carry
00:03:00.900 one credit card and this one is big. Have some cash. So the cash I carry around is not meant for me
00:03:08.060 necessarily to spend. It's purely for a rainy day or an emergency. So having cash like 50 or a hundred
00:03:13.660 dollars, I think is important. And that's literally all that I carry in my wallet. I don't need much
00:03:18.880 more than that. Next, I've gotten my keys. Now I'm a minimalist by nature, so I don't have a lot of
00:03:24.880 keys on my key chain for to be exact. But in addition to my keys, you might consider throwing on a small
00:03:30.600 pocket knife or a carabiner or a small piece of paracord. Remember though, guys, the idea is not to be a
00:03:37.160 janitor with your key chain. It's all about functionality and practicality. So you don't
00:03:41.660 need to bog this thing down to the rim with keys and junk. Just have the necessities. Next, your
00:03:48.020 phone. I'm not going to get too much into the phone because it has been reported. I was doing a little
00:03:52.420 research for this podcast that between 75 to 80% of the world's population has a mobile phone. So I
00:03:59.920 don't need to remind everybody that they should carry their mobile phone on them. Now I opt to go with
00:04:03.840 the iPhone. I made the switch about a year ago from an Android device. And at this point, I would
00:04:08.160 not go back. It doesn't matter what you carry. Just make sure it works for you. So a lot of people ask
00:04:12.580 me how I create so much content and wonder where I come up with so many topics. And the answer is
00:04:18.920 that I get inspiration literally from everywhere. I might have a conversation that sparks an idea.
00:04:23.780 I might see a billboard that gets my attention. I might see another Facebook post that triggers a
00:04:28.720 thought. But one of the most important things that I do on a daily basis is take notes. Now I have a
00:04:35.300 note keeping app, of course, on my phone and I use that regularly. So that's another reason to have
00:04:40.700 your phone. But I also carry around a field notes journal. In fact, I keep them everywhere. They're in
00:04:47.100 my office, they're in my car, they're in my nightstand. They are literally everywhere. And the point is that
00:04:52.080 you need to have some way of keeping notes. So whether it's on your phone or your field notes or
00:04:57.580 another journal or sticky notes or a combination of any of those, make sure that you have some way
00:05:03.620 to take notes. You got to get that stuff out of your head, onto paper, onto an app so that you can
00:05:09.260 do something with it later. Now, the next thing I want to talk with you about is my watch. I've got
00:05:13.420 multiple watches that serve different purposes. It could literally be a fashion statement. It could
00:05:17.600 be that I need a stopwatch or the functionality of that. It could be GPS or even something like a
00:05:22.320 Fitbit. I know that's really important to track steps and calories and things like that.
00:05:25.700 The bottom line is that your watch should suit you and it should serve you. It should look like
00:05:31.980 you and it should be practical. So choose something accordingly. Or if you want, like I do, again,
00:05:35.700 have multiple watches to choose from based on what you're going to be doing any given day.
00:05:39.380 Next, we come to a knife or a multi-tool. Now I personally carry a multi-tool most of the time
00:05:43.600 because it includes a knife as well as the other features. And I like Gerber personally, but again,
00:05:48.500 this is about maximum effectiveness and practicality. You never know when you're going to need a knife
00:05:53.340 or a screwdriver. So having one on hand, I think is important. And speaking also of never knowing
00:05:59.020 when you'll need something, a firearm is also something worth considering. It seems we're
00:06:03.580 seeing more and more violence in public and having a way to defend yourself is important. Now I know a
00:06:08.020 lot of people will hear this and they'll roll their eyes or they'll be upset that I even bring that up.
00:06:13.240 Look, this is the bottom line. You are going to expose yourself at some point, probably to a firearm.
00:06:19.120 So whether you decide to carry or not, understanding how a firearm works, understanding how to carry
00:06:26.200 yourself around a firearm, understanding how to use one, I think is critical. So I'm not going to
00:06:32.080 get into all the options of the firearms today that you might be carrying, but we will consider
00:06:36.620 that for another show. It's just something worth considering. Now, another thing that you should
00:06:41.680 consider is a flashlight, whether it's something a little bigger that maybe you carry in your car
00:06:45.100 or a small flashlight that you throw on your key ring, a high quality flashlight is something I
00:06:48.960 really think every man should have. I've looked a ton around guys for flashlights. And I have to say
00:06:53.780 the guys over at factorequipment.com, they make some of the best flashlights that I've ever seen.
00:06:59.020 I've got a couple of different lights and I use them all the time. So go check them out,
00:07:03.140 factorequipment.com. Other than those necessities, really all I carry is my sunglasses. I didn't always,
00:07:09.220 but I'm a pretty fair skinned guy. My eyes are really sensitive to the sun. I was getting headaches. So
00:07:13.340 my glasses, my sunglasses have become a staple for me. I think that's probably critical that they
00:07:18.360 become a staple for you as well. And of course, if you have a beard, like I do, you also need to
00:07:23.000 be carrying around a beard comb to manage that main from time to time. I like the guys over at
00:07:27.060 beard brand. If you haven't seen them for all of my beard stuff. Now I refuse to call it product.
00:07:32.800 It's just my beard stuff. So if you've got a beard and you're interested, you can go check them
00:07:36.940 out at beardbrand.com. And that my friends is my, that's my everyday carry. Hopefully that gives you
00:07:42.540 some ideas of what you might want to carry on your person. Again, it's all about practicality.
00:07:46.320 It's all about functionality and it's about having the tools at your disposal to be the man that people
00:07:51.140 are looking for you to be. Now I had the guys on our Facebook group at facebook.com slash groups
00:07:56.160 slash order of man, submit some of their EDC pictures, which you can check out at order of man.com
00:08:01.700 slash FFN zero one seven FFN as in Friday field notes zero one seven. I also linked up my friends
00:08:10.100 over at factor equipment for the flashlights I was talking with you about. So go see what they have
00:08:14.320 to offer in the meantime, but guys, bottom line, have some fun with your everyday carries experiment
00:08:19.760 with different equipment and just find what works for you. What works best for you and your situation
00:08:25.180 guys. I look forward to talking with you on Tuesday, but until then take action and live manfully.
00:08:30.140 Those are your Friday field notes. Now it's time to crush your excuses, own your choices,
00:08:35.960 accept responsibility, and live manfully. Learn how at order of man.com forward slash field notes.