Order of Man - FFN 017： Everyday Carry (EDC)

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.

Order of Man - August 19, 2016

FFN 017： Everyday Carry (EDC)

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