Administering first aid to yourself or others to address Airway, Breathing, Circulation, or Deadly Bleeding should always be a priority as long as there is no other immediate danger like a fire. If you or a member of your hiking group are injured, this will be your first priority. Remaining calm with a positive state of mind is the key to survival in an outdoor emergency. You can effectively plan a course of action only after considering the aspects of your situation.

It only takes 3 seconds to make a poor decision, so stay calm, relax and assess your situation. However, the nature of each survival situation ultimately dictate the final order. Typically, your survival priorities will be in the following order. First aid will not always be required, but when you or a member of your group are injured, attending to this should be your first priority. I also like to add positive mental attitude and first aid to these priorities. Water, warmth, signals, shelter and food are the commonly known top 5 priorities in a survival situation. If you ever find yourself in a wilderness survival situation you must think carefully and prioritise your actions. The rule may be useful in determining the order of priority when in a life-threatening situation, and is a generalisation (or rule of thumb) rather than being scientifically accurate. If you are alone, you may have only about three hours to live. Make no mistake, if you are shivering and can’t get dry and warm, you may not able to function after three hours. There is no need to think about food or water if you are cold and wet as hypothermia presents the greatest threat to your survival. If the weather is warm, you will need to focus on finding water as your priority, food and shelter building can wait. The main point of the Rule of three is that we have to focus on the most immediate problem first. You can survive for 3 Weeks without food (if you have water and shelter).You can survive for 3 Days without water (if sheltered from a harsh environment).You can survive for 3 Hours without shelter in a harsh environment (unless in icy water).You can survive for 3 Minutes without air (oxygen) or in icy water.Generally, the rule of threes contains the following:

The rule allows you to effectively prepare for emergencies and determine decision-making in case of injury or danger posed by the environment. In a survival situation, the rule of threes involves the priorities in order to survive.

Rules of survival live