Back another lifetime ago I wrote an SOP, standard operating procedure, contract for the Navy. As manager for MWR, morale, welfare and recreation at a remote and isolated NSF, naval support facility, in the Indian Ocean, we were opening a new facility at our marina, the new and exciting recreational activity known as jet-skiing. And of course we needed to present a proposal for inclusion into the living, breathing, ever-changing guiding tome known as the BOS, base operating support, contract. Which defines, details and governs just about everything. We had already made the purchase of our fleet of ten skidoos and it was now up to me to provide a maintenance schedule with attachments to justify, or not, additional man power to enact. This is somewhat a game. If I could show that the PM, preventative maintenance, and well as general upkeep and care of the craft warranted an additional staffer to my work force, we win. If not, we lose the opportunity to add value and support to our civilian staff (and must figure out a way to get it done with existing personnel.)
Carefully pulling maintenance instructions from the owners manual, consulting our existing marine mechanics and then padding the projected labor totals to breaking point, I re-edited my work for the fifth time. The detail was down to the time it would take to remove one spark plug, properly recycle it, open another and insert, tighten and adjust it to specifications. Same with oil changes, air filters, gas lines, exhaust system inspections and every other PM check-up conceivable. I even put in five hours a month for stainless steel screw torque checks. This thing was thorough!
The point of this story is not the fact that as a result of my work we ‘won’ the contractual debate and hired another mechanic, or that I proved, at least to myself, that hard, focused efforts would have a return on time invested, or even that I had taken a bold step away from the nefarious fraud, waste and abuse pandemic of government contractor cost gouging, but that I had absorbed the intricate details and secrets of PM itself. The true value of preventative maintenance.
I was reminded of the range of applications of this yesterday as we discussed the possible triggers to my A-Fib. Amazed that the head of Cardiology at one of the leading medical institutions in the US was listening to a puny recounting of my personal experiences, we isolated three, along with my responding self-help emergency triage techniques. It became apparent that PM could play a big part in the future of me. IF, a big if, I could do everything up front, prior to, in preparation for and in order to best prepare for the next pending round of the effects of an irregular heart rate, I was being a good patient as well as a good soldier. As I refuse to surrender (to more drugs, more surgeries and less activities.)
The three triggers:
1) Dehydration.
2) Irregular and/or un-balanced diet.
3) Stress.
The three responses:
1) Hydraion.
2) Top off or restore dietary balance.
3) Rest. (Breathe deeply, relax, count breaths, meditate, and/or sleep.)
Certainly I could make several sub-categorical additions to this rather broad list, but those are the three plus three that we agreed could act as PM to avoid the frustratingly regular, and potentially catastrophic instances of A-Fib.
Take a good look at your routines, the things that have become your status-quo, the vices that might have become habits. If they are negatively impacting your health, happiness, fitness or are keeping you from the obtainment of your goals, including longevity, perhaps it is time for you to detail out a preventative maintenance plan of your own.
The time to change a spark plug was five minutes. Even if pre-gapped and even if your 1/2 drive ratchet was on the bench and fitted with a 7/16 deep well socket.
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