<\/p>\n

Increasing your chances of survival means first preparing your mind. This is one of the reasons I wrote \u201cHow To Protect Yourself By Developing A Fighter\u2019s Mindset.\u201d\u00a0 You must also know the risks involved and make good decisions and choices based on them. Knowing the risks, you can better assess the situation and determine the options available to you. These steps will lead you toward the safest plan of action. And with these steps, you must always remember that you want to know your objectives. So, the four steps are:<\/p>\n

1. Prepare your mind 2. Know the risks 3. Know the options 4. Know the objective<\/p>\n

Prepare Your Mind<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Even thinking of being attacked is scary and uncomfortable for many people. It is scary to think about being physically injured, raped, or killed. But we need to confront this fear, and understand these issues to increase our chances of surviving a crime scene. Studying, training, and scenario training with adrenaline all help with this, but we still must develop that fighter\u2019s mindset.\u00a0 One thing that can help those that are having difficulties thinking about the possibility of being attacked is visualization. We want to visualize being a victim of a crime, but making good decisions and winning. (Winning does not always mean physically defeating an attacker, but rather getting home safe.) Don\u2019t visualize or imagine yourself doing things that are unrealistic such as going Bruce Lee on your attacker, taking his gun away, and singlehandedly thwarting the bad guy\u2019s entire crew. See yourself responding smart. Use wisdom and smarts and don\u2019t act out of fear.\u00a0 Keep calm, stay alert of your surroundings. Imagine finding a way to escape.\u00a0 Think of surviving!\u00a0 Prepare your mind to survive!<\/p>\n

Know The Risks<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Knowing the risks involved helps us make good decisions. We must first determine the risks, and the base our decisions on the odds of survival rather than the fear of getting hurt. Some people fear being trapped in an automobile during an accident, so they don\u2019t wear seat belts. But when we look at the risks and the odds, we see that wearing seat belts increases our chances of surviving an accident. I told a story in my book Hard-Won Wisdom From The School Of Hard Knocks\u201d about a friend of mine who was robbed at gun point. (The revised and expanded edition of this book will be released this summer.) The criminal demanded my buddies car keys. Not giving him the keys increased the risk of him or his brother being shot or hurt, giving up the keys lowered the risk of getting shot, or his brother being shot or hurt. He chose the safest action, and things turned out okay. And as the full story in my book revealed, it really was the best choice and the gun disarm he was thinking about would not have been wise. Know your risks and be realistic when assessing them.<\/p>\n

Know Your Options<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When you know your risks, you can then choose the best option. When it comes to self-defense situations, some of the most common options available could be: try to escape, scream and yell, cause a scene, comply, resist, become aggressive and attack back, be assertive, comply now and wait for a better opportunity to escape.<\/p>\n

What is the best option? It depends, and that\u2019s why you need to weigh the options against the risks. In the example above, my buddies best option was to hand over his car keys and wallet. The criminals got away, but my buddy and his brother didn\u2019t get hurt. He got his car back later when the criminals ditched it. If the guy would have shot his brother and turned the gun to shoot him, my buddy\u2019s best option would have been to attack back with everything he had to keep from being killed. In a territorial type confrontation, if the person gives you the option of leaving, that is the best thing to do to avoid physical violence. And yes, turning and running as fast as you possibly can is often a great option when it comes to your survival.<\/p>\n

Know The Objective<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You have one objective and that is to get home safely. If you are with family members, it is to get everyone home safely. The first priority you must have is to stay alive. This is the objective that all decisions must be measured. Do whatever you have to do to stay alive! This is your primary directive, your first priority, and your number one objective.\u00a0 Know it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat works, as proved by the results of police survival training, is mind-setting. Mind-setting is rehearsing and visualizing actions in your mind, a method used in many fields, from sports to law enforcement, military to medicine.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Sanford Strong, from \u201cStrong On Defense: Survival Rules To Protect You And Your Family From Crime\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Increasing your chances of survival means first preparing your mind. This is one of the reasons I wrote \u201cHow To Protect Yourself By Developing A Fighter\u2019s Mindset.\u201d\u00a0 You must also know the risks involved and make good decisions and choices based on them. Knowing the risks, you can better assess the situation and determine the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_rightsidebar_horizontalnav.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"\n