The mindset to ‘Be a Survivor’ when facing serious incidents

In our training we give a few general rules of reaction for any incident you may face. Our first rule is to stay calm, our second rule we have labelled ‘be a survivor’ which sounds rather dramatic but is actually to do with our innate desire to live and not be harmed.

In the linked post below, explorer Ed Stafford talks about survival psychology. Whilst you are unlikely to ever be stranded on a desert island, we are rapidly separated from our normal boundaries and terms of reference in an extreme event.  Our brains have to work quickly to help us survive, so an understanding of this process is hugely beneficial.

The panic he describes can happen to us all, generally through a lack of preparation; by not understanding the environment we are entering and accepting that we may experience any of the risks inherent there.  Airlines tell us what to do in an emergency for this very reason to try to prevent us panicking so we keep calm when the air masks deploy; understanding and accepting destination risks works in a similar way.

Ed’s experience shows us that by being calm you allow your brain to think clearly; to think about your situation, what you can do to minimise your exposure to harm and how to put a plan into place to get to a safe place.

For the majority of business travellers nothing is worth being seriously injured or killed for, so try to always know the risks you might face at your destination, how to avoid them and basic reactions if you are unlucky enough to be caught up in one.

http://uk.askmen.com/entertainment/austin/survival-psychology.html