Practicing your Process and continuously learning and developing YOUR Situational Awareness has never been more important. It prepares you to PREVENT and RESPOND.
Gen Eisenhower says it below, plans will not do you any good if you are not continually planning, visualizing and thinking about “what you would do”.
You conduct this continuous planning through the development of your habits, behaviors and mindset, tied directly to you practicing your process
When you continue to Practice Your Process, here are some things you can use to think about.
Practicing your process, everywhere you go, is a critical part of you developing your Situational Awareness. This fills your “library” and trains your “Lizard Brain”.
Here is a checklist of “thoughts” you can process as you practice your Process.
Your Process ties directly to Lt Col Coopers Colors on Situational Awareness. This provides you the ability to have escalated levels of response, control your breathing, and allow you to stay in control and make non-emotional decisions. Practicing your process takes 30-45 seconds, and eventually will become your habits and behaviors that you don’t even think about.
Your Process Starts with Stop/Look/Listen (SLL) then continues with the following steps:
Identify – Assess – Predict – Decide – Act
It is a process that is circular because you continually use it.
I do want to reinforce the fact that as you build your process, it will be your process. It is ok, and recommended that it not be the same as mine or anyone else. As you think about what you might do, it needs to be what you are capable of doing.
But there are some things that we can look at every time we go somewhere.
When you walk into a coffee shop, restaurant, grocery store, driving your car etc:
First, Stop/Look/Listen, you Identify and look around…….is there anything going on that concerns me, gives me that “gut feeling” or the “hair on the back of my neck” stands up.
Someone that works there looking very nervous
People holding people in one place
People with backpacks or wearing clothes that don’t match the occasion
People yelling/arguing
You see a weapon
People wearing masks – we still have this one in here, even though it is much more difficult today to determine if this is a threat or not.
Second, you Assess. Here are some things to consider here:
Can I sit so my back is not to the door
Am I alone, with family and friends, business associates
Are the employees attentive
Is there a back or side exit
Do they have security cameras
Do they have fire alarms and extinguishers
Where are the bathrooms and do the doors lock
Do they have their own security on site
Who would I go to if I see something that gives me that gut feeling
Are there any employees that I might be able to rely on if something happens
Third, you Predict. You ask yourself a question, what would I do if……. And remember, this is what you are capable of doing, based on your development of you being Self Aware of your capabilities.
What will I do if a fight or argument breaks out
What will I do if something happens that gives me that gut feeling
What will I do if the fire alarm goes off
If a threat comes in the front door, what will I do: head out a different exit, lock myself in the bathroom
If I am not alone, will I do something to ensure their safety
Is the safety of my family more important than my safety
How would I communicate if required
As mentioned above, these are examples of what you can start looking at. Choose what works for you, and add to this list as you learn and practice your process.
THEN, if something enters your environment that causes the “hair on the back of your neck” or gives you that “gut feeling”, you go to the Decide step to analyze what is causing that feeling and then determine if you need to ACT.
Our focus is to provide you a program that allows you to develop YOUR Situational Awareness Habits, Behaviors and Mindset while practicing your Process.
Brian Searcy, Col (Ret) USAF Paratus.group
940.231.3195