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Self-Defense Performance Is The Result Of Mental Maps

I wrote about mental maps in “The Nuts And Bolts Of Awareness.”

Our awareness, understanding, decisions, predictions and behavior are directed by the “mental maps” we have about the way the world works. Our knowledge, beliefs, experience and habits are “packaged” in the form of mental maps (also called cognitive blueprints or schemas).

If those “maps” are detailed and accurate, you dramatically increase the probability of effective performance in high-stress situations.

If those maps are inaccurate, have gaps or are missing all together, you run the risk of an improper reaction, over reacting, under reacting or not reacting at all.

We have a term for that in self-defense training. Its called “NOT GOOD!”

Thinking Is Impaired By Stress

What makes matters worse is that people aren’t particularly “smart” in high-stress, urgent, threatening situations. At times like those, you are not operating in the same mental state that you are in while you sit here reading this article.

When the “Fight or Flight Response” (sympathetic nervous system) is activated, your ability to think creatively and logically is impaired. That increases the potential for confusion and mistakes during a dangerous situation.

Invest In Your Safety With Pre-Thinking and Debriefing

Science and psychology confirm that mental rehearsal or visualization has a huge impact on improving our physical and mental performance.

The good news is that self-defense encounters don’t happen often. The bad news is that self-defense encounters don’t happen often! Huh? Before you read that again, let me explain…

Its hard to “get good” at something that never happens. Unlike other activities requiring experience and skills development, you can’t rely on repeated exposure and previous events when preparing for a violent encounter. So how do you improve your self-defense effectiveness?

Physical practice is “part” of the answer… Especially, when you participate in role playing scenarios that simulate the types of situations that you might encounter. But even that isn’t enough to really get “street smart.”

What you need to do is create self-defense scenarios in your mind. You need to “pre-think” and decide in advance about what you would do in a critical situation BEFORE it happens.

Think about situations you are most concerned about or likely to encounter and what you would do if they did.

Don’t just leave it to luck. You can’t “worry about it when the time comes” and hope to perform effectively. Remember, your brain is impaired by stress, panic, and confusion! Without some sort of game plan, its unlikely that you will perform well.

The question to ask yourself is, “What would I do if… (and then insert your most likely or bothersome scenario).

Debriefing is what you do AFTER an incident or “close encounter.” Don’t just walk away from a threatening situation and hope that it never happens again. Think about it, analyze it and learn from it. Ask yourself two questions:

* What did I do right?

* What would I do differently if it happened again?

That way, even if you handled the incident poorly, you can benefit from it and improve your chances doing better if something similar happens in the future. That, my friend, is the essence of developing effective personal safety skills.

An Email Example Of Effective Debriefing

After reading my “Tough or Smart” article, a subscriber sent me an email about an incident he was involved in.

Even though things turned out OK, the experience continued to bother him and he found himself second guessing his actions and wondering if he should have done something differently.

He began to worry that if something similar happened again, he would be just as confused as he was the first time. As far as he was concerned, the incident was unresolved. I commend him for asking the questions and looking for answers.

If you don’t ask, you won’t know! Whether you reflect on the matter yourself or seek an outside opinion (as Joe did here), it is important to examine the event and learn from it.

Be careful however, about seeking the opinion of someone who does not have the background or qualifications to be offering you advice about anything!

You’ll get all kinds of “ham and eggers” more than willing to give you their off-the-wall advice about what THEY would have done… (you’ll see examples of “bad advice” in the correspondence below)

With his permission, I’ve included our correspondence in this newsletter. To protect his privacy, I’ll refer to him as “Joe.” (Pretty creative huh?

I’d like you to read this correspondence from two perspectives:

First, read what happened and put yourself in his shoes… What would you do if the same thing happened to you?

Secondly, read it analytically and observe the “process” involved and the factors that impacted the situation. Stress, confusion, hesitation, second guessing?

Imagine the difference between a “prepared mind” and the mind of someone who thought that something like this would never happen.

OK… I’ll shut up now and let your read the emails:

================================================================

Hi Randy,

Joe

===============================================================

Hi Joe,

Based on what you’ve told me, you did EXACTLY what you should have… and what I would have advised you to do, if you’d asked my opinion.

You are right, a purse is not worth the legal and civil hastles and the risk of “making matters worse” by over-reacting to a property crime.

Your decision NOT to attempt to ram the robber (and risk hitting the victim”) was a good one. Deliberately ramming into someone with a vehicle is considered a deadly force response and can only be justified if you reasonably believe that it is absolutely necessary to protect yourself or someone else from death or a serious life-threatening injury.

Based on what you’ve told me, the situation was NOT a deadly force encounter and you probably would have gotten yourself into as much legal trouble as the robber if you decided to turn him into a hood ornament!

It would be a different story if someone was being attacked and severely beaten. It would have been different if the assault was of a life threatening nature. Protection of life is our highest priority. Protection of property is not.

In that scenario, the best thing you could do is notify the police and be a good witness. Make note of their physical description, license number and direction of travel so you can provide that info to the police when they arrive.

But to endanger your own safety, the safety of your girlfriend, the safety of the victim and even the safety of the “dirt bags” doing the robbery, is not worth the value of a purse.

Purses and contents can be replaced. People can’t.

Your reaction after the incident is a normal one. Even when you do the “right thing,” its common to second guess yourself and wonder if there is something else you could have done.

Your scenario about fighting to protect your girlfriend Joe is a good one. By the sounds of it, your decision to stand up to your adversary WAS the right thing to do… Some things in life ARE worth fighting for and others are not. Its important to know the difference.

Your actions were definitely not “cowardly” Joe. If you ask me (which I guess you’re doing huh? you made a reasonable and effective decision in a stressful and challenging situation.

I think you made a wise decision Joe. Good job.

Randy

==============================================================

Hello Randy.

Joe

===============================================================

OK, Now Its Your Turn…

Time for YOU to do some thinking… If you want to share the results with me, I’d be honored…It could have a direct impact on the content and direction of future articles and information products. If not, at least do this exercise for yourself.

Here’s what I’d like you to do:

Write out the single, most likely or worrisome self-defense scenario that you can think of. Nothing bizarre or off-the-wall, but something you legitimately think you could encounter. What is the “ultimate” situation that you feel sparks your interest in self-defense and personal safety? What one incident, do you want to be prepared for if it were to happen?

In as much detail as you want, spell out a threatening, volatile or violent situation (real or imagined) that motivates your interest in self-defense training.

This could be a hypothetical situation or it could be something that actually happened to you or someone you know.

Don’t worry about coming up with a solution or explaining what you would do about it. Not at this point any way. Just spell out as specifically and conceretely and you can, the ultimate situation your are preparing for.

Who is the assailant or how many are there?… Would the person be known to you or a stranger? Would you be alone or with someone who could assist you or might need your protection? What would the “predatory intent” be? (what does your assailant want from you?) Where would it be most likely to happen. What time do you see it happening?

You might feel that exercises like this are silly or a waste of time. Maybe its too much work! I can tell you this, if something does happen and you haven’t given it any thought… stress, confusion, and the “Fluster Factor,” WILL impact your ability to do the right thing at the right time.

Consider exercises like this the equivalent of “Self-Defense Fire Drills.” Just imagine what would happen if a fire alarm sounded and you didn’t have a clue what it meant or how you were supposed to respond.

Enuff Said.

Take care, train smart and stay safe…

Randy LaHaie
Protective Strategies

Randy LaHaie is the president of Protective
Strategies and has been teaching reality-based
self-defense for over 30 years. He is the author
of several “Toughen Up Combative Training Guides”
(http://www.ToughenUp.com)

Subscribe to his FREE SELF-DEFENSE NEWSLETTER at
http://www.ProtectiveStrategies.com