- Cultivate resilience:
People who perform effectively in crises and recover well afterward tend to have three underlying advantages:
- They believe they can influence what happens to them.
- They find meaningful purpose in life’s turmoil.
- They are convinced they can learn from both good and bad experiences.
When you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by everyday trials, tell yourself you can influence what happens to you. Tell yourself there is meaningful purpose here, and repeat over and over that you can learn from this ordeal. Even if you don’t entirely believe it, your brain is listening.
Nobody in the first week of a foreign-language class believes comprehension will come, but it happens anyway, eventually, with enough practice.
- Get to know your neighbors:
In most major disasters, as this book illustrates, the people who will save you will not be wearing badges. They will be your neighbors and your coworkers.
- Lower Your Anxiety Level:
People with higher everyday anxiety levels may have a greater tendency to overreact or to misread danger signs.
If you can learn to control your anxiety, you will benefit in all kinds of ways. Your health should improve and, if you ever find yourself in a life-or-death situation, you have a better chance of being able to control your fear response—and maintain your ability to make decisions and process new information.
Police officers are now trained to do rhythmic breathing whenever their guns are drawn. They perform better as a result. Yoga or martial arts can achieve the same ends. The best athletes use their breath to relax, focus, and win.
Next time you are immobilized in a traffic jam, practice breathing in for four counts, holding for four counts, and breathing out for four counts. Then repeat. Your driving will improve, and possibly your day.
- Lose Weight:
The harsh truth is that obese people move more slowly, are more vulnerable to secondary injuries such as heart attacks, and have a harder time physically recovering from any injuries they do sustain.
- Calculate Your Risk:
One rule to live by: the most deadly, underappreciated threats in most places are fire, flood, and lightning. Get a smoke detector, replace the batteries every time you change your clocks (or sooner), evacuate well in advance of a major storm, and do not, I repeat do not, drive or walk through water.
Realize that your brain will err on the side of overconfidence when it comes to fire, flood, and lightning—just as it errs on the side of laziness when it comes to getting up at 5:30 in the morning. Both can be overcome with the right motivation and a little knowledge of the consequences.
- Train Your Brain
By far, the best way to improve performance is to practice. Once you know your real risks, think creatively about how to give yourself or your family a dress rehearsal. The brain loves body memory.