Take Five Minutes
One of the things I learnt during my time in the Foreign Legion was that time spent gathering intel was very rarely wasted. It’s a lesson I teach my students and people who attend my personal safety presentations. How does it apply to civilians. When you can, take five minutes to gather information about your surroundings.
Don’t Be Pedantic
When I say “take five minutes” it doesn’t have to be exactly that. Leaving the house and you might only need ten seconds to pause at the door and observe your surroundings. Does everything look ok? When you exit the mall do the same thing. Pause for a few seconds, work out where your car is parked, and study the path between you and it. Is there a group loitering, is there a van parked next to it with the engine idling, is there a gun fight going on between gangbangers? Most people are so absorbed with their purchases that they neglect to do this and next minute they’re victims. (You might think I’m exaggerating about the gun fight but I saw a clip years ago of a mother and daughter exiting a mall into one. They were so absorbed with their purchases that they didn’t notice the gun fight till they were in the middle of it.)
Real World Example
If you’ve read “How To Be Your Own Bodyguard” you’ll remember this one. It saved my neighbor in Wilmington. She’d attended a presentation I did for a group of business women and a few weeks later she came home and did the fifteen second observation routine from her car while sitting in the driveway. She noticed a window open and scuff marks from feet up the front wall of the house. Immediately she drove away and called the cops – smart girl – who came and found evidence of an attempted break in. Later she called me to tell me that prior to that lecture she’d have waltzed inside and possibly turned a break in into a murder by surprising the intruder and causing him to panic.
So, take five minutes. It might just save you a ton of heartache.