Unknown artist
An entrepreneur can be in a resourceful state, but upon receiving stunning news about his (or her) business, family, or health, he may fall into a long period of abeyance. Or he may understand the impending danger but somehow feel unable to take action. In the arena of struggle, I regularly observe how difficult it is to overcome a strange apathy and activate the "combat mode," even though it may seem like one has slept, eaten, and have the strength. And sometimes the mode is activated spontaneously, and then the consciousness becomes clearer, and the energy increases exponentially. The question is where inside of us this "button" is located and how to keep it at hand.
Rory Miller spent 17 years in maximum-security prisons and psychiatric hospitals. In his book "Meditations on Violence," he writes: "Self-defense is never a choice. The attacker is in the predator mindset, not the victim. The victim will have to deal with shock and total surprise, the predator won’t. The essence of self-defense is breaking out of the frozen mindset you have been shocked into. If you can access the predator mindset a few seconds into the attack, you can turn the attack into something else. That’s powerful but takes great experience."
Rory's words are encouraging because switching from a victim to a predator mindset is a skill that can and should be trained. The goal is to defrost yourself as quickly as possible, make rational decisions, and start attacking the source of danger in response. When a criminal attacks, it's a matter of seconds, and when disaster strikes a business, usually the countdown is measured in months, weeks, or days. Personally, I find different methods helpful in flipping the switch: for jiu-jitsu — warming up with sparring partners, in business — advice from a more experienced person, in life — a therapist.
And what method do you use to ignite the fire within yourself?
Yours sincerely,
-Alexander
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