Practicing Situational Awareness

January 12, 2023

Situational awareness is a fairly self-explanatory phrase. It means to be aware of your current situation, or more simply, paying attention to what’s going on around you. Maintaining a state of situational awareness is crucial to being prepared to respond to a threat.

The theory of situational awareness is easy enough to grasp. In practice though, many people find it a struggle to apply on a daily basis. Here are some ideas to help you develop the habit of being aware.

1. Look for escape routes
   
   Make it a habit upon entering a building to locate all avenues of escape. This will give you a good point of reference and ensure you always have a plan to get out of a dangerous situation without being behind the curve.
   

2. People watching
   
   By this, I don’t mean to encourage you to stare at people around you. The point is to simply pay attention to the environment you’re in. Take note of roughly how many people there are, where people are sitting/standing/walking, and how “normal” the situation looks. If you make it a habit to look for and notice “normal” behavior, then anything odd or irregular begins to stand out.
   

3. Play the “what if” game
   
   Run yourself through completely fictional situations regarding your environment and the people around you.
   
   - “What if someone walks through that door and begins shooting?”
   - “What if this person next to me at this stoplight displays a firearm?”
   - “What if one of these two people at the next table start shouting at and threatening each other?”
   
   The point isn’t to assume the worst in people, but rather to train your brain to have a plan for any number of threats that could arise in any given situation.
   

4. Play observation games
   
   Make up a game or challenge for yourself to find certain objects in your environment. How many windows are there, how many pictures are on the wall, how many hats are in the room (shout out to the TV show “Psych”). Simple games like this increase your awareness and make a habit of paying attention without becoming hypersensitive.
   
   

This brings me to my final point. When trying to practice situational awareness, don’t fall into the trap of being paranoid or seeing a threat behind every corner. This isn’t a healthy place to be mentally, and isn’t sustainable or beneficial to you. Stay relaxed, but alert.

Implementing these tips will help you be more prepared in the event of a threat. Keep a mindset of readiness, not of fear and hoping nothing bad will happen. Don’t be oblivious and wait to be a victim!

Have any questions or anything to add to this list? Let me know at isaac@htlwarrior.com.

- Isaac Costley