What Survivors Do
Staying Out of Trouble
The Author's Dad,
Frederico Gonzales:
Deep Survival
- Survived a plane crash
- Was lucky not to be shot by a cranky German
- Survived prison camp
- Had all traits of a Survivor
- Perceive, believe, then act
- Avoid impulsive behavior
- Know your stuff
- Get information
- Commune with the dead
- Be humble
- When in doubt, bail it out
- Look, see, believe
- Stay calm
- Think, analyze, plan
- Take correct, decisive action
- Celebrate successes
- Count your blessings
- Play
- See the beauty
- Believe that you will succeed
- Surrender
- Do whatever is necessary
- Never give up
Steady State of Death
Patterns
- Can't judge a life until it is complete
- Recklessness is bad
By Laurence Gonzales
Prezi by Samuel Ericksen
- Climber Joe Simpson broke his legs on a mountain in Peru
- Worked in patterns
- Stayed Calm
- Didn't dwell on tragedy
- Practically crawled out of the mountain
Active-passiveness
Stay Calm
- Two situations of being stranded on the ocean
- Adapt, stay calm, and have humor
- Steve Callahan- stranded at sea for 76 days
- Accepted situation without giving into it
- Basically made life raft his home
Mental Maps
Positive Mental Attitude
Emotional Bookmarks
Emotions
No Prior Experience
Mental Models
- Experience felt good, got an emotional bookmark
- Emotions work faster than logic- cause of impulsiveness
- Humor is important
- People have a hard time performing under stress
- Fear causes production of adrenal catecholamines
People get lost because their mental map does not match reality
- Stay positive
- Be humble
- Think of others
Flexibility
Self-organizing Systems
- Soldier drowned because of emotional bookmarks
- Soldier had no prior experience with rafting
- Snowmobilers had no prior experience with avalanches
- Accidents are normal
- Climbing accident was predictable
- Don't worship the plan
- Zen teaches openness
- People white-water rafted in a flood, didn't notice trees in the river
- Man run over by train in 1830
- Author got caught in a blizzard while skiing and went in the opposite direction of the lodge
- In all three cases, their mental models and prior experience did not match reality
Inevitability
Preparation
- Climbers weren't anchored
- Climbers most likely celebrated at peak and experienced peer pressure
- Climbers worshiped the plan
- Accident was inevitable
- People go into the wilderness (or Hawaii) unprepared
- People enter Hawaiian wilderness on vacation and are never seen again