Survival Lessons with Michael Tougias

Michael Tougias said some very memorable things about those who survive and those who don't. While some of his points were counterintuitive to me, I could see that he was spot on. I have paraphrased some of the things he said which hit me like a brick.

Projecting Past Outcomes
He said we tend to think of similar events in the past and assume the outcome will be the same. The problem is that the situations are different and sometimes in an important way.

Good Decision Makers Choose the Reversible Option
He linked the ability and the tendency to quit with success. That's not something which I have heard much lately so it was surprising. Still, knowing when enough is enough is an important skill for success.

Bad Decision Makers hang in there no matter what. What? That is not the message we hear often. I need to apply this to what I hold my students accountable for more often.

Forget Past and Future. Focus on the now. I started to think of how we often think of this in the negative and started to wonder how I could see it as positive more often.

Resisting Emotion was a lot easier to comprehend.

Power of Little Steps is self explanatory, but something to remind myself about.

Survivors celebrate little achievements. He mentioned telling yourself what a great job you do.

Questioning rules. It was somewhat scary to hear how rule followers don't tend to do too well in emergencies. Oops.

Mr. Tougias's thoughts on gratitude were inspiring. He turned the tendency to say "I'll be happy when...." to "Thank you for putting me on the path to...."

This session on Survival Skills was deeply transformational for me. I know I'll have to carve out some quiet time to really think about what he had to say and how it really impacts me.