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Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Self-Initiative Project Podcast.

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I’m your host, Jim O’Brien.

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Hello, and welcome back. Today I have on my very special guest,

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Mr. Tony Blauer. Tony founded Blauer Tactical Systems.

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He’s the founder of the Spear System. him.

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He’s got a set of impact reduction equipment called High Gear,

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and he also created the No Fear program and happy, very happy to have you on

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today. Tony, how are you?

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Jim, I’m doing good, man. How are you doing? Good, good, good,

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man. Like I said, I’m really appreciative.

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And I was talking to John Correa a couple of months ago when he did this with

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us, and I told him, I was like, you know, any other time this would sound creepy,

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but with social media, it’s kind of the way of the world, right?

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But I’ve been following you for a long time.

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And even some buddies of mine in the CrossFit community have talked about you

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and what you teach and what you bring to the table in the personal safety and

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self-defense round. So I’ve been a fan for a while.

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And more recently, earlier this year, I actually purchased the program last

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year and wanted to go through it, but my schedule didn’t permit.

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But February this year, I got finally made it through the Protector Symposium

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2.0. and listen to your whole two hours and 15 minutes there.

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And a lot of stuff resonated with me.

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And I think, you know, some commonalities that we share is you’re a big dog

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person, as best I can tell, and I am too. And you can’t ever knock dog people.

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And the other thing is that you said during that time is that you overthink things.

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You’re an overthinker. And I totally am just like that.

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So we’ve got a couple of things in common, but I’m very appreciative of you doing this with us.

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And we’ve got a lot of stuff to cover so thank

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you before we get started i just

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wanted to give you an opportunity to talk about who you

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are what your background is what you do i think a lot of people if not most

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folks know who you are at least in the community but for those who don’t know

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who you are tell us a little bit about yourself i want to start you know 61

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years on the planet so if I started at the beginning,

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this is going to be a long podcast, but.

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My main business is,

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Training military law enforcement. But we’ve also got a strong division that

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works with health defense instructors, concealed carry instructors,

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martial artists who are revolving their program to more speed training and have

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been doing that in the early 2000s.

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Those are the three main visions, but I’ve been studying file and spirit for 40 years.

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And my company, as far as my vision, we’re interested in creating the most realistic

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and responsible policy.

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Yeah, so part two of our mission is not just to research and design the most

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responsive and realistic approach to personal safety.

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Also to create a qualification and certification program to train people in this protocol.

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Because it’s not just, you know, we do that too.

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Just to break it down as simple as possible.

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We study the neurobiology of fear. and physiology has on kinesiology because

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that actually will inform how you move in a real confrontation.

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We’ve got a whole scenario side to the program that is all about understanding

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how to reverse engineer scientific scenarios.

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And that’s where the development of high gear became a huge asset.

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And then we’ve got a whole program. You alluded to it early,

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the No Fear Program, spelled K-N-O-W.

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That’s understanding the physiology of fear and the psychology of fear.

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You know, everyone throws around quite, quite, freeze.

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That stuff, in my opinion, is irrelevant because…

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A way that it’s taught and understood. It’s just part of your DNA survival,

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and it’s what we do during extreme danger.

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The reality is, in a violent encounter, you need to choose your responses. There’s a time to run.

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You claim dead or hide. But if you’re just following the academic clinicians

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from like Vries, that’s a post-mortem observation.

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And a lot of times you know we refer to the animal kingdom and evidence I just

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want to first stop down by as you can tell on the outside.

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So those I’m more interested in the dynamic here because we need to be our own

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coach in the high stress situation our self-talk is paramount critical to what

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we’re going to do next There’s no coach in a violent encounter.

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So what we’ve done over the last 40 years is put together truly a coherent and cohesive program.

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Blends first and foremost understanding between the psychology and the physiology

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component because physiology overrides physicality in a real confrontation.

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You know, that means, you know, the cool move that you practice is probably not going to happen.

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And there’s, there’s, there’s so much evidence of that.

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And whether it’s a shootouts, I fights, or fistfights, you know,

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and this, we call our, our, our scenario training, evidence-based scenario training,

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because we use real examples.

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And so those three divisions

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understanding the physiology psychology connection so

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we’ve got a whole fear management managing fear

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managing violence component then we

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teach people how to weaponize the startle flinch and then how to move from the

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where that position places you so when you flinch in a certain way your body

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is kind of like an organic airbag there’s contact made and And then you need

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to engage with what we call a target.

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So there’s some spontaneity training here.

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And when you finally create space, and everything I’m describing can take like

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a second, it’s like a car accident.

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And then from there, you need to understand some of the legal stuff,

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of course. So, you know, force or spiral of danger.

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And then how do you put that together? How do you stress inoculate?

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So we’ve been doing scenario training literally since 1980.

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And we wrote the book on a lot of it. And now, I mean, we train all over.

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I’m a consultant for multiple departments.

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And now there’s special units that have been for decades.

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And so my original fear can’t play in every sport I was a good athlete I was just always way too,

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consuming to the point where you know I developed,

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I went into self-defense and that kind of was the origin story like I felt like

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learning martial arts was going to help me overcome my fear everywhere.

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It didn’t, but I, everything that I’ve discovered has been because of my involvement

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with martial arts. So I’ve got to thank.

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Yeah. Kind of the genesis of the whole thing.

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Talk about, cause I’ve, like I said, I’ve been following you for a while and

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I understand the startle flinch and going through the protector symposium,

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like I did hearing you talk about that. It’s fascinating.

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And you know, it’s based on natural movements, right? Like, how did you figure that all out?

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Yeah, cool. 1986, 87, I was doing some drills.

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I was always like, remember, I started doing scenario training in 1980.

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So I had observed flinch, startle flinch, just like we all have. We just don’t know.

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We’re looking at it. You know, like, you know, you’re watching a boxing match.

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There’s tons of flinching going on. You watch an MMA match. There’s tons of flinching going on.

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We just we just noticed it

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when you you know you look at all those

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viral pictures that go on the internet you know like a baseball goes

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into the crap and everyone’s flinching but never

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in the media does it say hey look at the cross-extensor reflex activating

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here to push away danger yeah nobody says oh look at the speed of the non-conscious

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brain it’s it’s superseding any type of of cognitive brain communication like

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nobody’s saying anything they’re going you know you know a lady gets hit in

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the face at a basketball and everyone’s laughing.

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But they’re not looking at really the human

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weapon system at work and what it’s doing for the people who who saw you know

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the the the the attack you know in this case basketball baseball whatever so

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there’s a part of our brain called the reticular activating system and if we

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don’t know what we’re looking for if we don’t know what’s important you’re not to identify it.

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You just, you know, your brain is processing, you know, millions and millions

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of bits of information, but it can only focus on certain things.

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So, which is why, you know, you, you’re driving and your phone chirps,

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you mess your, because you can’t, you can’t process all the information.

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Um, so fast or go back in time and then fast forward.

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I was very, very introspective and all doing what,

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surgical isolation drills so I would look at violent encounters I would study

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stuff I’d go like what was that move there what did that is that something I

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should know and we’re doing these isolation drills so one day I come in and

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one student this kid named Warren.

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Really good boxer he was having a private lesson I said hey Warren I hallucinated

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this drill I want to try it with you he’s like okay coach what I said,

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I’m going to put on mouth guard.

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You put on those boxing gloves. And now you start a conversation with me.

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We’re going to be within arm’s reach.

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And whenever you want, just punch me anywhere in the body. Punch me in the face,

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punch me in the stomach, whatever you want. Just hit me while we’re talking.

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And I want to see my original hypothesis was, does having a conversation change

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your reaction time? And if so, to what degree?

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And then how does that factor with time? really interesting experiment, right?

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Because think about when you’re doing your knife fighting or your gun fighting

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or your boxing, you’re not talking.

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Right? So you’re, you know, you’re in the ring, you tap gloves,

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you go, hey, I’ve got my mouth guard, don’t hit me in the face,

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or what are the rules? No rules, whatever.

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And then all you’re doing is you’re breathing and you’re doing your sparring.

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Same thing when you do CQB, if you’re doing force on force, paintball,

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ammunition, UTM, you’re not talking.

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You know, you might yell, but you’re not like to start a conversation.

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So I had this, so Warren agrees to do it.

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He’s just talking, he asked me a question in the middle of a sentence, he

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ripped and hit me clean in the face

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turns me into a pez dispenser for anybody who

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remembers what the pez dispenser looked like yeah right and he looks he looks

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at me and he goes like that and i’m like fuck holy shit like i didn’t even because

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he had he had asked me something personal about a family member yep but but

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he was acting that was part of his he was just role playing yeah but for a nan for a nano-moment.

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You know, like if I said to you, Jim, hey, can we take a five-minute break to go to the bathroom?

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Like, am I acting now, or did I just ask you? So, you know, your brain has to

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go, is that live or Memorex?

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Is he doing the scenario, or does he really need to go to the bathroom?

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And boom, he nailed, he nailed, asked me something about his sister,

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and I was like, is he really asking me, or did the drill start?

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Boom, smack, he tells me. And then we went into stuff where he’d go,

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hey, the boss wants his money back.

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So right away, I’d go, okay, I borrowed money from some bad guys.

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And then I’d say, hey, man, I need a couple more days. We just start role playing

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and then slam, he’d fire a shot. Yeah.

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And, and it was fascinating what started to happen because the factory delay

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between stimulus response was so much bigger as a result of the conversation.

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And if I, and if it was a conversation where you had to also make believe.

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So if I said to you, I said, Hey Jim, we’re going to role play now.

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You know, what’s your favorite handgun for concealed carry? like even though

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we’re role playing you know that information so handily and it’s in your short

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term working memory you could integrate that into the role playing.

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But also, consciously, I’m consciously monitored the fact that,

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yeah, I’m in a century, I’m talking about it, but if I said,

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but if I said to you, you know, something like that, hey, Jim,

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we’re going to come, you know, coming over, you’re going to start getting, well, yeah.

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And then and then like right there if i threw a question right there

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let’s go outside we were right because you’re right

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going grill eggs what’s next right so i

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know this this might seem like like like very bizarre for

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your audience listeners but this is

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so important especially in personal safety when you’re

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distracted by like a behavioral distraction or someone asking

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for directions someone asking you a question that’s a non-sequitur and

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you’re like hey man sorry i can’t help you and you know part of

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your nose your spider sense is going something’s off but they

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asked you a real question so i

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like wow anyways i started

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getting nailed and i started noticing and it’s like in the 80s we’re using we’re

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recording it with the old vhs rca vhs stuff right like half your audience don’t

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even know what vhs is but uh but but it was it was an amazing experience because about halfway through,

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I started noticing that I would flinch when he asked me a question where I was

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really in make-believe land. I was like, now I was just an actor.

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And so I was so out of my, that, okay, get ready, get ready.

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When you’re sparring, you’re ready.

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I call this, I call this, if you have consent and awareness,

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you have preparedness. So consent, awareness, and preparedness.

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And this type of role-playing stuff, you’ve consented to the drill,

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you’re sort of prepared, but the dial-up version changes your situation.

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And if you have no awareness, you have no chance.

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But I started noticing when I got really surprised that my survival system did

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this crazy startle flinch, covering the head, pushing away danger.

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I didn’t have, now I’ve got eloquent language. Now I can explain the cross-extensor reflex.

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It deploys at a non-conscious level.

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Executive function is hijacked. That prevents you from accessing cognitive brain

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storage of complex motor skills.

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So if I said to you, Jim, you’re a problem guy, practitioner,

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what would you do if a guy had a gun like this?

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Well, in the safety of that question, your brain downloads the right theoretical

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answer, and you go, well, let me show you this move, straight punch him, right? Yeah, you do it.

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But there’s a ton of evidence, and that’s not what happens in the real fight.

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Yeah. And that’s because the scenario is new, and the emotional,

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psychological overwhelm impacts the relationship between cognitive and brain.

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So my decades of research, I went, holy shit, our 100,000-year-old survival

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DNA that kept our cavemen alive when they started fighting other cavemen.

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That’s still in us. Yeah. And in a high speed stress or, you know,

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our definition for the whole startle flinch concept is if a stimulus,

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if a violent, dangerous stimulus is introduced too quickly, your body will flinch.

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And it doesn’t have to be violent or dangerous.

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If a butterfly flies into your blind spot, as you are turning to ask somebody

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a question, you’re going to flinch.

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You’re just going to yell at her and then, you know, start fighting.

00:16:55.230 –> 00:16:59.190
You know, you bring up the, yeah, you bring up the butterfly.

00:16:59.190 –> 00:17:04.170
I remember in the symposium, you were using the example of the spider web, right?

00:17:04.330 –> 00:17:07.510
Like nobody walks through that shit all casual and whatever.

00:17:07.690 –> 00:17:09.390
They’re like flailing their arms about.

00:17:10.050 –> 00:17:14.990
And just this morning going out to work in my yard, I walked through a giant

00:17:14.990 –> 00:17:17.210
spider web and did exactly that.

00:17:17.370 –> 00:17:22.430
I was like, yep, proof in the case in point right there.

00:17:23.390 –> 00:17:27.110
Yeah. And so, you know, most people are embarrassed by that.

00:17:27.270 –> 00:17:31.810
I’m fascinated by it. And I spent most of my life figuring out how to weaponize

00:17:31.810 –> 00:17:34.730
that and what that, in fact, good.

00:17:34.990 –> 00:17:38.870
No, I was just going to say, well, I think that’s what’s most fascinating about

00:17:38.870 –> 00:17:44.010
your research and what you’ve, you know, gone so far as to weaponize.

00:17:44.170 –> 00:17:49.390
Because, you know, for me talking about the startle flinch move,

00:17:50.130 –> 00:17:55.470
humans in their very nature have a built in protection mechanism.

00:17:55.470 –> 00:18:01.450
And it’s like even after all these centuries and thousands of years,

00:18:01.670 –> 00:18:04.170
right, it’s still built into us.

00:18:04.330 –> 00:18:07.350
I mean, I don’t know anybody that has, you know, you showed some pictures of

00:18:07.350 –> 00:18:08.970
baseball bats coming at you, right?

00:18:09.150 –> 00:18:14.210
I don’t know anybody that stands in front of a baseball or a baseball bat flying

00:18:14.210 –> 00:18:17.590
at whatever speed at them, and they just stand there and take the hit,

00:18:17.730 –> 00:18:20.150
right, unless they’re completely caught off guard.

00:18:20.150 –> 00:18:25.230
But if you get any clue or sense that that danger is coming at you,

00:18:25.450 –> 00:18:30.310
your immediate response is to throw arms up or duck or whatever it looks like.

00:18:31.215 –> 00:18:35.555
Yeah, no, 100%. And, you know, that’s what we tell people. You can be a tier

00:18:35.555 –> 00:18:39.055
one operator, you can be an MMA fighter, you can have zero training.

00:18:39.335 –> 00:18:42.515
The cross extensor reflex of pushing away danger, cover your head,

00:18:42.595 –> 00:18:47.035
push away danger, looks uniform. In fact, it’s across the human species,

00:18:47.195 –> 00:18:49.975
regardless of gender, and regardless of training.

00:18:50.295 –> 00:18:56.055
And that’s, that’s actually a line out of a neuroscience manual, you know, so,

00:18:56.395 –> 00:19:02.555
you know, the guys with the big brains doing stuff like at, at places like Stanford

00:19:02.555 –> 00:19:06.815
and things like that, they’ll, they may or may not know how to fight,

00:19:06.895 –> 00:19:08.435
but they, they, they recognize,

00:19:08.855 –> 00:19:11.235
you know, how the brain works and what it does.

00:19:11.695 –> 00:19:14.495
They’ve got the data aspects figured out. Yeah. Yeah.

00:19:14.935 –> 00:19:20.175
Well, but, but, you know, for my, my hypothesis and my, and my method makes

00:19:20.175 –> 00:19:25.655
anyone safer sooner and I use it as a, I, I referenced it, uh, uh.

00:19:27.375 –> 00:19:30.055
I use the organic airbag metaphor. for.

00:19:30.935 –> 00:19:34.855
Yeah. Meaning, you know, airbags save lives,

00:19:35.655 –> 00:19:42.175
uh, you know, airbags save lives and your startle flinch is an organic airbag

00:19:42.175 –> 00:19:46.175
and where the technical airbag, the one that’s in your car,

00:19:46.635 –> 00:19:51.075
as cool as it is, the car needs to get hit for it to deploy. It needs pressure.

00:19:51.555 –> 00:19:56.435
Our airbag just needs threat. That’s amazing. So if I start to throw a punch

00:19:56.435 –> 00:20:00.775
at you, you’re, you’ll start to If I, if I grab an improvised weapon and I pick

00:20:00.775 –> 00:20:05.555
up that ashtray and I start to, you know, lock and load it to throw it at you,

00:20:05.755 –> 00:20:09.135
if you’re picking up that, your hands already start to move,

00:20:09.215 –> 00:20:10.175
your fingers start to play,

00:20:10.475 –> 00:20:12.695
your hands come up to protect your head.

00:20:13.035 –> 00:20:16.035
And it’s an amazing thing if you learn how to weaponize it.

00:20:16.135 –> 00:20:21.875
So we figured out kind of, you know, we, we, we have a series of very cool drills to do that.

00:20:21.875 –> 00:20:28.235
The hard thing in the type A world that is martial artists, that is defensive

00:20:28.235 –> 00:20:30.715
tactics instructors, is everyone

00:20:30.715 –> 00:20:33.755
has an unconscious bias, and it’s unconscious, so it’s hard to discuss.

00:20:34.315 –> 00:20:37.795
That it’s their taekwondo, their krav maga, their jiu-jitsu,

00:20:37.975 –> 00:20:42.075
their muay thai, their MMA, their boxing is all that’s needed.

00:20:42.315 –> 00:20:45.855
And the unconscious bias is our blind spot.

00:20:46.495 –> 00:20:50.515
So if you ask me, do I box? Yes. Do I practice practice arms?

00:20:50.675 –> 00:20:53.215
Yes. Do I practice knife? Yes. Do I practice offensive defense?

00:20:53.395 –> 00:20:55.015
Yes. Do I practice ground fighting? Yes.

00:20:55.535 –> 00:20:59.095
Do I do conditioning? Yes. Do I strengthen my hands? Yes. Do I work on situational?

00:20:59.255 –> 00:21:00.875
Yes. So I don’t have an unconscious bias.

00:21:01.215 –> 00:21:05.935
I have a conscious bias. Like, you know, what, what are, I look at,

00:21:06.035 –> 00:21:11.455
I look at the news, I look at events and, you know, so when, when,

00:21:12.235 –> 00:21:16.395
you know, we started having mostly peaceful protests, you know,

00:21:17.015 –> 00:21:21.955
mostly peaceful looking, yeah, mostly I, I started going, okay.

00:21:22.952 –> 00:21:27.352
If I were caught there, what are my moves? What do I do?

00:21:27.852 –> 00:21:35.252
And so I would look at any incident, and then I’d reverse engineer strategies so I had plans.

00:21:35.492 –> 00:21:39.552
Not that they’re perfect, but the idea is, so between, you know,

00:21:39.752 –> 00:21:41.632
something happens, that’s the stimulus.

00:21:41.832 –> 00:21:48.872
You need to respond. In between stimulus responses where you freeze with fear,

00:21:49.192 –> 00:21:54.752
you pass out, you get knocked out, you get named, you get killed, you run away.

00:21:54.952 –> 00:22:00.192
There’s got to be neuromuscular activity as soon as that stimulant happens.

00:22:00.272 –> 00:22:05.672
And the faster you can decide what you’re going to do, the faster you start to move towards safety.

00:22:06.412 –> 00:22:10.992
Problem is, if you’ve never thought about something, so one of our maxims is

00:22:10.992 –> 00:22:12.072
no awareness, no challenge.

00:22:12.752 –> 00:22:19.112
If you’ve never thought of what you would do, it drives me crazy anytime there’s a shooting.

00:22:19.892 –> 00:22:24.312
Like anybody who carries goes, I speak good games, win good prizes, that’s why I carry.

00:22:24.732 –> 00:22:29.072
And I go like, not everybody carries all the time. You can’t carry all of it.

00:22:29.192 –> 00:22:30.772
You can’t just pull your gun out.

00:22:30.912 –> 00:22:35.792
You can only pull your gun out in an active shooter situation immediately if

00:22:35.792 –> 00:22:39.672
you were hit or run over or the target hit.

00:22:40.092 –> 00:22:44.652
Because what’s going to happen if you’re in the kill zone and shots are coming

00:22:44.652 –> 00:22:47.132
at you, your body’s reactive brain.

00:22:47.172 –> 00:22:51.032
The little startle flinch that I’ve been talking about this whole podcast kicks in.

00:22:51.172 –> 00:22:53.652
It hijacks executive function.

00:22:53.972 –> 00:22:58.232
And people don’t want to hear that. But I go, it’s your blind spot.

00:22:58.232 –> 00:23:02.552
And your blind spot is the kill zone for you.

00:23:02.592 –> 00:23:04.632
Because it’s an area you’re not even going to look at. Yeah,

00:23:04.632 –> 00:23:09.492
because there’s at least a few moments of hesitation of doing what it is you’ve

00:23:09.492 –> 00:23:14.152
been trained to do and doing what it is you think you would just do by nature, right?

00:23:14.312 –> 00:23:19.372
The goal is to always make that as short as possible and to make sure your training

00:23:19.372 –> 00:23:21.012
is realistic as possible.

00:23:21.332 –> 00:23:25.572
And a lot of training is not realistic. So touching back on what we were talking

00:23:25.572 –> 00:23:27.892
about a minute ago, what you were talking about a minute ago,

00:23:27.892 –> 00:23:31.552
where you were facing up the guy, the boxer,

00:23:31.852 –> 00:23:37.812
and he would approach you with a question and then that’s where he would smack you. Right.

00:23:38.292 –> 00:23:43.932
And it seems like a lot of your program is based on reaction. Right. Startle flinch.

00:23:44.872 –> 00:23:48.052
But there’s some merit to that question.

00:23:48.052 –> 00:23:51.892
You know, I’ve heard before that in a fight, if you need to go,

00:23:52.152 –> 00:23:56.112
you ask them a question at the last minute, like, Hey, does your mom like playing

00:23:56.112 –> 00:23:58.092
pool or whatever the question is,

00:23:58.232 –> 00:24:05.512
because that moment switches their brain from the conflict that you guys might

00:24:05.512 –> 00:24:08.272
be having to what did he just ask me?

00:24:08.352 –> 00:24:13.332
And, and that’s the point to strike. Like, Have you worked in that technique

00:24:13.332 –> 00:24:18.192
to get the drop on the other person instead of everything being reactionary? Of course.

00:24:19.432 –> 00:24:24.592
So we have a whole system. So we’ve broken down.

00:24:25.572 –> 00:24:29.492
I have a whole lesson presentation called The Timeline of Violence,

00:24:30.372 –> 00:24:36.632
and it shows kind of mental blueprints and physical blueprints for different types of attacks.

00:24:37.432 –> 00:24:42.392
There are certain things going to happen in an attempted rape, an attempted robbery.

00:24:42.712 –> 00:24:45.632
There are certain pre-contact cues.

00:24:45.972 –> 00:24:48.492
So we break that down.

00:24:48.932 –> 00:24:51.612
It’s a 30,000-foot view. so it

00:24:51.612 –> 00:24:54.592
gives you that it’s almost like going for

00:24:54.592 –> 00:24:57.832
a walk on a trail you know

00:24:57.832 –> 00:25:02.232
if you you know you go to a state park if you look at the route you know and

00:25:02.232 –> 00:25:05.292
you kind of look at the map you go oh that looks like a good trail and you got

00:25:05.292 –> 00:25:12.832
kind of like that bird’s eye view you don’t feel as stressed if like in the

00:25:12.832 –> 00:25:16.292
middle of the walk you go how far how much further is it you kind of know where you are.

00:25:16.952 –> 00:25:22.572
So there’s this orientation effect by understanding the time we’re in violence.

00:25:22.772 –> 00:25:25.892
Inside of that, we break down all these blocks.

00:25:26.572 –> 00:25:36.912
The key blocks is understanding where the and then we break that down by talking about D1, D2, D3 will go.

00:25:38.812 –> 00:25:46.712
D2 is defused the escalate. During the defused is a little section of education choice speech.

00:25:47.012 –> 00:25:52.872
And choice speech is where I am using dialogue to morally, ethically,

00:25:53.032 –> 00:25:56.892
legally diffuse it because that’s my good human obligation.

00:25:57.372 –> 00:26:03.912
And if my intuition and my intelligence and my instincts say,

00:26:04.112 –> 00:26:09.052
yeah, this isn’t going away, I’m in a lot of danger here, then I’m using the

00:26:09.052 –> 00:26:12.092
choice speech, that dialogue, to change my state.

00:26:12.092 –> 00:26:17.172
In other words, to regulate, make sure I’ve got the right amount of signal going

00:26:17.172 –> 00:26:22.672
when there’s combat breathing, whether it’s just real fuck, here we go.

00:26:23.572 –> 00:26:28.652
You know, sometimes we go very often in a dangerous moment, you go into denial.

00:26:28.872 –> 00:26:33.272
It’s very normal for anyone, even somebody trained going no fucking way. I can’t believe this.

00:26:33.632 –> 00:26:38.512
While you’re saying that, you know, you think of what’s going on overseas right now.

00:26:38.712 –> 00:26:43.112
There’s a lot of really trained people, but I guarantee they need to manage

00:26:43.112 –> 00:26:48.632
their thoughts of like, you’re sitting there going, I wonder if this is where I’m going to die.

00:26:48.892 –> 00:26:53.392
I wonder if we’re going to be rescued. I wonder if, and those are negative thoughts.

00:26:53.872 –> 00:26:58.852
They’re not strategic thoughts. Right. Because you’re trying to be hopeful,

00:26:59.032 –> 00:27:04.452
but because you’re feeling helpless, those are the thoughts that are manifesting in your mind. Yep.

00:27:04.912 –> 00:27:10.372
So we talk a lot about self-talk, as I mentioned earlier, that coaching.

00:27:10.732 –> 00:27:12.492
Positive self-talk, yep.

00:27:13.581 –> 00:27:21.521
Yeah, but we want to be careful to not just categorize it as positive self-talk.

00:27:21.681 –> 00:27:23.841
I know, semantically, I know what you mean, I agree.

00:27:24.401 –> 00:27:32.521
But we will, so there’s a pivot point during a de-escalation phase where,

00:27:32.521 –> 00:27:35.301
while you’re talking, the bad guy can attack you.

00:27:35.301 –> 00:27:39.681
So we talk about that protective movement,

00:27:39.681 –> 00:27:48.061
and we do a ton of very, very advanced, evolved pre-contact cue developments

00:27:48.061 –> 00:27:52.961
where we’re isolating auditory visual tactile stimuli and cataloging them in your brain.

00:27:53.081 –> 00:27:58.281
So all of this kind of educate the anticipatory cells in the brain,

00:27:58.441 –> 00:28:01.061
and it reduces your reaction time. It’s fucking amazing.

00:28:02.041 –> 00:28:09.941
But then there’s a part where yeah let me just let me go part two here so then

00:28:09.941 –> 00:28:15.681
there’s a part where because you asked me do you ever use dialogue to set up your own,

00:28:16.261 –> 00:28:19.641
preemptive strike which is a fancy way to say sucker punch sure.

00:28:21.161 –> 00:28:25.781
If I realize that the only way out of this is going to be,

00:28:27.111 –> 00:28:31.791
you know, physical violence that I’ve got to do something. I’m now selecting

00:28:31.791 –> 00:28:34.811
what I need to do because sports must always parallel danger.

00:28:35.111 –> 00:28:41.731
And I obviously want the last guy to know that he’s about to get hit to be the guy I need to hit.

00:28:41.871 –> 00:28:46.651
So we use dialogue there, but we don’t say a lot of times when you hear like,

00:28:46.751 –> 00:28:50.491
like your example, Hey, does your mom like, you know, a lot of times in the

00:28:50.491 –> 00:28:52.411
industry, you’ll hear like these non sequiturs,

00:28:52.991 –> 00:28:57.431
where if you’re at the wrong distance or the guy has used stuff like that,

00:28:57.971 –> 00:29:02.331
that’s now misinformation and can alert him that he’s about,

00:29:02.611 –> 00:29:03.571
that something’s about to happen.

00:29:04.271 –> 00:29:09.751
So we take it a step further and talk about congruent dialogue.

00:29:10.251 –> 00:29:12.511
So it’s not misinformation, it’s disinformation.

00:29:13.231 –> 00:29:17.551
And so if I wanted to hit you, let’s say you’re robbing me at an ATM.

00:29:18.151 –> 00:29:22.031
And I went, oh fuck, if I can distract him, I know I can clear that gut.

00:29:22.411 –> 00:29:26.851
And had that disarm and then headbutt this guy and i

00:29:26.851 –> 00:29:29.931
go hey is it true that your mom’s allergic

00:29:29.931 –> 00:29:32.671
to shellfish and the guy goes boom and shoots me

00:29:32.671 –> 00:29:35.491
in the face right because like you’re like he’s going hey you know

00:29:35.491 –> 00:29:38.211
like i and when people when people ask me that stuff in

00:29:38.211 –> 00:29:41.231
the stomach i go what if what if the guy’s mom is dead what if

00:29:41.231 –> 00:29:44.771
he doesn’t have a mom here’s the job like you’re now you

00:29:44.771 –> 00:29:47.471
just pissed him off you just yeah but i was gonna

00:29:47.471 –> 00:29:50.851
smell why why can’t you use something

00:29:50.851 –> 00:29:53.571
congruent with what’s going on so now the guy’s got the

00:29:53.571 –> 00:29:56.651
gun on me i’m just taking

00:29:56.651 –> 00:30:00.131
money out and the guy’s there and i go dude

00:30:00.131 –> 00:30:03.371
i only took out a hundred bucks i’ve got a daily limit of

00:30:03.371 –> 00:30:07.851
of five hundred dollars i’m gonna take the rest out and give it to you obviously

00:30:07.851 –> 00:30:11.611
you need money if you’re robbing people right what i’m really doing is getting

00:30:11.611 –> 00:30:16.091
him to think about extra money maybe his conscience and accountability about

00:30:16.091 –> 00:30:20.091
robbing people and maybe i’ve created some delay and I’m reading his body language

00:30:20.091 –> 00:30:21.471
and I’m getting ready to move.

00:30:22.350 –> 00:30:25.970
But he can’t look at me and go, you’re trying to trick me and hit me,

00:30:26.110 –> 00:30:28.830
aren’t you? Because what I said, although it’s disinformation,

00:30:28.970 –> 00:30:30.210
I’m not going to take the money out.

00:30:30.810 –> 00:30:34.550
I’m not going to have a nice conversation with him. I want to fucking drop this

00:30:34.550 –> 00:30:36.670
guy if I think I can do it safely.

00:30:37.290 –> 00:30:42.170
But I’m using what I love to refer as disinformation stuff where if you’re thinking

00:30:42.170 –> 00:30:44.490
about it, you have no idea if I’m telling the truth or not.

00:30:45.490 –> 00:30:47.630
And that way you have to contemplate it.

00:30:48.710 –> 00:30:52.610
Interesting, right? Just creates a little bit of hesitation of the moment that

00:30:52.610 –> 00:30:53.830
you’re looking for. Yeah.

00:30:54.190 –> 00:30:58.150
Going back to this, you know, fight, flight or freeze, right?

00:30:58.370 –> 00:31:02.250
You know, I can remember a time that I thought someone had broken into my house.

00:31:02.390 –> 00:31:08.090
It was early in the morning and I was sound asleep and I heard glass shatter. This was years ago.

00:31:08.910 –> 00:31:17.430
And I had my pistol at my nightstand, you know, and so I sit up in bed and I grabbed my handgun.

00:31:17.430 –> 00:31:21.990
And this is before I’d know and, you know, whatever that I do now,

00:31:22.110 –> 00:31:27.050
but I grabbed my handgun, but I couldn’t get off the bed. I literally froze in space.

00:31:27.250 –> 00:31:32.030
It seemed like an eternity, but I finally got up and went to the door.

00:31:32.250 –> 00:31:36.810
And that was before I learned that clearing my own house isn’t the best idea.

00:31:36.950 –> 00:31:39.710
You know, that was long before I’ve learned what I’ve learned now.

00:31:39.710 –> 00:31:47.090
But like I remember that moment very vividly freezing up and not being able to stand up off my bed.

00:31:47.290 –> 00:31:49.650
How do you work through that?

00:31:49.970 –> 00:31:56.810
You know, is it, is it training? Is it thinking through scenarios so that when

00:31:56.810 –> 00:32:01.630
a scenario you’ve thought of happens, you’re better able to react?

00:32:01.630 –> 00:32:06.990
Like what do you do with that freezing aspect or how do you overcome that freezing aspect?

00:32:07.750 –> 00:32:08.990
So there’s a.

00:32:11.410 –> 00:32:16.370
There’s a term in the psychology of office called tonic immobility.

00:32:17.090 –> 00:32:21.630
I’m not fond of it. You know, like, like, like every day somebody’s got a,

00:32:23.090 –> 00:32:26.530
there’s a new gender, there’s a new term, there’s a new drug,

00:32:26.790 –> 00:32:32.630
there’s a new, you know, and, and so tonic immobility is a, and I’m not trying

00:32:32.630 –> 00:32:37.990
to diminish what happens, but it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s like an involuntary prowl. Yes.

00:32:38.330 –> 00:32:41.610
And people can’t move. So when I first heard of it,

00:32:42.848 –> 00:32:47.248
Uh, I was like, is that like somebody coming up with a fancy way to say freeze?

00:32:47.488 –> 00:32:50.848
Cause you used to be fight by free. Right. Right. Yeah. And,

00:32:50.928 –> 00:32:54.068
and, and listen, you know, I want to apologize in advance to you,

00:32:54.308 –> 00:32:57.048
you know, anyone who’s done deeper research on it, but it’s something else.

00:32:57.248 –> 00:33:00.568
But my understanding was that, you know, I sent this article going,

00:33:00.648 –> 00:33:02.328
Hey, have you heard about this possibility?

00:33:03.488 –> 00:33:06.868
And I was like, is that like a fancy way to say freeze now? Like,

00:33:07.008 –> 00:33:11.428
like, let’s just make things even, even less accessible to the general public by using.

00:33:12.368 –> 00:33:17.028
Well you know you make a great point like we have to come up with a new term

00:33:17.028 –> 00:33:24.368
for it so that we can then come up with a new drug for it right right so the

00:33:24.368 –> 00:33:27.048
the to come back to your question.

00:33:28.548 –> 00:33:31.548
When you so here’s some interesting stuff about

00:33:31.548 –> 00:33:34.788
the start of when you flinch your body

00:33:34.788 –> 00:33:38.988
contracts at a super speed

00:33:38.988 –> 00:33:42.448
and it’s like it’s your

00:33:42.448 –> 00:33:45.348
survival reflex like you know this is

00:33:45.348 –> 00:33:51.488
part of our dna and so you hear broken glass and and what was it something fell

00:33:51.488 –> 00:33:56.968
and broke and it wasn’t it turns out to be a picture frame yep turned out to

00:33:56.968 –> 00:34:01.628
be a picture frame in my office shattered all over the place right oh but you

00:34:01.628 –> 00:34:04.768
should have known that i’m joking like how would you know because like if somebody,

00:34:04.988 –> 00:34:09.368
you know, if somebody put their elbow through the back door to the kitchen and

00:34:09.368 –> 00:34:12.888
the glass hit the floor, it’s going to sound exactly the same. Exactly. Yeah.

00:34:14.348 –> 00:34:20.568
So, so even if you did drills where we sat there and I broke a picture frame

00:34:20.568 –> 00:34:21.668
and I broke the back door,

00:34:22.228 –> 00:34:28.988
eventually your body would start to go, Oh, the proximity of that glass break,

00:34:29.228 –> 00:34:33.328
not necessarily the sound of it, But the proximity of that glass break,

00:34:33.728 –> 00:34:36.368
that’s in the house, not in the house.

00:34:37.108 –> 00:34:41.748
And, you know, let’s say you do another dozen reps and you go, huh.

00:34:42.947 –> 00:34:48.267
There’s the sound of the elbow from the outside breaking the glass and then

00:34:48.267 –> 00:34:49.427
glass hitting the floor.

00:34:49.607 –> 00:34:52.207
There’s actually two sounds when somebody’s breaking into your house,

00:34:52.547 –> 00:34:54.907
where there’s only one sound when a picture falls.

00:34:55.607 –> 00:34:58.487
Right? Yeah. So the frame hits the floor and the glass breaks.

00:34:58.647 –> 00:35:01.907
So this is really interesting when you’re starting to think about pre-contact indicators.

00:35:02.187 –> 00:35:05.747
Yeah. But that only becomes a factor if you’re the sentry.

00:35:05.987 –> 00:35:10.467
If you’re asleep, your brain just hears broken glass and you sit up.

00:35:10.467 –> 00:35:13.087
So now that i

00:35:13.087 –> 00:35:15.887
was just teasing you and your listeners with like how you could go

00:35:15.887 –> 00:35:18.927
on stuff it doesn’t matter because the assumption remember no

00:35:18.927 –> 00:35:21.627
awareness no chance yeah and if you’re asleep you

00:35:21.627 –> 00:35:24.487
have no awareness so you suddenly wake up

00:35:24.487 –> 00:35:27.187
you and what your brain immediately does so i love

00:35:27.187 –> 00:35:30.587
using the acronym false expectations appearing

00:35:30.587 –> 00:35:33.347
real false expectations really is the movie in

00:35:33.347 –> 00:35:36.727
your mind as soon as as soon as you woke up your brain

00:35:36.727 –> 00:35:39.747
your mind created a movie of an

00:35:39.747 –> 00:35:43.147
intruder or more in the house and you

00:35:43.147 –> 00:35:45.987
may not even remember this you know if you happen

00:35:45.987 –> 00:35:49.667
to be walking the way the walking dead that week it’s like guys in your house

00:35:49.667 –> 00:35:54.127
with with baseball bats with hard wire on them you know maybe they’re they’re

00:35:54.127 –> 00:35:58.027
they’re two guys there’s three guys they’re zombies and this is happening like

00:35:58.027 –> 00:36:03.507
i’d like in a nanosecond like it’s like when you wake up from a bad dream and

00:36:03.507 –> 00:36:04.707
you’re sweating and you’re sitting there.

00:36:05.167 –> 00:36:07.747
So your brain is doing that.

00:36:08.207 –> 00:36:13.647
Part of your hypothetical self-defense skills, because you weren’t really trained

00:36:13.647 –> 00:36:18.167
back then and you are now, is you grabbed your gun, but you weren’t ready to grab your gun.

00:36:18.427 –> 00:36:23.427
It was almost like, it was almost like, you know, it was a question I ask in

00:36:23.427 –> 00:36:24.407
our train-to-trainer courses.

00:36:25.107 –> 00:36:29.627
I go, how did a lifeguard drown? A lifeguard is an amazing swimmer.

00:36:29.767 –> 00:36:31.327
So how could a lifeguard possibly drown.

00:36:31.847 –> 00:36:35.447
Well, the lifeguard drowns trying to save somebody because the person grabs

00:36:35.447 –> 00:36:38.907
onto the lifeguard panicking, going, yeah, the lifeguard’s floating.

00:36:39.207 –> 00:36:45.887
I’m not going to hold onto the lifeguard. And so in the old days,

00:36:46.827 –> 00:36:50.707
combat swimming lifeguards were taught how to headbutt an elbow.

00:36:50.827 –> 00:36:53.747
Because if you were rescuing somebody and they started to pull you down,

00:36:53.927 –> 00:36:58.587
you were told you got to knock this guy out or you’re both going to die. Yep. Sure. I sure did.

00:36:59.007 –> 00:37:04.847
So, so when you sat up like that and grabbed your gun, your gun was the lifeguard,

00:37:05.327 –> 00:37:06.727
but you hadn’t started swimming.

00:37:06.967 –> 00:37:08.927
Does that metaphor make sense? Yeah, it sure does.

00:37:09.287 –> 00:37:11.427
So what you, so what you need to do.

00:37:13.774 –> 00:37:19.194
Is create like little routines to stress inoculate your body and your mind.

00:37:19.714 –> 00:37:24.314
And so you would start, obviously, without the scare, you would just start clearing

00:37:24.314 –> 00:37:28.094
your house the way you would do it if you really thought there was a home invasion.

00:37:28.754 –> 00:37:32.554
And you would slowly incorporate, you would do your research and go,

00:37:33.014 –> 00:37:37.714
okay, you know, how do I not expose myself? How do I close clear rooms?

00:37:38.034 –> 00:37:40.554
You know, where should I carry a light? Should I carry a light?

00:37:40.694 –> 00:37:42.134
Should it be in this hand or over the gun?

00:37:42.134 –> 00:37:45.194
You know short you know you get whatever resonates with

00:37:45.194 –> 00:37:48.074
you you figure out you know then you start thinking about

00:37:48.074 –> 00:37:50.874
where am I going to stash improvised weapons what do

00:37:50.874 –> 00:37:53.834
I do with my kid and you like you start going through

00:37:53.834 –> 00:37:57.014
every detail now you don’t do it all at once because that can be fucking overwhelming

00:37:57.014 –> 00:38:02.654
overwhelming yeah you know but you get you get to the point where you know the

00:38:02.654 –> 00:38:06.334
route you know your routine then you start doing and you do it with an empty

00:38:06.334 –> 00:38:11.754
gun and then and then you do it with a magazine in the gun.

00:38:12.054 –> 00:38:15.574
And then you do it with a round in the chamber if there’s nobody home, right?

00:38:15.634 –> 00:38:18.894
You know, like if I do clearing in my house with an empty gun.

00:38:19.454 –> 00:38:22.994
I can still create a start-up, like not a start-up link, a physiological change

00:38:22.994 –> 00:38:25.514
in my body because I’m not doing it with my CERT pistol.

00:38:25.854 –> 00:38:29.394
You know, I’m not using a training pistol. Right. When I put a real gun in my

00:38:29.394 –> 00:38:32.434
hand, I can feel my physiology change.

00:38:32.654 –> 00:38:36.894
And if I slam that magazine in there, it changes again.

00:38:36.894 –> 00:38:42.994
And then when I grab the slide and chamber around, I’m immediately aware,

00:38:43.114 –> 00:38:46.734
hey, the kids are home, the wife is upstairs, I’m just practicing doing this,

00:38:47.214 –> 00:38:50.594
practicing getting the gun out, making sure it’s ready.

00:38:50.734 –> 00:38:54.954
And I’m aware that somebody could come into my garage or into my room and go,

00:38:55.254 –> 00:38:58.654
hey, I didn’t come running into the room and see me standing there with a gun

00:38:58.654 –> 00:38:59.734
and go, what are you doing?

00:39:01.874 –> 00:39:06.874
So what I’m talking about to your audience, if you’re into firearms and home

00:39:06.874 –> 00:39:11.874
defense, stuff like that, is every potential run, every iteration…

00:39:12.844 –> 00:39:17.004
You can use, if you’re introspective and you’re working on self-awareness,

00:39:17.184 –> 00:39:24.184
you use it and monitor your physiology, meaning are you parasympathetic,

00:39:24.224 –> 00:39:26.864
are you sympathetic, where should you be, how’s your breathing?

00:39:27.144 –> 00:39:33.444
Because every time you do a rep, like a quality rep, you stress inoculate,

00:39:33.444 –> 00:39:34.744
so it gets easier and easier.

00:39:34.984 –> 00:39:39.804
So if you got to the point where if I said to you, hey, for the next week,

00:39:39.964 –> 00:39:44.204
I want you to play your house three times a day.

00:39:44.624 –> 00:39:51.104
Then I want you to set an alarm at 3 a.m. And as soon as the alarm goes off, play your house.

00:39:52.004 –> 00:39:57.224
And then what I’m going to have you do is you’re going to have a friend help

00:39:57.224 –> 00:40:00.384
you out where you leave your phone on.

00:40:00.584 –> 00:40:05.304
And what they’re going to do is they’re going to call you at a time you don’t

00:40:05.304 –> 00:40:07.224
know, because now you know you set your alarm for three.

00:40:07.584 –> 00:40:10.844
They’re going to call you whenever, and they’re going to give you some code.

00:40:11.184 –> 00:40:15.424
I mean, there’s somebody in your house and you’re going to clear it, but now it’s a surprise.

00:40:16.264 –> 00:40:21.104
So what you’re doing is you’re doing quality reps when you’re changing the stimulus,

00:40:21.644 –> 00:40:23.364
but you’re executing the plan.

00:40:23.664 –> 00:40:26.564
And now, God forbid, you hear glass break.

00:40:27.184 –> 00:40:34.544
What happens is it’s like Pavlov’s dog. The bell goes off, you grab your gun and you go hunting.

00:40:35.104 –> 00:40:38.644
And then you go, oh, fuck. Now, here’s the most important thing.

00:40:38.824 –> 00:40:44.064
So in my research on fear, I tell people, you can’t be brave if you’re not afraid.

00:40:44.244 –> 00:40:46.424
It’s one of the most powerful lines of our program.

00:40:46.724 –> 00:40:51.004
Most people, especially macho guys, type A personalities, and I’m describing

00:40:51.004 –> 00:40:55.384
you, me, and everybody listening, even though that sounds derogatory,

00:40:55.944 –> 00:40:58.484
you know, we’re type A. Let’s go. We’re training.

00:40:59.764 –> 00:41:02.864
When i say you can’t be brave if you’re not afraid you

00:41:02.864 –> 00:41:06.084
got to see everyone’s face in the class the primary

00:41:06.084 –> 00:41:09.064
ingredient for courage is fear if there’s

00:41:09.064 –> 00:41:14.404
no fear there’s no need for courage there is no fear for bravery yeah yeah right

00:41:14.404 –> 00:41:19.504
you get it yeah so like so you get a fear spike you don’t feel very courageous

00:41:19.504 –> 00:41:24.764
because you don’t understand the commodity that is fear and that’s that’s the

00:41:24.764 –> 00:41:28.324
basis of my no fear program is turning fear into fuel it’s a very cool concept.

00:41:29.224 –> 00:41:32.084
And my whole life I lived with that like I was a really

00:41:32.084 –> 00:41:34.864
good skier wrestler gymnast all these things but I

00:41:34.864 –> 00:41:38.004
was so afraid when I’d go to compete that it would impact

00:41:38.004 –> 00:41:42.604
my potential and so I would just get through the competition you would never

00:41:42.604 –> 00:41:46.164
notice looking at me because I was always in good shape I always showed up so

00:41:46.164 –> 00:41:50.484
it wasn’t like self-sabotage and oh I didn’t make it I was there I was competing

00:41:50.484 –> 00:41:55.324
but it was like you know everyone was just always better but I realized I’m,

00:41:55.893 –> 00:41:59.633
that they were better years later. I couldn’t articulate this. I was young.

00:41:59.933 –> 00:42:04.313
They were better because, because the mind navigates the body.

00:42:04.433 –> 00:42:09.513
They under, they, they either naturally or had the proper coaching to teach

00:42:09.513 –> 00:42:12.673
them the importance of, of a proper self-talk.

00:42:13.173 –> 00:42:17.413
Yeah. And, and meta, and manifesting a positive outcome, right?

00:42:17.533 –> 00:42:20.493
That’s so important part of the mindset. And it doesn’t always happen.

00:42:20.613 –> 00:42:23.713
That, yeah, that’s, that’s the tricky thing, Jeff is, you know,

00:42:23.773 –> 00:42:26.533
you’re up at bat and you’re going, don’t fucking strike out man the

00:42:26.533 –> 00:42:29.933
team needs you don’t miss yeah like that’s but

00:42:29.933 –> 00:42:32.853
that’s putting so much pressure on yourself because you’re motivating to a negative

00:42:32.853 –> 00:42:37.273
yeah versus standing up there going like come on you got this come on you fucking

00:42:37.273 –> 00:42:41.933
you you you’re like and it’s you know it’s not like you’re the best player you’re

00:42:41.933 –> 00:42:45.753
gonna win the game it’s like it can’t be cheesy stuff and everyone’s here’s

00:42:45.753 –> 00:42:49.993
something i learned coaching amateur and pro athletes coaching business people

00:42:49.993 –> 00:42:52.793
coaching pro tier one operators.

00:42:53.793 –> 00:42:59.293
Everyone’s personality and psychology, although the, the, the hardware and the

00:42:59.293 –> 00:43:01.033
software to certain levels, identical.

00:43:02.159 –> 00:43:05.619
Right? You know, like, you know, but like every snowflake’s different,

00:43:05.639 –> 00:43:08.459
but if you look at them, they go, oh, look at those snowflakes. Oh, there’s a blizzard.

00:43:08.719 –> 00:43:11.999
You know, they all look the same. So we all look the same in line.

00:43:12.519 –> 00:43:14.319
Okay. Range is hot. We all look the same.

00:43:15.759 –> 00:43:21.819
One guy I walk up to need, I need to say to him, come on, man, you got this.

00:43:22.459 –> 00:43:27.279
Another person, I might say, Hey, if you wait too long, the guy’s going to shoot the curse.

00:43:29.359 –> 00:43:32.839
You know humor sarcasm yeah

00:43:32.839 –> 00:43:35.679
uh pressure it so i i

00:43:35.679 –> 00:43:42.119
noticed this training fighters is that if you’re a coach and you got a team

00:43:42.119 –> 00:43:48.279
if you don’t take the time to understand each code each fighter’s fears and

00:43:48.279 –> 00:43:53.419
their psychology you can’t just come at them with like that you know like, you know,

00:43:53.539 –> 00:43:56.299
positive psychology thing, guys, everyone deserves to be here.

00:43:56.539 –> 00:44:01.739
You’re all winners. Even if you lose, like, like at a certain level,

00:44:01.859 –> 00:44:03.159
somebody goes, shut up, man.

00:44:03.579 –> 00:44:06.579
You know, I need to win this fight. Cause I got to feed my kids,

00:44:06.599 –> 00:44:12.039
you know, uh, you know, someone, someone else might say, hang on, tell it out there.

00:44:12.559 –> 00:44:16.639
You know, someone else might be, I remember I was on two of the ultimate fighter

00:44:16.639 –> 00:44:20.259
shows as kind of like an adjunct guest once with Frank Mir, another,

00:44:20.259 –> 00:44:23.279
of my friend, Kieran Fitzgibbons, who ran one of the best fight gyms in the world,

00:44:24.179 –> 00:44:29.879
and he brought me on, and it was the year that the Henry Cejudo one,

00:44:30.059 –> 00:44:32.899
and he brought me on to talk about fear management.

00:44:33.259 –> 00:44:37.699
That year, everybody competing was a pro fighter.

00:44:38.059 –> 00:44:41.559
Were they pros? I can’t remember. They were already world champion.

00:44:41.759 –> 00:44:44.019
They’re amateur. I had like 100 fights.

00:44:44.539 –> 00:44:50.459
Everyone had bust scars. In other words, a lot of the ultimate fighters are guys who are amateurs.

00:44:50.719 –> 00:44:55.959
They’re new. No one’s heard of them. These guys were all national champs.

00:44:56.939 –> 00:45:00.739
And I thought there’s 12 of them sitting in the octagon. And I said,

00:45:00.839 –> 00:45:02.959
okay, let’s talk about fear. It’s got fear before them.

00:45:03.759 –> 00:45:05.519
Only two guys put their hands up.

00:45:06.534 –> 00:45:09.034
Because, you know, if you have 100 fights, you’re like, whatever,

00:45:09.134 –> 00:45:11.514
this is my job, man. Fuck it. Let’s go. Yeah. You know?

00:45:12.514 –> 00:45:16.334
And so I said to the other 10, I said, none of you have fears?

00:45:17.114 –> 00:45:21.674
They’re like, no, man. We like fighting. I said, okay. And I point to one of

00:45:21.674 –> 00:45:24.914
the guys. I go, how badly do you want this UFC contract?

00:45:25.554 –> 00:45:28.234
He goes, very badly. I said, does your life change if you get it?

00:45:28.414 –> 00:45:33.114
I go, yeah. Does your life change if you don’t get it? He goes, yeah.

00:45:33.394 –> 00:45:37.974
I go, how many sponsors do you have? None. I said, are you thinking about potential sponsors? Yeah.

00:45:38.274 –> 00:45:41.814
I said, anything that I’m bringing up now, have you thought about before now?

00:45:41.914 –> 00:45:43.594
He says, yeah, all the time.

00:45:43.934 –> 00:45:47.474
I said, those are fears. That’s in the back of your mind. I got to win this.

00:45:47.774 –> 00:45:51.414
And so when I asked who’s got fear, everyone thought I meant of fighting.

00:45:52.094 –> 00:45:57.014
So this is very subtle because, and really deep and connected to,

00:45:57.234 –> 00:45:58.814
you go to clear your house.

00:45:59.074 –> 00:46:03.174
If you start clearing your house and your heart rate, even if it’s in a simulation

00:46:03.174 –> 00:46:07.674
gym, You go, hey, Tony gave me some good ideas. I’m going to do that tonight at 2 in the morning.

00:46:08.314 –> 00:46:11.434
I’m going to clear the house. If your heart rate doesn’t change,

00:46:11.714 –> 00:46:15.574
then there’s something wrong. Oh, there’s something bad wrong. You, yeah.

00:46:16.174 –> 00:46:19.394
Right? And so, but a lot of times people are cavalier.

00:46:19.534 –> 00:46:22.994
And then if you have an ego or you don’t have good self-awareness,

00:46:23.134 –> 00:46:28.794
you don’t realize that, like, it’s your, I always tell people self-awareness

00:46:28.794 –> 00:46:30.414
informs situational awareness.

00:46:30.674 –> 00:46:36.094
Yeah. So if you’re too cocky or arrogant or whatever, that’s also your blind

00:46:36.094 –> 00:46:38.194
spot. Ego is a killer. Yeah.

00:46:38.834 –> 00:46:45.574
Yeah. Yeah. So just real quick, going back to my situation, you know,

00:46:45.694 –> 00:46:51.074
since that time, I’ve learned the importance of playing scenarios through my mind.

00:46:51.194 –> 00:46:53.794
In fact, we did a podcast on that some time ago.

00:46:53.974 –> 00:46:57.754
You know, the place that scenario playing through scenarios has right. Right.

00:46:57.934 –> 00:47:01.334
Someone that’s thought through something one time, I would argue,

00:47:01.474 –> 00:47:04.874
is better prepared than the person that’s never given it any consideration.

00:47:05.334 –> 00:47:09.214
And then for me personally, since I don’t have kids and because of my particular

00:47:09.214 –> 00:47:14.154
situation, I wouldn’t be going pine off rooms in my house.

00:47:14.174 –> 00:47:16.754
I’m going to stay in my safe room. I’ve got my firearms.

00:47:16.934 –> 00:47:21.534
I’ve got my gear that I’ve set out for myself in my safe room. I would stay there.

00:47:21.694 –> 00:47:25.134
So that’s my approach. Right. That’s what I’ve figured out that’s appropriate

00:47:25.134 –> 00:47:27.334
for me since that time. Right.

00:47:28.594 –> 00:47:35.954
And when you’re designing a scenario, you start with what you can control.

00:47:36.234 –> 00:47:40.354
And so if that’s that realm, you play that out.

00:47:40.514 –> 00:47:45.274
And if and when you move or your scenario changes or you go,

00:47:45.594 –> 00:47:50.314
well, what if I have to take the fight to them? How do I get out of my room?

00:47:51.554 –> 00:47:56.734
So, you know, you start to explore that, but I’ve already kind of laid out this.

00:47:57.478 –> 00:48:00.318
But the big thing there, what I wanted to say to everyone listening,

00:48:00.498 –> 00:48:04.518
is when you truly do a scenario, there should be an element of fear,

00:48:04.518 –> 00:48:05.778
even if it’s a simulation.

00:48:06.058 –> 00:48:10.098
Because what you’re doing is you’re imagining it’s real and it should change your physiology.

00:48:10.498 –> 00:48:15.838
A lot of times when people do force training or knife fighting or paintball

00:48:15.838 –> 00:48:19.058
stuff, everyone’s fucking laughing, joking around.

00:48:19.658 –> 00:48:23.538
One of my knife seminars, two guys came together.

00:48:23.978 –> 00:48:28.618
We’re just using training knives. you know while we’re talking and demoing like

00:48:28.618 –> 00:48:34.318
I see them poking each other with their knife you know and it’s what guys do

00:48:34.318 –> 00:48:38.238
you’ve done it I’ve done it you know there’s your buddy and you go I got you man.

00:48:40.338 –> 00:48:45.238
After the seminar started I said nobody plays with their weapon and then I quoted

00:48:45.238 –> 00:48:55.118
a line that from that I said to the color games he said you never.

00:48:59.478 –> 00:49:06.018
And so when the seminar went live, I would tell people, I don’t want to see

00:49:06.018 –> 00:49:08.818
anybody joking, laughing. I want you to pretend it’s real.

00:49:09.558 –> 00:49:16.798
And if this rubber knife isn’t realistic, I’m going to get another waiver and

00:49:16.798 –> 00:49:19.958
I’ll let you use a real knife or let your partner use a real knife.

00:49:20.058 –> 00:49:23.158
I mean, so that you use the rubber knife and he’s got the real knife.

00:49:23.158 –> 00:49:26.378
Everyone like look at me like holy fuck yeah it

00:49:26.378 –> 00:49:29.938
changes too intense but but i think that’s but it was go

00:49:29.938 –> 00:49:32.638
ahead no i was just going to say you know

00:49:32.638 –> 00:49:36.018
i think taking those training

00:49:36.018 –> 00:49:39.158
situations and thinking through those scenarios in

00:49:39.158 –> 00:49:42.598
a serious manner like yeah you’re training with cert pistols or you’re playing

00:49:42.598 –> 00:49:48.558
with rubber knives whatever it is the moment that you start stop i should say

00:49:48.558 –> 00:49:52.958
treating them as toys and treating them the same like i believe that cert pistols

00:49:52.958 –> 00:49:56.858
should be handled in the same manner as a live firearm. That’s just me, right?

00:49:57.338 –> 00:50:00.518
So oftentimes they’re not, but in my opinion, they should be.

00:50:00.838 –> 00:50:03.958
You know, it adds an element of realness. And like you said,

00:50:04.118 –> 00:50:08.058
if your heart rate doesn’t change, if it doesn’t just change the way you’re

00:50:08.058 –> 00:50:12.078
thinking through the scenario, there’s something wrong with you.

00:50:12.278 –> 00:50:17.298
I haven’t been through a lot of CQB, house clearing, whatever, but I’ve done my share.

00:50:17.498 –> 00:50:21.738
And if your heart rate’s not up, especially when the gunfight starts,

00:50:21.758 –> 00:50:24.878
if it starts, because you never know what you walk into in a room, right?

00:50:25.178 –> 00:50:29.658
If it starts, it changes your mindset for sure about that playtime,

00:50:29.818 –> 00:50:32.398
right? It’s no longer playtime at the end of the day.

00:50:33.137 –> 00:50:36.337
I want to shift gears because I know we’re close on time.

00:50:37.137 –> 00:50:43.577
You’ve said two things over time that resonate with me and align with what the

00:50:43.577 –> 00:50:45.237
message is I’m trying to get out.

00:50:45.357 –> 00:50:49.897
And, you know, part of my mission is just to get people more invested in their

00:50:49.897 –> 00:50:51.177
personal safety, right?

00:50:51.177 –> 00:50:55.777
And you said a couple of things, one of which I took away from the Protector

00:50:55.777 –> 00:51:01.137
and Symposium, and one you say pretty frequently, but one is be your own bodyguard.

00:51:01.157 –> 00:51:05.937
And that kind of aligns with the whole be your own first responder, right?

00:51:06.017 –> 00:51:09.937
Because you can’t rely on the times, you don’t know where you’ll be and what

00:51:09.937 –> 00:51:14.117
help will arrive. I think that’s important for people to understand.

00:51:14.317 –> 00:51:17.897
And the way you say it, be your own bodyguard relative to self-defense,

00:51:17.897 –> 00:51:20.777
I think is just another way of saying that.

00:51:20.977 –> 00:51:27.377
But the other thing that you said or say regularly, and I’m trying to think here,

00:51:27.517 –> 00:51:31.617
and I know you’ve said it a couple of different ways, is the ability to protect

00:51:31.617 –> 00:51:37.397
yourself and your loved one is the single most important skill anyone can possess.

00:51:38.357 –> 00:51:43.177
And so I would piggyback on that by saying, and I asked you this once online

00:51:43.177 –> 00:51:47.997
some time ago, but how do we get more people invested in their personal safety

00:51:47.997 –> 00:51:50.217
and taking responsibility for it?

00:51:50.297 –> 00:51:52.537
What is your thoughts and philosophies there?

00:51:54.877 –> 00:51:59.397
Listen, you can lead a horse to water. You can’t make him drink.

00:52:01.617 –> 00:52:05.557
Listen, if I could make it, let me backtrack. And when I was 20,

00:52:05.737 –> 00:52:11.057
I was asked by a very successful businessman what I wanted to do.

00:52:11.077 –> 00:52:14.097
And I answered at 20, I want to make the world safer.

00:52:15.337 –> 00:52:19.077
Yeah. And he looked at me, he was a venture capitalist. He looks at me and he

00:52:19.077 –> 00:52:20.737
goes, you don’t think that’s a little grandiose?

00:52:21.317 –> 00:52:25.417
And I was like, that’s all I’ve been doing. Here’s a guy who invests,

00:52:25.477 –> 00:52:27.697
he’s a money investor in big ideas.

00:52:28.397 –> 00:52:33.697
And that was my big idea. And that’s what I’ve been doing, you know, for the last 41 years.

00:52:34.437 –> 00:52:42.957
So 41 years teaching talk coaching people you know bodyguard courses to,

00:52:44.257 –> 00:52:49.517
probably the only guy who’s been in that from women’s shelter teaching women.

00:52:51.957 –> 00:52:58.517
So I just say that because I want you and your audience to understand that I

00:52:58.517 –> 00:53:04.077
do what I do and then you know people look at me and they go that guy’s paranoid

00:53:04.497 –> 00:53:05.817
Someone else goes, that guy’s prepared.

00:53:06.017 –> 00:53:09.077
Someone else goes, oh, I just want to do a one-day course. Someone else,

00:53:09.157 –> 00:53:10.817
I’ve got people that have been training with me for decades.

00:53:13.542 –> 00:53:20.822
Because you love preparedness, you know, my, my messaging resonates with you.

00:53:20.982 –> 00:53:24.962
So you connect with me and, and now I’m on your podcast.

00:53:25.542 –> 00:53:29.142
I don’t have to call you up and say, Jim, you should train this week.

00:53:29.262 –> 00:53:31.562
You go, I’ll do it. I already trained three days. Right.

00:53:31.782 –> 00:53:35.822
So, you know, we scratch our heads when we look at people who don’t train and

00:53:35.822 –> 00:53:38.162
don’t take the threat of violence seriously.

00:53:39.062 –> 00:53:45.082
You know yes you asked me if i if i knew i knew the answer dude i’d be on my own island,

00:53:45.962 –> 00:53:50.302
with no mask and no government just you

00:53:50.302 –> 00:53:57.562
know surfing and reading and zooming zoom calling people right because why do

00:53:57.562 –> 00:54:01.502
i say that because if i knew what the answer was then i’d be marketing that

00:54:01.502 –> 00:54:08.742
i’d have a funnel where everybody who reads it goes oh i’m learning self-defense so you know I say,

00:54:08.922 –> 00:54:14.742
the closest I can get is the line that you quoted, and that is,

00:54:14.822 –> 00:54:17.782
you know, the ability to protect yourself or a loved one is arguably the single

00:54:17.782 –> 00:54:19.002
most important skill you could possess.

00:54:20.322 –> 00:54:24.902
I’ve had contrarians. I’ve got a lot of haters online. I’ve got contrarians.

00:54:26.762 –> 00:54:30.422
That’s not the most important. There’s what about this? What about this?

00:54:30.882 –> 00:54:33.722
I know. If you’re dead, nothing else is important.

00:54:36.302 –> 00:54:41.782
And if your family has been killed. There’s nothing else that’s important to

00:54:41.782 –> 00:54:43.982
you if you have a family to start with.

00:54:46.362 –> 00:54:50.342
It’s an interesting thing. It’s meant to be philosophical, not literal.

00:54:50.742 –> 00:54:54.402
You may be able to think of one or two things more important than the ability

00:54:54.402 –> 00:54:56.342
to protect yourself. I can’t.

00:54:57.962 –> 00:55:04.722
I make the joke that I had a guitar collection, a car collection, a stamp.

00:55:05.002 –> 00:55:08.282
There were all I want millions of dollars and I had, you know,

00:55:08.622 –> 00:55:10.402
millions of dollars in the bank and all this stuff.

00:55:10.522 –> 00:55:16.222
But I was also a devoted family man and I had kids and a wife.

00:55:16.742 –> 00:55:19.622
And then someone said, hey, you get to keep all your material possessions,

00:55:19.622 –> 00:55:21.462
but, you know, we got to take your family.

00:55:22.515 –> 00:55:25.315
Or you can keep your family, but you’ve got to give up all your material possessions.

00:55:25.615 –> 00:55:32.155
But what is a normal, kind, loving, good human going to do and say? Yeah. Right?

00:55:32.415 –> 00:55:38.395
So it’s a silly question, but I pose that hypothetical because unless you stole

00:55:38.395 –> 00:55:42.595
all the shit you have and you’re not a piece of shit douchebag, you’re not a thief.

00:55:42.735 –> 00:55:47.455
Right. then you know that you can get back your stamp, guitar,

00:55:47.955 –> 00:55:51.975
car, money because you’re a hard worker and you figured it out once.

00:55:52.095 –> 00:55:53.855
You can do it again. Do it again. But you can’t.

00:55:54.335 –> 00:55:57.695
Yeah. You can’t. You can’t do it the other way around. No.

00:55:58.075 –> 00:56:01.435
Yeah. Yeah. So my whole thing is like I’m always trying to work.

00:56:01.495 –> 00:56:06.235
If you read my Instagram or my Facebook, certain pages all have different messaging.

00:56:06.435 –> 00:56:10.715
LinkedIn might be different than my Instagram. Like my Instagram post today

00:56:10.715 –> 00:56:17.095
on fear was kind of very like fluffy motivation, all on fear. Yeah.

00:56:17.475 –> 00:56:19.995
You know, something horrific might happen in the news.

00:56:20.595 –> 00:56:25.735
And now I’ve got a very somber, you know, hey, let’s wake the fuck up, folks. No doubt.

00:56:26.555 –> 00:56:32.135
You know, so I just try to be true to myself and realize that I can’t train

00:56:32.135 –> 00:56:33.995
everybody in the world as much as I want to.

00:56:34.735 –> 00:56:38.315
And and and then the people who

00:56:38.315 –> 00:56:41.435
who their personalities and goals

00:56:41.435 –> 00:56:45.915
resonate with my philosophy they they seek me if i came out then we have a relationship

00:56:45.915 –> 00:56:52.015
yeah yeah i uh talked to someone some time ago and asked him the same question

00:56:52.015 –> 00:56:57.515
and he said it’s not until something bad happens to someone that they start

00:56:57.515 –> 00:57:00.355
thinking about it and taking it seriously and i was like you know,

00:57:00.495 –> 00:57:04.975
that doesn’t sit well with me, but I totally get it.

00:57:05.435 –> 00:57:11.915
My thinking is, not that you care, but my thinking is, is that just getting

00:57:11.915 –> 00:57:16.975
the information out there and doing what it is you do, especially,

00:57:17.275 –> 00:57:20.435
and maybe even this podcast, just getting information out there,

00:57:20.475 –> 00:57:23.975
because I think it was Socrates, if I’m quoting right, that said,

00:57:24.095 –> 00:57:28.415
I can’t teach you anything, but I might be able to make you think.

00:57:28.775 –> 00:57:34.035
And that really resonates with me and what the messages I’m trying to do.

00:57:34.235 –> 00:57:37.055
So I think all of this stuff is good.

00:57:38.485 –> 00:57:44.805
I agree. I agree with that. That’s the reason, you know, I used to,

00:57:44.845 –> 00:57:47.165
I heard a newsletter once every month.

00:57:47.425 –> 00:57:50.825
And then when the lockdown happened, I started writing, I put out one,

00:57:51.065 –> 00:57:54.605
like, I’m interested when it’s a Thursday, Friday, or a year.

00:57:54.885 –> 00:57:59.805
And then after a year, I switched to three times a week.

00:57:59.885 –> 00:58:06.285
And it was just, I’m just going to keep hammering people with this stuff because

00:58:06.285 –> 00:58:11.925
in the spirit of what Socrates said, maybe I’m going to make people think. Yeah, absolutely.

00:58:13.505 –> 00:58:17.765
Even then, they may decide for a course.

00:58:18.225 –> 00:58:22.005
All you can hope is that you turn on the light bulb at some point, maybe.

00:58:22.885 –> 00:58:27.485
Oh, and the most important thing is, of course, like I said earlier,

00:58:27.645 –> 00:58:28.585
no awareness, no chance.

00:58:28.805 –> 00:58:34.325
If we get people to think more about situational awareness, you can almost if

00:58:34.325 –> 00:58:42.545
you just use situational awareness a little bit you don’t need to study jiu-jitsu for 10 years or,

00:58:43.805 –> 00:58:48.385
start competing in IPSC tournaments and stuff like that just improve your situational awareness.

00:58:50.765 –> 00:58:56.025
What is it you and a lot of people have said a fight avoided is a fight won

00:58:56.025 –> 00:59:00.665
right so de-escalation situational awareness all that stuff is key,

00:59:03.005 –> 00:59:06.205
I joke Jim I tell people I’m not going to teach you how to fight I’m going to

00:59:06.205 –> 00:59:13.405
teach you how to not fight our definition our definition for self defense is very unique,

00:59:13.985 –> 00:59:19.205
and it’s not part of the worldwide definition yet if you google,

00:59:20.516 –> 00:59:24.096
self-defense in almost any dictionary, it’ll have something to the effect,

00:59:24.296 –> 00:59:28.636
you know, the legal right to protect your property or your life or the ability

00:59:28.636 –> 00:59:32.336
to protect your property or your life or the act of protecting your property or your life.

00:59:32.696 –> 00:59:37.136
The assumption, a linear logic and assumption by that definition alone is that

00:59:37.136 –> 00:59:40.256
the attack has already happened and now I’m wrestling with a person.

00:59:40.896 –> 00:59:45.116
I’m grappling with somebody over a knife. I’m stabbing.

00:59:47.136 –> 00:59:53.616
My company put this several years ago, a decision to choose safety when danger is imminent.

00:59:54.036 –> 00:59:57.036
A decision to choose safety when danger is imminent.

00:59:57.576 –> 01:00:03.576
I tell people always, you know, that choosing safety should never be confused with playing it safe.

01:00:04.276 –> 01:00:09.056
Sometimes the safest thing may be to run play. Sometimes the safest thing may be to play dead.

01:00:09.416 –> 01:00:13.516
Sometimes the safest thing may be to charge the threat. You need to figure it out.

01:00:13.656 –> 01:00:18.956
You need to use your instincts, your intuition, your intelligence to figure it out in the moment.

01:00:19.256 –> 01:00:25.796
So, So, you know, our approach coming full circle from asking me what I do is

01:00:25.796 –> 01:00:30.876
I’ve created a holistic, behaviorally-based defense process.

01:00:30.876 –> 01:00:34.076
It’s not just about the physical. It’s not just about the psychological.

01:00:34.396 –> 01:00:40.156
It’s understanding the neurobiology, the connection between physiology and physicality,

01:00:41.016 –> 01:00:44.696
and biomechanics, understanding what your body wants to do prior to any training.

01:00:45.696 –> 01:00:49.956
You know, what are the protective elements of that? And then how do you train

01:00:49.956 –> 01:00:52.916
that so that you weaponize your startle flinch, you manage your fear.

01:00:53.236 –> 01:01:00.176
And then that, that process right there is the equivalent of the organic airbag.

01:01:00.316 –> 01:01:02.056
One last metaphor for your audience. Yeah.

01:01:02.636 –> 01:01:06.116
You know, a sudden violent encounter is like a car accident.

01:01:06.556 –> 01:01:09.216
You’re like, a lot of people like think, well, I’m a, I’m a black belt.

01:01:09.316 –> 01:01:10.396
I’m a blue belt. I’m a this.

01:01:10.516 –> 01:01:13.756
And what they’re doing is they’re, they’re, they’re highlighting or

01:01:13.756 –> 01:01:16.756
emphasizing their skill set like that’s

01:01:16.756 –> 01:01:20.236
all you need listen carefully yeah but

01:01:20.236 –> 01:01:23.196
i’m a black belt my friend’s a black belt my god my friend’s

01:01:23.196 –> 01:01:29.516
a good shooter this guy’s a boxer you’re emphasizing your skill set as if that’s

01:01:29.516 –> 01:01:36.396
the only part of the equation required to survive thrive yeah and so i use this

01:01:36.396 –> 01:01:43.156
car accident metaphor if you’re a really good driver then you would do it by that logic,

01:01:43.376 –> 01:01:47.556
be able to say, I will never get into a car accident because I’m a good driver.

01:01:47.896 –> 01:01:52.756
Well, the best race car drivers in the world get into car accidents,

01:01:53.336 –> 01:01:58.256
not because of their driving, because of the other drivers, other idiots on the road. Yeah.

01:01:58.896 –> 01:02:02.776
You know, so if you’re sitting there and let’s say you’re an amazing driver

01:02:02.776 –> 01:02:06.796
and you’re sitting there and somebody, you know, runs through a red light,

01:02:07.016 –> 01:02:09.776
a drunk driver, somebody texting or worse.

01:02:10.156 –> 01:02:13.056
You accidentally cut somebody off. They lose their shit.

01:02:13.176 –> 01:02:17.636
They have a road rage moment and they hit your car, put you into a spin and

01:02:17.636 –> 01:02:21.876
the car crashes. And then, and then they jump out and they want to attack you. In other words.

01:02:23.055 –> 01:02:26.995
When you’re in a car accident, if you’re the good human, the good Samaritan,

01:02:27.255 –> 01:02:32.375
good driver, and you’re in the car accident, it’s not because of your skill,

01:02:32.395 –> 01:02:35.915
and it’s not because of your situational awareness. It’s because of the asshole.

01:02:36.195 –> 01:02:39.975
And I want everyone to understand the metaphor here is the home invasion,

01:02:40.235 –> 01:02:44.555
the assault, the strong-arm robbery, the active shooter.

01:02:44.775 –> 01:02:47.955
These are like car accidents. You’re minding your own business and all of a

01:02:47.955 –> 01:02:55.675
sudden, fuck, bang, shit kicks off and your skill set at the moment of contact is irrelevant.

01:02:56.055 –> 01:03:00.095
What is irrelevant in the car metaphor is did your airbag deploy?

01:03:00.395 –> 01:03:04.955
Now, if you’ve got a 67 Mustang and you’re a real good driver and you’ve fixed

01:03:04.955 –> 01:03:09.975
up your car and it’s got like, you know, 600 horsepower engine and you got this

01:03:09.975 –> 01:03:13.515
amazing transmission and great brakes, ceramic brakes.

01:03:13.515 –> 01:03:16.015
It doesn’t matter because somebody else hit you.

01:03:16.155 –> 01:03:19.475
But you know what that 67 Mustang doesn’t have? Airbag.

01:03:20.155 –> 01:03:25.635
Fucking air, an airbag. And so when people train with me, I’m teaching them

01:03:25.635 –> 01:03:32.455
how to install the airbag properly as human weapon systems so that they’re safer in an accident.

01:03:32.975 –> 01:03:36.155
Yeah, that analogy works for me, for sure.

01:03:37.495 –> 01:03:39.935
Tony, how can folks find you?

01:03:41.875 –> 01:03:44.495
Social media is the fastest best way I

01:03:44.495 –> 01:03:47.395
mean my main website is Blauer training systems dot com

01:03:47.395 –> 01:03:50.315
that’s our headquarter page Blauer my last

01:03:50.315 –> 01:03:53.535
name BLA U E R training systems

01:03:53.535 –> 01:03:56.395
dot com and then from there you

01:03:56.395 –> 01:04:01.395
can go see high gear no fear spear all the stuff you know I’m on Instagram is

01:04:01.395 –> 01:04:07.155
Tony Blauer or spear dot distance Facebook is Tony Blauer LinkedIn is Tony Blauer

01:04:07.155 –> 01:04:12.595
so it depends you can find me anywhere just Google yep awesome Tony thanks so

01:04:12.595 –> 01:04:14.895
much for doing this with us it’s been fun.

01:04:15.600 –> 01:04:37.063
Music.