What Is Deep Survival?
A survival trivia question for you: Which of these 4 groups has the highest survival rates when lost in the wilderness?
- Children 6 and under
- Children 7 – 12
- A “normal” teenager / adult
- A trained teenager / adult
Surprisingly, it’s Group 1: Children 6 and under. Why? They haven’t formed models of the world. With no firm model to rely on, they don’t insist something MUST be a certain way. They simply react to what they see and feel. They feel cold – they stop to get warm. They feel tired – they rest. They feel uncomfortable – they get comfortable. Turns out those actions leads to high survival rates in the wild outdoors.
By contrast, the worst survival rates are Group 2: children ages 7 – 12. They have preconceived maps of how things should be and not enough judgment to reason with what’s actually in front of them. They jam their current situation into a faulty model, panic and unfortunately perish.
It got me thinking.
What mental maps are working against you?
What do you “KNOW” to be true that might not be?
And how can you push through the confusion and survive?
Because none of us wants to be lost, and we all crave deep survival.
BTW, if you want to read more about surviving life and death situations, check out Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales.
See you in the gym this week.
1% Better Every Day.
