Mindset & Decision-Making Under Stress

Objective

Make clean decisions under stress using a repeatable cycle, protect your time, and avoid cognitive traps that compound risk.

Scenario (Example)

Example: You’re leading a small group during a regional outage. Conflicting reports, time pressure, and one minor injury are pulling attention in different directions.

Cycle: OODA with Time Boxes

1. Observe (60–90 s): Facts only: people, weather, hazards, resources. No narratives.
2. Orient (60 s): What changes if you wait 10 minutes? What improves if you act now?
3. Decide (30 s): Choose the simplest plan with margin.
4. Act (2–5 min): Execute, then reassess. Short cycles beat big gambles.

Tools

• Two-Minute Notes: Write the next two actions. If you can’t, you don’t understand the situation.
• PACE: Primary/Alternate/Contingency/Emergency methods for comms, nav, and heat.
• Breathing Reset: 4–4–6 (inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 6) before key decisions.
• Red-Team Question: “If this fails twice, what will we change?”

Common Traps

• Task Saturation: Too many inputs → limit channels; delegate one person to monitor updates.
• Normalcy Bias: Waiting for proof it’s “really bad.” Use triggers you set earlier.
• Sunk Cost: Don’t double down; change methods when the feedback says so.

Real Example

During a winter road closure, a leader split the team into two roles: one managed heat/food in the vehicle, the other gathered road intel and alternate shelter options. They avoided pointless night hiking and were recovered safely at dawn.

Drills

• Run a 15-minute scenario: write the two next actions at each loop.
• Practice “STOP”: Stop, Think, Observe, Plan—then move.
• After every outing, perform an After-Action Review (AAR) with one improvement to implement.

After-Action

Log what information mattered, which decisions saved time, and where you hesitated. Turn that into a checklist for the next event.

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