It’s not unusual for young men to get ahead of themselves from time to time – to push themselves beyond their own capacity, ability and training and into the heat of potential danger. It often ends up with an injury and lesson – hopefully the injury isn’t too bad and the lesson gets learnt.
I had a moment as a young 25yo safari guide, where in the heat of the moment I got ahead of myself and made some poor decisions.
I was tracking a female lion with seriously tiny cubs whilst guiding some VIP safari travel agents and the pressure was mounting within me. The lion tracks looked to me like they’d just been made, but the sun had just come over the horizon. I really wanted to find the lion while she was still on the road, because getting out on foot and tracking a female lion with cubs was far too dangerous to consider.
But I knew she was going to try and find cover for those cubs soon. This is where I got a bit ahead of myself.
I thought it would be safer for me to speed up and find her on the road instead of slowly, methodically following her tracks – which might mean having to track her off road. In hindsight I now understand that me driving fast probably forced her off the road sooner than she really wanted. But I didn’t know that at the time – I was driving too fast to follow the tracks and just keeping an eye out for the lion.
Eventually I stopped the car and realized that I’d overshot the tracks and now I didn’t know which direction she’d gone in. I also assumed that I’d been wrong in my assessment of the age of the tracks. I now assumed that she was well gone.
This was the point where I now left the safety of the vehicle (something that was and still is common for guides to do, but undoubtedly a poor decision in this specific situation) and walked back behind the car to find the tracks. I didn’t realize that every step I took I was making me seem like a threat to the cubs.
When I knelt to look at one of the cub tracks, the lioness decided that the threat needed to be neutralized. She charged at me, and she didn’t stop. She very nearly killed me.
Looking back, I can see I made many mistakes that morning which led to me getting attacked, but I also know that poor decision making isn’t just limited to young men. I also know that you can’t just tell people to make better decisions.
The only way I know of improving decision making is by becoming conscious of your decision making. This requires increased levels of self-awareness. I know that short meditations each morning have helped me become aware of the moments when I stop paying attention.
Then when I’m guiding and I find myself stuck in my head – either worrying about something that’s happened or what might happen at some point down the track – I can take a few breaths and bring myself back to this point – right now. I can then also tune into the external environment again and ask:
- What can I pick up with all my different senses?
- Are there any immediate dangers?
- What has changed eg wind direction & strength
Then I need to tune into the people that are with me. How are they going? Is anyone not paying attention? Do we need a break?
Then I can tune into myself and ask myself what I need to do now in order to be making good decisions in the next hour?