I once had a trained wilderness first responder tell me that when they had trained in disaster response, his instructor had told them on first arriving at the scene of a disaster, responders should first stop and smoke a cigarette.
During the five minutes that it takes to light up and smoke down, the responder has time to assess, observe, and plan for how to create the best outcome in a stressful and chaotic situation. Otherwise, a wilderness first responder might find themselves trying to save somebody who can’t be saved while somebody who could have been saved worsens to a point where they can’t; or doing CPR instead of calling in a helicopter; or failing to remove injured people and themselves from an ongoing threat.
We deal with small “disasters” on the farm all the time, whether it’s a crew standing around talking when they should be working, a crate of dirty carrots that got stacked with the clean ones going to market, or a door that got ripped off the field van when somebody backed up with it open. I don’t recommend smoking a cigarette every time you discover something isn’t the way it should be, but I do recommend taking the time to figure out what’s going on, assess the situation for what it is and the outcome you want to create, and figure out how you’re going to get it.
Before you jump in to try to fix a problem, it’s important to create the space between stimulus and response so that you don’t create additional unexpected problems, and so that you can respond with actions that move you further towards your larger goals, rather than just relieving the pressure.
During the five minutes that it takes to light up and smoke down, the responder has time to assess, observe, and plan for how to create the best outcome in a stressful and chaotic situation. Otherwise, a wilderness first responder might find themselves trying to save somebody who can’t be saved while somebody who could have been saved worsens to a point where they can’t; or doing CPR instead of calling in a helicopter; or failing to remove injured people and themselves from an ongoing threat.
We deal with small “disasters” on the farm all the time, whether it’s a crew standing around talking when they should be working, a crate of dirty carrots that got stacked with the clean ones going to market, or a door that got ripped off the field van when somebody backed up with it open. I don’t recommend smoking a cigarette every time you discover something isn’t the way it should be, but I do recommend taking the time to figure out what’s going on, assess the situation for what it is and the outcome you want to create, and figure out how you’re going to get it.
Before you jump in to try to fix a problem, it’s important to create the space between stimulus and response so that you don’t create additional unexpected problems, and so that you can respond with actions that move you further towards your larger goals, rather than just relieving the pressure.
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