Are you a walking target?

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Wherever you go in life, you are being watched by people whether you are aware of it or not. Most people are harmless, but statistics show us not all people are. Do you pay attention to your surroundings when you are out and about?  Or do you only do it when you are alone? When I walk on the street in some of the cities I train, I am amazed at how many people send off an unconscious message that they are a good target, if someone has bad intentions.

How do you send off a message that you are a good target?  There are hundreds of ways I can think of, and I couldn’t possibly explain them all to you, but most boil down to appearing soft: distracted, unsure, not confident, showing fear, unaware of one’s surroundings, talking on cell phone, reading a tablet, listening to iPod, staring at the ground or not orienting yourself to the movement around you for a period of time.  You get the idea.

When you are out in a public place, it is important to convey the message you are rock solid and confident, and aware of your surroundings. Never appear lost. If you are, step off the street and into a quiet business where you can ask a friendly looking clerk where to go.  Don’t stand out in the open and query people on the street. You are giving them free information and an invitation!

When I am alone and in an unfamiliar place, I also put on my game face.  I put my shoulder back, lock my purse lightly under my arm and body, stand tall and walk with purpose.  And I have a purpose! Touch me and I’ll draw more attention to me than you’ve seen in 10 years!  I guarantee you I will be screaming FIRE at the top of my lungs (thanks JJ Bittenbinder), and I want anyone who has bad intentions to see that, too. I am not a soft target!  Alert! Alert!   Be on notice, Mister!

I often will do a 360 when walking or I will look over my shoulder to survey who is behind me.  I will acknowledge with glances who is nearby and if I see someone threatening, I will either stop, pause and let them walk by, or I will stop in at a business for a minute to get in a better position behind the suspicious person!

I take notice of alleyways and recessed entrances, and if I am alone, I won’t walk close to those. I will purposefully position myself toward the center of openness. And if my gut screams that someone walking towards me looks ominous, I will trust it. I will cross the street, if possible or again, stop into a business for a second.  I trust my gut instinct implicitly.

Many times I walk, however, I don’t spot anyone who has any intention to do harm, but I do see it from time-to-time and more than most people.

And I have spotted quite a few people over the years  looking to target soft people in my presence. I have watched pick-pocketers try to hone in on my friends and family, and people I fear had the intent to cause havoc of some sort.  More often than not when I see it, I will say, “Hey stop a minute” to the people I am with, corral them with my arm to position their backs to a wall, and then look the would-be troublemaker in the eye and politely say “Go ahead” as in find your next target–this game’s over!  And when I debriefed the people I have been with, none of them saw what I saw, hence that is why they were a “soft target”.  And I am most amazed that 90% of the time the people in my company did not even notice my dramatic change in my behavior when I noticed someone sizing them up!  I often will do a 360, start glancing backwards more, or even start walking sideways to keep an eye on the situation as I continue my conversation in which I often get distracted and can’t continue.  That’s most surprising to me.

We can never be guaranteed we won’t be a victim, but we certainly can take steps to lower the odds. What steps do you take?

Risk of Getting Ebola on a Plane

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ebola

With Ebola in the United States, I think it is all of our business to understand the risks of the disease should it spread rapidly like it has in Africa. At this point, I don’t believe there is reason for alarm, but education is prudent. We all need to understand the disease so we can take precautions and prevent its spread.

I also don’t believe in causing panic or fear as that will help no one. We need to smart, get educated, pay attention and make sure we know what are up against so we can fight it as a nation should we become unable to contain it, and win.

When I saw this video on CNN, I was frankly appalled. This doctor, Dr. Suzanne Donovan, an infectious disease specialist who treated people in Africa, is as evasive as anyone can be. This doesn’t help calm people’s fears at all. She doesn’t directly answer ANY questions asked of her, but instead she deflects them. She doesn’t lie, but she is not straight forward either, and by this I am troubled. I can’t help but wonder if she is somehow invested in, connected to, or involved with the airline industry by her responses alone.

When the reporter asks Suzanne what if you are flying next to someone who is showing Ebola symptoms, “Any chance you can get it?”  Listen to what Dr. Donovan says.  She says, “This is something that is transmitted with direct contact of body fluids.”

She doesn’t answer the question that if you are exposed to direct contact of a sick person’s body fluids you CAN get it. She stops short. The CNN reporter questions her further.

The reporter says if bodily fluids from a sick passenger next to you gets on the tray or the armrest and you touch it, and touch your nose or mouth, can you get it?

Again Dr. Donovan doesn’t answer the question. She says, “You are bringing up very rare scenarios, and again I would say you are at greater risk driving to the airport and getting in a car accident then being infected with Ebola by being on an airplane.”

Why can’t she tell us the truth?  Yes, you can get it.

Twice now Dr. Donovan avoids answering the question, and instead makes another statement that is related to the question, but is completely different, albeit true. I find this outrageous!!!  This is not helping the public any.  She is technical correct in her statement, but avoids answering the question completely which is very misleading and dangerous!

The reporter says what about the fabric of the plane? What if bodily fluids get on the fabric of the seats, what’s the probability of you getting it?

Again, this woman refuses to answer the question. She says, “It’s very susceptible to cleaning agents.” She then goes on to talk about how washing your hands with soap and water will kill the virus. And that’s true. But if you touch a freshly contaminated surface unknowingly, and rub your eyes before you wash your hands, you are at risk to catch Ebola. Anyone who has done any reading lately should know this.  Who does this woman think she is fooling?

The fact that she doesn’t tell us the true risks involved, even if she says they are rare, is flat out unprofessional.

I find that evasive actions such as Dr. Donovan’s can actually cause more problems than good and are more harmful than helpful. Many people will say “the doctor said” without realizing she didn’t. She didn’t answer any questions that were asked of her. She instead made statements that were connected but different avoiding giving any answers at all!

Today you are absolutely much more likely to get into a car accident on your way to the airport than you are to catch Ebola.  But that doesn’t change the fact that if you sit next to someone who is symptomatic, and has Ebola (which is very rare and unlikely today) that you can catch it. Especially if you are in direct contact with body fluids from that person, and touch your nose, mouth, or eyes unknowingly before you wash your hands. Ebola can live on surfaces for limited times.

This interview stinks to high heaven if you ask me. There was an ulterior motive for doing it, and it wasn’t for the benefit of the public to become educated.

That’s disturbing to me.

Ebola Facts: Getting to the Truth

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If you are like me, you are bewildered that the Texas nurses that cared for Thomas Eric Duncan are coming forward saying they didn’t have the proper equipment to care for Ebola patients nor did they have any protocols to follow. And if you are like me, you are further scratching your head that news reports are saying the CDC told a nurse she could fly with a temperature after caring for the first patient who died in the U.S. from Ebola.

How could things be going terribly wrong like this? Who is responsible for enforcing things when a situation like this is starting to look out of control?

We can’t just continue to react to news reports with fear. We need to understand what our laws say. Who is responsible?

Last night on CNN, Chris Cuomo said that the CDC does not have authority in this matter. They make recommendations and suggest guidelines. Another commenter pointed out that we need a Surgeon General to take the authority.

The big question is who has the authority to make the decisions at a time like to prevent the spread of the this disease?

I started searching online, and its murky to say the least. As a nation, we live by our constitution and I finally found a breakdown of the authority on the CDC website, and I do believe it is accurate. I think people should read this because there are many people responsible for our well being, and we need to know who they are.

I hope by sharing this I will help people get to the truth more quickly, and stop the spread of inaccurate information so we can get better results. We need to find out who is in control and expect them to do their job.

I am going to turn off comments on this post because I know people will make this a political argument and this website is not about that. It’s about truth and lies, and I just wanted to point people to the correct resource to get to the truth on who is responsible.

Introverts and Extroverts

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While this column focuses a lot on deception and spotting lies, I am also endlessly interested in human behavior. I do not believe you can be good at spotting liars if you only focus on lies. And so many people make that mistake. If you want to be good at spotting lies–very good–you need to understand the truth, too. And the only way to understand the truth is to understand people at a detailed level. With that, it means understanding all different types of people.

One type of personality that comes to mind is introverts.

Introverts are a very misunderstood segment of our population. We typically think of them as socially-awkward, isolated, shy, loners, and that’s quite an inaccurate perception. Out of all the introverts I see, that description of “shy” aspect actually fits with a very small minority of them. Most introverts are actually smart, engaging and interesting people.

Read this article which details introverts in a way that may change your thinking.

From my experience, introverts are “introverted” because they often see more than the extroverts, and are more easily overwhelmed with the information they process. When you see two people interacting, an introvert will see the pain in the interaction that an extrovert often misses. Dealing with that information can be challenging and often causes information overload. Yet on the positive to extroverts, they seem to push through situations and achieving things when introverts are stifled by emotional overload.  So there are pluses and minuses to both sides!

I feel I can relate to both introverts and extroverts. Neither description fits me, so I feel I am more of an ambivert (a blend of both).  With that, I relate to both sides, though I tend slightly more towards introversion.  Yet I love speaking in front of a large audience (yes, I can say that now after doing it for several years)!  I get exhilarated by the energy of other people in positive situations.

So, which are you?  Take a test here to see. It’s 81 questions — so plan to give it some time. I ironically scored 55 out of 100 — right smack in the middle, as predicted!

By the way, to my loyal reader base, I can tell by watching you for years now that I have many more introverts than extroverts who follow me.  Who knew?

 

Are you a good liar?

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I found the above video interesting.  It’s Richard Wiseman, a professor of Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire (UK).  You can read more about him here.

“Some people will just see [my work] as fun and say, that’s interesting. I would hope a few people then go slightly beyond that and look at the implications. I want people to find that for themselves.”
—Richard Wiseman

So do you draw a Q for you to see or others?

Do you believe it equates with you being a good liar or not?

Thanks to Brent for sharing this!