Where should we go for lunch? Which shoes should I wear? When should I schedule that? What’s for dinner? On the daily, we are tasked with making decisions almost every waking moment of every day. Such decisions can span the gamut from shopping, travel, eating and of course tactical decisions.
The mechanics of our world are based in cause and effect. As such we are free to make any decision we wish, but we are not free from the consequence of that decision.
We all, of course, want to make the best decision possible, especially when afforded the opportunity to choose wisely. Hindsight is always 20/20 and the only way to know if it was a good or bad decision is always after the fact. There is always a price to pay for making the wrong decision and a reward for choosing wisely.
What are a few viable guidelines that can be followed to assist us in making wise decisions? Priority, timing and judgement.
PRIORITY
Multi-choice prioritization is paramount. If faced with more than one decision, you can’t make a specific choice without knowing which decision to make first. This especially applies to making a tactical decision in any self-defense scenario.
If you find yourself in a confined area such as an overcrowded restaurant, standing-room-only bar or jam-packed music event, odds are that you will probably not be able to use your firearm as a first line of defense. You most likely will not have time to change your shooting position. Even if you did, there’s absolutely no backstop. As you are held accountable for every round, you cannot accept the liability and risk of either missing the threat or your round(s) passing through the threat.
Your initial priority is to place yourself in an advantageous physical position offering you both a shooting and non-shooting tactical option. A dominant shooting or non-shooting tactical position would be where you may be nearest to either good cover, a readily accessible exit or both.
Decision priority is determined by your awareness based on conditions at the time. Your choices are to be proactive, active or reactive. The more proactive the higher the decision priority. The more reactive the lower the decision priority.
TIMING
Whether we like it or not, every decision we make is time-sensitive. On one end of the time spectrum, for example, you may be confronted with making a traffic light decision.
Driving up to a set of traffic lights as they are turning to yellow, you don’t have a heck of a lot of time to make the decision to stop or go. The highest priority here is to not end up in an accident, followed by a second priority of not getting a ticket. All timing comes with a price. The price tag for failure is an accident, a moving traffic violation, or both.