Chris Sajnog teaches the three Ts in preventing a violent encounter

Prevent Violent Encounters – Tips From a Retired Navy S.E.A.L.

What’s up everybody, Chris Sajnog here, and in this post, I’m going to be teaching you the three T’s on how to prevent violent encounters. Let’s go ahead and get started.

Now, when it comes to surviving a violent encounter, a lot of people will just think, hey, I need to learn to defend myself, I need to learn karate, I need to learn, God forbid American taekwondo.

The Three T’s on How to Prevent Violent Encounters

Some people just want to learn how to shoot a gun. They only think about actions or interventions that they can use during a violent encounter. But I think the best way to survive a violent encounter is to prevent one from ever even happening.

So when it comes to being prepared for a violent encounter, I want you to remember these three T’s: Think, Train, and Talk.

#1 Think

Now, the first step is to think, think about what? Ahhh that’s where the gold lies. I want you to think about as many situations as you can, where you might experience a violent encounter, or where in your life, could somebody be a threat to you or the ones you love.

Chris Sajnog and the first T of the three Ts in preventing a violent encounter

It’s important that you think about your house and your family. Where do you drive? Where do you park? All of these situations need to be specific to you.

I’m often asked what I think about these situational training courses that you can attend. And I gotta tell you, I got mixed feelings. Sure, they can be good training tech, they can even be fun training. But if all you practice are these cookie-cutter scenarios, at somebody else’s facility, well, then you’re only going to be able to survive cookie-cutter scenarios in that facility.

You’d be much better off just thinking about situations that are specific to you. Instead, you should be thinking –

  • If somebody were to come into my bedroom, what steps or actions would I need to take to protect myself and my family? 
  • What if I’m in the bathroom? 
  • What if I’m in my car? 
  • What if I’m getting into my car? 
  • What if I’m walking to my car? 
  • What if I’m walking to my car with groceries? 
  • What if my kids are with me? 
  • What if it’s dark outside?

What if, in as many situations as you can and have a plan for each and everyone, then it’s time to train!

#2 Train

That’s our next T. Because now that you’ve got this super awesome list of your highest probability threat scenarios, it’s time to train and practice, each and every one of them. Do walkthroughs, and practice each and everyone because when the situation does present itself, you want to be able to respond correctly not sitting and freezing as your brain goes into a loop trying to figure out what to do.

Preventing a violent incident with Chris Sajnog and the second of the three Ts

Bonus tip: You can and should do mental walkthroughs every time you’re in a unique situation. It’s called visualization and it’s just as effective as doing physical walkthroughs.

Say you’re sitting down at a restaurant with your family. Now, of course, we’ll have to assume it’s not California because, in California, you can’t leave your house without a hazmat suit. Sorry, sorry, I should stop before this post gets taken down for some canceled culture memo that just came out.

So you’re sitting down with your family and before you look through the menu or even ask for the wine list, take a look around and see where the exits are.

Now walk through in your mind – 

  • What would you do if somebody walks in the front door?
  • What if somebody starts shooting from the back of the restaurant? 
  • What if they don’t have a decent wine list? 

You get my point. 30 seconds of a mental battle plan could save you and your family one day and help you prevent violent encounters.

#3 Talk

Our third and final tip is to talk. You have to talk to your family. After all, we are talking about protecting yourself and your family. Because even if you’ve done all this training, all this planning, heck, you’ve even started using your newfound Jason Bourne situational awareness skills.

Chris Sajnog and the third T in avoiding a violent encounter

I come in here. And the first thing I’m doing is I’m catching the sidelines and looking for an exit. I see the exit sign too. I’m not worried. I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs 215 pounds and knows how to handle it. So I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab with a gray truck outside.

But you’ve got kids and you’ve got a spouse and they don’t know what your plan is. Well, let’s just say your planning skills could use an upgrade. Your family needs to be part of the plan. So you need to talk to them about it.

Like “Hey, honey, when we go into the restaurant, can I sit with my back to the wall so I can see the door?” or “Hey kids, if I yell monster, I want you to get behind me” just thinking about what might happen or even training for it is not enough.

Walk through it and talk through it with your family so you can all be better prepared to prevent a potentially violent encounter.

Remember to think through all these specific situations that you might find yourself in. Train for all of those situations. And finally, talk to your family and make sure you’re all on the same sheet of music.

I hope this post has helped you and you learn how to prevent violent encounters. That is it for today. I hope you got some value out of this if you did and you want to be able to ask me your questions live. Join the 700 men and women who are online with me learning and living like warriors. Please share this post with anybody you care about. Remember sharing is caring. And make sure you follow me to get notified anytime I post new content. And until next time, keep paving your path to perfection!

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