Last issue we looked at the complacency continuum and the importance of when vs. what (see Figure #1). When did you get hurt vs. what were you doing?
If you really think about it, you’ll realize that you have most likely experienced accidental pain in almost any activity you’ve ever done. So, if you can accept that the “what” isn’t really where the pattern is because we’ve all been hurt, a little or a lot. So, the pattern, especially in terms of our serious injuries, has been “when” we made both of the first two critical errors at the same time. We didn’t have our eyes on task and we weren’t thinking about what we were doing (mind not on task). And as a result, we didn’t get a reflex — which might have enabled us to hit the brake, jerk the steering wheel, catch our balance or break our fall, move our head quickly, etc.