Brain Power

My years of working with security professionals has shown me some very interesting and uncommonly seen things. Even years after hearing of this I'm still excited and impressed by the findings of a study I will relate here.

it's known that pepper spray effects various people differently...some fall down and some can keep going. A police agency decided to conduct an experiment to see if they could 'program' their officers to fight through being peppersprayed.

they set up two groups of trainees. After a briefing, each group member would be sprayed and then have a list of simple tasks to complete. (walk from point A to point B etc)

the first group was told that the spray would incapacitate them. this 'fact' was then reinforced by video showing people peppersprayed falling down and screaming in pain.
when that group of trainees was exposed to the spray they could not function. they screamed, panicked and fell down screaming in pain, many of them crying hysterically.

the second group was informed that while the spray would hurt...they could mentally focus through the pain and complete thier tasks. This was reinforced by watching a film of people successfully doing just that.
when this second group was sprayed, they fought though the pain and completed all tasks. every singe one of them.

so......

The next time you find yourself saying "this is too hard" you need to mentally slap yourself straight and remember this real world study.

You are capable of far more than you likely give yourself credit for.