Awareness & Intuition
Leave the house switched on — then confirm before you act.
Situational awareness is the bullet readers most often single out. Hank frames it as a switch: on when you leave the house, confirm what your gut flagged, act if it's real, and stay switched on until the scene is genuinely safe. Intuition is data, not superstition — but it still has to be confirmed.
Key points
- Always leave the house switched on — awareness is a default setting, not a reaction.
- Confirm before you act: intuition raises the flag, observation verifies it.
- Pre-assault cues (positioning, hands, target glance, closing distance) are observable, not mystical.
- Stay switched on until the scene is safe — most people relax too early.
- Awareness buys distance and time, which are the two things that make everything else work.
Where this comes from in the book
“Always leave the house switched on”
Hank Hayes · Chapter Five
“Confirm before you act”
Hank Hayes · Chapter Five
“Stay switched on until the scene is safe”
Hank Hayes · Chapter Five
“Intelligence”
Jared Grant · Chapter Two
Put it to work
- On your next errand, name the exits and the two people nearest you within ten seconds of entering.
- When something feels off, say out loud what you actually observed — that's the confirm step.
- Practice staying switched on for two full minutes after you think an event is over.
Local law and qualified in-person instruction come first on anything involving force, weapons or medical care.
1. In Hank's framework, what does “switched on” describe?
2. What is the role of the “confirm” step?
3. Pre-assault cues are best described as:
4. The most common awareness failure the book warns about after an incident is:
5. Why do the authors value distance and time so highly?