How are you Thinking about Safety?                                                                        
7 Ways your Thoughts Could Lead to Accidents

If you have ever had an accident or embarrassment, you might have been asked the question “What were you thinking?”  The answer might be that you were not thinking - or at least not thinking about what you were doing.  Let’s explore how your thinking might be leading you to accidents and how instead it could lead to safety.

Behaviours and actions are a symptom of thinking, and so we want to get to the very heart of the thinking processes that affect one’s ability to act safely.

1.  Perception - your sense of reality is determined by what you focus on.  You can only focus on a small amount of information at any point of time, and so there is a personal bias that comes into play.  What are you focused on?  Much like your experience of the internet is based in what you type into your search engine, your experience of life is based on what you decide to look for.  This ‘decision’ could be with intention, or it may happen out of habit.
The habit of perception can be biased by your beliefs, memories, values, decisions and more, which explains why everyone is uniquely different with different views of the world.
* Safety:  Are you filters looking for factors relating to safety?  Someone who is looking to get things done quickly is going to have a different experience and different perception to someone who is looking to get things done efficiently and safely.  Intention is key to taking control of perception and results. 

2. Responsibility - our ability to get results in the world is dependent on our willingness to take responsibility.  Some people think that life happens to them, while other people make life happen.  By taking responsibility for your life and your results you are empowered to make a difference and to create the experiences you desire.  There are situations and people that happen to you and you then have a choice in how to respond to those circumstances.
* Safety:  This means each and every person is responsible for their own safety and the safety of others.  If you are a leader of a team, you are responsible for communicating effectively so that your team work together to get the desired results.  Each person in the team is responsible for their contribution to their own result, and the team result.  It helps to personally think, “How can I act safely this moment in these circumstances?”

3. Meaning - humans are meaning-making machines and place meaning on everything.  The problem is that they take their own meaning to be the truth and this controls their emotional state and actions and consequently the results they are getting.  For example, if I take a comment by someone to mean ‘they don’t like me’ or ‘they are demanding’, then I respond to that meaning, rather than what they actually might have said.  I might even build a whole story around this, and react accordingly, and none of it is true - it’s all manufactured in the mind.  What kind of stories do you have going on in your head?
* Safety:  What meaning are we placing on safety and on the communication within the team around safety?  People have conversations on safety and may even be talking about different things.  What does safety mean to you?

4. Values - Values are what’s important to a person and act as a filter to a person’s perception and experience of life.  You won’t do anything unless it’s important to you.  Where an individual or company spends their money, energy and time most is indicative of what they value the greatest.  Our results in life are indicative of our values.
* Safety:  Companies say they value safety, and yet their actions suggest otherwise.  When profitability and reputation come above safety, then safety is compromised.  The issue is not only where a company ranks safety, but also the reason why safety is important. 

5. Motivation - Values drive us intrinsically and the reason why someone might get inconsistent results with their values is whether the motivation is focused on the positive gains or the avoiding the negative losses.  A person who values health may be focused on not being fat or not dying.  While they are fat or unhealthy, they are motivated to do something about their health.  Once the ‘danger’ goes away, they are no longer motivated to be healthy and the bad habits may come back.  A person who is focused on being fit and healthy is consistently motivated to live with healthy habits.
* Safety:  Safety is so often focused on avoiding pain and accidents and when the pain is no longer there, the motivation disappears also.  There needs to be a change of thinking to focus on what a safety focus can provide - what are the positive gains?  Safety programs need to focus on the benefits of living long healthy lives, quality time with family and even better communication and relationships - at work and at home.

6. Beliefs - Beliefs are another unconscious filter that influences our perception and experience of life.  These, along with values, are shaped very early in life - from our family and community.  You may believe that life is not fair, or life is tough, or you’ve got to work hard in life to get ahead - these are your personal beliefs and create a bias in your perception.  We all look for experiences to confirm our own beliefs.  Tom Ford said that “whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.”  Think about some beliefs you have and how they shape your life.
* Safety:  If people believe they cannot do anything about their own safety, then that becomes their reality.  Someone who has strong beliefs about avoiding risk will most likely be safe effective compared to the person who believes you need to take risks in life.

7. Identity - Identity is a high level of influence on a person’s actions and thoughts.  You live your life in line with your identity.  Going back to a health example, a person may lose weight and regain it because they still identify with being a fat person.  If you identify with being a healthy person, or a non-smoker, or a charitable person - your actions will be consistent with that. 
* Safety:  Create an identity of being a safe person and start seeing the world with new eyes.  A safe person is on the look-out for risks and avoids unsafe actions eg talking on phone while driving, etc.

This is a summary of seven ways your thinking affects your results in life, whether they be results in safety, results in profitability or even results in well-being and personal wealth.  These thoughts usually happen in your unconscious, so it’s understandable that you have not been aware of them, until now.
Actions and emotions are a sign of your thinking so become aware of these and get curious as to how you might be thinking to get the results you are getting.

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by Annette Lynch - 24 Oct2011

About the author:

Annette Lynch (formerly Huygens-Tholen) is a Success coach, NLP Practitioner, Author and Speaker/Educator helping individuals to change their lives through strengthening Personal Leadership.  Achieving a dream to be an Olympian in 2000, Annette then learnt to overcome her greatest challenge - life after sport.   By studying and applying the mindset skills and attitudes of sport into the game of life, Annette has transformed not only her life, but thousands of others in UK, USA, Aus and NZ through coaching and training.
Her book, "Success beyond Sport" teaches the 8 Winning Points for leading oneself to success - emotionally and financially.   For more information on Annette and how to create success in your life visit www.annetteffect.com  

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