We have been taught from a young age to be nice to people.

It’s a fantastic quality to have, but it can also work against us in many ways.

I have two young boys and of course, I teach them to be nice and respectful to people, but as they get older I will teach them to treat people the way that they are treated.

As a society made up of mostly “nice people,” we can’t process the concept of a “mean person.”

What about those children that weren’t as lucky as we are to have a strong foundation? Parents or mentors who modeled strong mental fortitude and positive self-esteem? What about the children raised by alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals, and the mentally unstable? Who teaches them to be nice to people? Who teaches them a positive work ethic, structure, and an optimistic self-outlook?

Not everyone has been taught the principle of saying “Please, “Thank you,” “Excuse me,” or “Here, let me help you with that.” People get so wrapped up in their own lives, their own routines, their own principles, and they want to believe that the entire world lives their way.

The idea of bad people scares them, as it should, but it scares them into non-belief. “That can’t happen to me,” they think. “I’ll never be confronted with a life-threatening incident,” they assure themselves. So what do they do? Picture in your mind, right now, the ostrich with its head in the sand. There’s your answer.

Ahead, we’ve outlined three misconceptions regarding how to stand up for yourself, and shared practical ways to avoid being the “nice guy” who gets taken advantage of by a “mean person.”

3 Misconceptions About How To Protect Yourself

To protect yourself, you must be aggressive.

This is simply not the case with Prepare To Act. Our programs are designed as if we will be training my own mother, who I’m pretty confident has never been in a fight in her life. The only real physical aggression I’ve ever seen from her is when I was spanked for writing my name in permanent marker up and down the hallway walls. In my defense, I had just learned how to write my name and I was very proud of myself.  Prepare To Act is about training mindset and perspective and sharing real-life tips, tricks, and time-tested actions that can easily help you in any emergency situation.

To protect yourself, you must show intimidation.

Some of us are too intimidated by the idea of what certain training companies have to offer.  The perception may be that safety training companies are in your face, type-A personalities that profess firearms as the only answer coupled with punches to the throat and unreasonable expectations of the student. We always understood this as a concern and when I started developing the concept of Prepare To Act, the entire thought process was the opposite. The training at Prepare To Act is a hybrid of a strong, confident mindset (not cocky or arrogant) coupled with empathetic and compassion-driven ethics. Type A/B is what we like to call it, a combination of the best parts of both “types.”

To protect yourself, you must be armed with guns.

The majority of the staff at Prepare To Act supports the use of firearms and owns several of them. Most of us have been trained by law enforcement or the military. Our training is geared to reach everyone and is not solely focused on the incorrect notion that “the only way to protect yourself is with a gun.”

Here’s the concept: criminals are lazy, at least the common everyday criminal is. Don’t get me wrong — there are very mean, bad people out there who will do terrible things to people. We all need to wrap our heads around this fact.

It’s possible that you will be a victim of a crime. Maybe someone will steal your cell phone, break into your home, assault you, or take you hostage. I am not trying to be dramatic here, just realistic.

Your awareness plays a huge role in your daily survival. That is the basis and one cement block in the foundation of the building we are erecting at Prepare to Act. Anyone can take our classes, anyone can succeed, anyone can embrace their social responsibility to be prepared, and anyone can become stronger and more confident.

Aggressive, Type A personalities shove unrealistic training principles and goals onto their students. That is not who we are.

Prepare To Act is a company that trains with empathy, understanding, and confidence from real-life experiences. 

Prepare To Act was founded on the principle of empathy. Founded on the idea that anyone can be taught to protect themselves in one way or another. We are a company that pulls your head from the sand, cleans you off, and sets you on the right path of protection that is right for you, your family, and what you love the most.

Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a place for that more aggressive training and there are definitely people that appreciate and are motivated by that. We respect that and we support it, it’s just not us.

We are for the rest of society, and our bottom line is simple: the face of crime changes constantly. We as a global society should no longer be focused on why violence happened but on when it will happen again and on how to protect one’s self, one’s family, and one’s hard-earned property.

Take a moment and think of some activity that you would like to experience, but, it scares you a little bit. This does not have to be jumping from an airplane, or wrestling an alligator; in fact, I’m recommending something much less exhilarating. 

Maybe you are a dependent person and need people around you all the time; in that case, I want you to go to the movies alone.

Maybe you like to golf but think you are not good enough; in that case, I want you to go golfing.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to sing karaoke, but never had the courage to do it. Unlock that courage and go sing your heart out.

Why is this important? Because once you do it, you realize you can do it. And once you realize that, you can quickly understand that you can do and become anything.

Just like I tell my five-year-old, “You can do and become anything you want. If someone has done it before you, you can do it better.” Step out of your box, my friends. Build some confidence in yourself, accept that the world is a dangerous place for all of us, then live your life with passion!