My former CEO (who is now serving as Chairman of our board) recommended Laurence Gonzales’s Deep Survival a couple of years ago. He may have even purchased it for me. It, like so many others, has been sitting on my nightstand for far too long. This quest to read 50 books in 2013 forced me to finally read it. I wish I had picked it up sooner. There is so much to learn and understand from the stories of survival, intermingled with the psychology that makes survival possible in the first place.
I was blown away.
In short, we must first acknowledge and accept that we will all die at some point. For us to survive extreme situations, regardless of what that situation may be–being lost in the wilderness, having a broken limb while stranded on a mountain, or steering a business through a terrible economy–we must first be prepared for the worst, second have the right frame of mind to put that preparation to use and third encounter enough luck to actually make it out alive.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is one he took from the philosopher Epictetus, in which he wrote, “On occasion of every accident (event) that befalls you remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.” In other words, take what the universe gives you and find a way to make it work for you. Own your situation and use everything you know to turn what may appear to be a death knell into your greatest triumph.
With that said, even the best prepared individuals who have the perfect mindset encounter the worst luck and fail to survive. At the same time, those unfortunate souls are the most alive because they prepared, took the chances and put themselves in the best possible position to survive. I must applaud and emulate them.
There is so much to learn from this well-written compilation of more than 35 years of research. At a minimum, read it for the stories alone. You just might get more out of it.
I recommend reading this with Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink and Mindset by Carol Dweck.
Finding Greatness 