Women's Safety Tips - 3 Common Mistakes Women Make About Personal Safety

Women are often targeted by attackers because we make a few common mistakes about personal safety that present us as easy crime victim prospects.

1. We tend to be accommodating, to a fault
2. We ignore our gut feelings
3. Automatic trust is common with women

A few things to remember as we get into more detail about the common mistakes we make that put us in danger.

1. Attackers are insecure, have low self-esteem, feel out of control of their own lives and choose to control someone or something else in order to feel powerful again.
2. Attackers look for those who appear weaker than they are (mentally, physically) to attack.
3. Attacks may be verbal, mental, emotional or physical.

Too Accommodating

Women tend to be accommodating because we want people to like us and we enjoy being helpful. Although these traits are not bad they may allow us to be taken advantage of and pushed too far. This is where an attacker, known or unknown to you sees weakness and opportunity.

Solution: Establish and enforce personal boundaries. Know what distance you are willing to go and go no further. This will keep you from giving your power away to someone else.

Ignoring Gut Feelings

As women, we are generally much more in tune with our intuition or gut feelings than men are. However, we also tend to overlook, ignore and justify actions that are not in line with our gut feelings in order to be liked and to be nice.

Solution: Realize gut feelings are survival instincts you were born with. They will always lead you the right way. Follow them.

Automatic Trust

Because women have been raised to be nice and do good things for others, we often trust untrustworthy people automatically. We can all think back to a time we trusted someone and should not have.

Solution: Trust you gut feeling (intuition) without questioning or trying to justify it. It doesn't have to be logical to be right. You will "feel" if someone is trustworthy or not. A good personal boundary to establish and enforce is, "If it feels wrong, avoid it."

Although women may be targeted by attackers, these safety tips will help all of us avoid the personal safety mistakes that portray us as good victim prospects.

Bonus Safety Tip: Women are stronger and more capable of protecting themselves than most will ever believe. And now I would like to offer you free access to printed and audio versions of the "Seven Deadly Personal Safety Mistakes" when you subscribe to my free weekly Safety Quick Tip via email. You can get your instant access at http://www.PersonalSafetyTrainer.com

Women's Safety Tips - What's in Your Wallet?

Fellow women, ask yourself, "What is in my wallet?" knowing that several crimes can take place from just one stolen wallet. Of course you probably have a drivers license and credit card(s), cash, etc. But do you actually know what you would lose if your wallet was stolen this minute?

Wallet Safety Tips:

1. Photocopy the front and back of every card in your wallet.
2. Keep the copy in a very safe, yet accessible place.
3. Optional: Hand deliver a copy to a close, trusted friend or family member who you would call in an emergency.

Hour One Is Critical

The first hour is crucial when your personal information has been lost or stolen. The emergency numbers on the backs of your credit cards, etc. are important for you to access quickly.

Attackers are known for first filling up their gas tanks and then going on wild shopping sprees after stealing credit cards. This is common in the first hour and that is why you need those numbers handy.

The reason for the option of giving a copy to a trusted someone is that if you were to become missing, all of those account numbers can be tracked that much easier. Remember to hand deliver this info as email and text messages are not secure.

Identity Theft Prevention

It is always preferable to have a good identity theft prevention company on your side. There is plenty of information in your wallet to enable this crime to take hold of your good name and the life you have built. Many identity theft victims' identity is never restored completely. Just imagine that someone has purchased a house or vehicle with your name and credit and you are the one left to prove that you are the real you!

I tell the story of my own identity being stolen in my TeleSeminar series. Fortunately, my situation was much less serious than many but scary all the same!

Women are the promoters of safety in the workplace and family so please share this safety tip about copying the cards in your wallet with others. It will help all of us to be safer and less likely victim targets of thieves.

Bonus Safety Tip: Small purses are less likely targets for purse snatchers. And now I would like to offer you free access to printed and audio versions of the "Seven Deadly Personal Safety Mistakes" plus a free TeleSeminar replay about identity theft when you subscribe to my free weekly Safety Quick Tip via email; a 52 week newsletter on Personal Safety. You can get your instant access at http://www.PersonalSafetyTrainer.com

Women's Safety Tips - Repel Or Attract Attackers, the Choice is Yours

Confident men, colleagues and friends are attracted to women with confidence and attackers are repelled by them. Confidence, hmmm, seems simple enough but is it? Self-image is what we think of ourselves. Self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves and self-confidence is how we act.

Can confidence be faked? Temporarily yes, but if it comes across as arrogance, it can attract attackers rather than repel them.

I address confident body language in my article, "Women's Personal Safety Secret #2," which is important in repelling attackers. Below is another way you can become more confident, attracting the right people - repelling the wrong ones.

"What Would You Do?" Can Repel Attackers and May Save Your Life!

We hear about crime and often do nothing to prevent it from happening to us. A good habit to get into is thinking about what you would do if the same situation occurred in your life. Although a bit scary, thinking it through has several benefits.

1. You've acknowledged your vulnerability therefore, you don't look oblivious like most people do (attackers love oblivious people)
2. You have a plan of action which gives you confidence (attackers are repelled by confident people because they themselves are weak).
3. You are more aware of your surroundings and therefore may avoid situations of vulnerability (attackers hate aware people).
4. When you have thought things through, you walk more confidently and body language is the most common way attackers select victims.

So there you go. Just by simply thinking through a situation with you at the center, you benefit by being safer immediately attracting people who are confident themselves and repelling weak ones who will drag you down and or victimize you. Just being dragged down is a form of attack because it weakens you mentally and emotionally, which in turn, weakens you physically.

Gross Seekers and Arrogance

Although gross curiosity gives birth to rubber-neckers at crash and crime scenes, the magnitude of the situation seems to bounce off of those same people who very likely have their heads in the sand, ignoring their own vulnerability. The "head buried in the sand" syndrome causes those buried to look insecure in a dangerous situation or arrogant if they try to fake confidence. Arrogance is insecurity personified and looks opposite of confident.

As a paramedic in my early 20's, I still get asked, "What is the worst thing you ever saw?" Obviously, the question begs for therapy rather than an answer but the people who ask it are usually careless in their lives and know little about avoiding dangerous situations. Although unfortunate for them (and hopefully not tragic) this makes it easy for us to set ourselves apart from the general public by looking and being confident. Just the knowledge of what you would do in a certain situation makes your body language stronger without you even knowing it. Well, now you know it!

Remember:

1. Attackers may be male or female of any age
2. Attacks may be verbal, mental, emotional or physical
3. Attackers have a plan of attack - do you have a plan of escape?
   

Confident or Insecure?

Confidence can keep you out of dangerous situations and improves your physical health as well. It is obvious how confidence attracts confident people, friends, significant others and great coworkers, isn't it?

If you are a person who attracts people who are insecure, remember that your own confidence has to be in place to attract a different kind of person. You can only help an insecure person so much because self-image, self-esteem and self-confidence are all inside jobs. If you get dragged down, your self-confidence will suffer.

The concept of personal safety being quite dependent on confidence may be new to you but I'm sure you'll agree it makes sense. Remember that confident men, colleagues and friends are attracted and attackers are repelled by a confident woman.

Bonus Safety Tip: Holding your head up is the most important aspect of confident body language. And now I would like to offer you free access to printed and audio versions of the "Seven Deadly Personal Safety Mistakes" and free Personal Safety TeleSeminars when you subscribe to my free weekly Safety Quick Tips; a 52 week newsletter on Personal Safety. You can get your instant access at http://www.PersonalSafetyTrainer.com