Dick Summer Connection

The technique in GUTS FOR GUYS has saved my buns in lots of potentially
sweaty situations. By the way, I think 9 out of 10 guys would agree
with me that their biggest nightmare is having a buddy or worse a
girlfriend see us sweat.
This works when you’re watching the houses on the ground getting bigger
much faster than they should, or when you’re about the give the biggest
sales presentation of your life, or when you THINK the romantic moment
is right… but you’re really not sure.
Dick Summer
_____________

GUTS FOR GUYS
by Dick Summer
You’re taking your girlfriend for a flight in your small plane.
Your engine quits, climbing out of a small airport.
You lower the nose to best glide speed, head for the nearest road,
and make a successful dead stick landing. Your passenger flutters
her lovely eyes, and whispers, “How could you be so
calm ? How did you stay in control ?” You shrug modestly
and in that un-naturally deep voice you use to talk with the
Air Traffic Controllers you quietly admit to simply displaying
a small fraction of the courage you have on loan from God.
“My hero” she exclaims, and flutters her lashes again.
About a week later, when you’ve calmed down a little, you
realize that she was asking two very important questions.
“How did you stay calm?” and “How did you stay in control
?” And the honest answers would probably have to be, “who
was calm?” and “I don’t have the slightest idea how I stayed
in control.” And right there you’ve made an important
discovery. You don’t have to be calm to stay in control.
But isn’t it strange that nobody ever taught you how
to stay in control of fear well enough to actually do what
you were taught to do ? The answer to that question is,
“yes, it sure as hell is.”
Especially since there is a specific, simple, and very well
known Training that will help you do it.
Every world class aerobatic pilot knows and uses it.
Almost every world class athlete in every sport uses it.
It has saved my butt while flying in weather several times.
But it’s not taught in our schools And it should be. It’s a
simple, easy, training called “Guided Imagery” (G.I.).
Notice I used the word “Training”. As in exercising.
Regularly. Not necessarily much fun. Some people claim G.I.
doesn’t work for them. Some people even call it nonsense.
I’ve found that most of those people talk the talk, but they
actually use the same training techniques with G.I. that they
use to acquire rock hard abs. Which is why rock hard abs
have become an endangered species. I became fascinated
with G.I. during my 17 years as a Hypnotherapist.
It saved my buns several times flying my small plane
in bad weather, dodging 747s in complicated North-East
Corridor airspace. A friend claims it helped him when
he was facing a big time sales presentation. Another buddy
found a little extra zip when he had to zap a drunk at a
party. All times when you don’t want your buns toasted.
Remember, “Keepin’ Control” isn’t necessarily the same
thing as “being calm.” Guided Imagery isn’t going to turn a
bunch of ordinary guys into the James Bond Brigade. But it
does a good job of focusing your emotional system so it
becomes part of the solution instead of making the problem
worse.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND G.I.
We’ve known for a long time that G.I works. But it’s only
recently that scientists have found out why. It seems that
your brain doesn’t make much of a distinction between the
way it processes what you’re actually seeing, and
something you’re vividly remembering. That’s why
nightmares are a powerful virtual reality. Guided Imagery
can turn that nightmare power around, make it positive,
and focus your emotions into a disciplined state so you
can do what you need to do in an emergency, whether that’s
flying an airplane in a storm, explaining the wrong shade of
lipstick on your collar to your sweetie, or dealing with some
drunk who’s looking for trouble.
There are some striking similarities between the way simple
G.I. training works, and the kind of heavy metal training the
airline guys get.
THE HEAVY METAL APPROACH
Airline pilots will tell you that all the time they spend in full
motion simulators does much more than teach procedures
and cockpit skills. By constant repetition, they can also de-
sensitize a pilot to various disaster scenarios. And there’s
no question that de-sensitization is better than sticking your
fist in your mouth to keep from screaming, “We’re all going
to die”. Because that upsets the more sensitive passengers.
THREE SIMPLE G.I. TECHNIQUES
So if you’re truly fond of your buns, take the time to do some
G.I training techniques. Here are three simple exercises
that will do some of the same Task Programming and
desensitization the airline guys get in the expensive
simulators, but these are free :
1- THE TIME OUT – Every time you’re under any pressure…
some clown cuts you off in traffic, or Mike Wallace from “60
Minutes” makes an un-expected visit to your office with
some very nasty questions… before you do or say anything,
just smile and take a deep breath. Take the time to notice
that the pressure actually feels like it drops a few degrees.
(Don’t forget the smile. There is a physical reason for it.)
2- YOUR POWERFUL FRIEND – Associate a picture of
yourself with a personally powerful feeling. Here’s how you
do that: Find a picture of yourself doing something at
which you were very successful and in control. It can be
either a regular picture, or a vivid memory picture. Give that
picture a name. It might be your own name, or any name you
make up. Every day, at some time when you’re feeling good,
strong, and in control, train yourself by taking a deep breath,
looking at that picture, and saying that name. Make the
association. Keep this strong and “in control” picture of
yourself someplace where you have to look at it every day.
And keep it clear in your mind. You will quite quickly begin
to feel like the person in that picture is a semi physical
friend. One you can depend on. Possible problem: I’ve had
people tell me they have never felt that powerful. If that’s
the case with you, get a picture of somebody else
successfully doing something stressful, and paste your head
on that person’s body. I know it sounds weird, but this
works.
3 – THE REHEARSAL. Select the scene you’re most afraid
will hit you in the face. Make it whatever is the biggest,
baddest, NASTY you can think of. Then think carefully how
you would want to deal with it in real life. Make kind of a
mental script out of this. Then run the script through in your
mind but watching your “Powerful Friend” deal with the
problem very successfully. It’s a movie you star in, in your
head. Watch your mind movie carefully. Every day. With all
the images, sounds, and feelings your imagination can
manage. Let it scare you as much as it wants to. But when
your “Powerful Friend” comes to the rescue in the movie,
give yourself and him a very enthusiastic high five.
Train regularly with these three simple exercises,
and you will install a proven “Keep’N Control” system into
your personal computer. It’s like a personal auto pilot to
keep you in control even when you’re neither calm nor
comfortable.
HERE’S HOW TO USE THE SYSTEM
When/if something happens in the air that makes the houses
down on the ground, along with your lunch, come up faster
than they should, or some really big guy is about to create a
very ugly problem for you, or you have to give the sales
presentation that could change your life:
1- TAKE A TIME OUT. Smile and Suck a very slow deep
breath. One breath, don’t hyperventilate. And don’t forget to
smile.
2 – LET YOUR POWERFUL FRIEND TAKE OVER. Remember
that picture of yourself when you were in control. Say the
name you gave it out loud. Let that guy take over the
situation. Feel the high five moment. Take the time to let it
sink in. If you’ve trained yourself well enough, you’ll feel
like you’ve pulled a circuit breaker on your fear response.
You probably won’t be completely calm. But even if you’re
still a bit scared, you will react exactly the way your
“Powerful Friend” would react. Which means you will do
absolutely the best you can do.
KEEPING THE LITTLE KID IN YOUR HEAD CLEAR
Fear paralyzes your thought process when your emotional
system isn’t getting any specific guidance from you. It’s like
a little kid who is determined to please you, but doesn’t
know what you want it to do next. So it tries to do
everything all at once. Lots of pilots die like that. And lots of
other guys feel like they want to die when they screw up,
especially in front girls who look like JLo.
This simple G.I. system gives that “little kid inside” the
guidance it needs so that it knows exactly what it must do
to please you. Even if you’re not calm, you’ll stay in control.
And remember, you can always calm down thoroughly a
little later in the whirlpool with Ms. Flutter Lashes. And
hopefully she won’t giggle at those buns you have so
carefully saved.

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