Hazardous Attitudes Self-Assessment

This worksheet accompanies When Confidence Becomes Dangerous. Use it before a high-consequence decision, during an incident, or in a retrospective.

Hazardous Attitudes Self-Assessment

Adapted from the five hazardous attitudes identified in aviation psychology. Use this before a high-consequence decision, during an incident, or in a retrospective. The purpose is not to label people. It is to notice a pattern early enough to change the next action.

Person: ________________________________ Date/time: __________________

Situation or decision: __________________________________________________

Check any statement that feels uncomfortably familiar right now.

  • I am treating a rule, review, or safeguard as optional because I am experienced or under pressure.
  • I want to act immediately because doing something feels better than pausing.
  • I am assuming this failure will happen to someone else, not to us.
  • I am taking a risk to prove competence, speed, toughness, or independence.
  • I feel that nothing I do will matter, so I am waiting for the situation to resolve itself.

If you checked one or more statements, continue below. If the situation is time-critical, use the antidote as a spoken prompt rather than waiting to complete the entire page.

Warning signs

  • Bypassing a review, approval, or runbook because the situation is special.
  • Treating a known control as bureaucracy rather than accumulated learning.
  • Explaining why the normal process is for less experienced people.

Antidote: Follow the rules. They are usually right.

What safeguard am I tempted to bypass?

What would make an exception safe, explicit, and reviewable?

Immediate action: _______________________________________________________

Warning signs

  • Acting on the first plausible explanation.
  • Skipping information gathering or alternatives because time feels scarce.
  • Continuing an action after new evidence says it is not working.

Antidote: Not so fast. Think first.

What do we know, and what are we assuming?

What are at least two alternatives, including waiting or doing nothing?

Immediate action: _______________________________________________________

Warning signs

  • Assuming experience makes the team immune to a familiar failure.
  • Skipping verification because the action has worked many times before.
  • Describing other failures as carelessness while discounting similar exposure here.

Antidote: It could happen to me.

What is the credible failure mode we are discounting?

What check would detect it before the cost becomes high?

Immediate action: _______________________________________________________

Warning signs

  • Refusing help or escalation to demonstrate self-sufficiency.
  • Choosing the clever, risky, or heroic path over the boring reliable one.
  • Committing the team to an impossible outcome to protect personal credibility.

Antidote: Taking unnecessary chances is foolish.

What part of this decision is about the mission, and what part is about proving something?

Who should be involved or awakened before we continue?

Immediate action: _______________________________________________________

Warning signs

  • Treating failure as inevitable before options are exhausted.
  • Stopping the flow of concerns, ideas, or escalation.
  • Confusing lack of control over the whole situation with lack of agency over the next step.

Antidote: I am not helpless. I can make a difference.

What remains within my control in the next ten minutes?

What help, escalation, or change of plan could improve the situation?

Immediate action: _______________________________________________________

Before a high-stakes decision, check the state of the person making it.

  • Illness: Am I physically well enough to think clearly?
  • Medication: Is anything affecting my judgment or attention?
  • Stress: Is accumulated stress narrowing my options or patience?
  • Alcohol: Am I impaired, or within a period where impairment may remain?
  • Fatigue: Am I rested enough for the level of judgment this requires?
  • Emotion: Are anger, fear, grief, or anxiety affecting my behavior?

What compensation is needed?

  • Slow down and verify the next step.
  • Ask another person to review the decision.
  • Hand off or escalate the decision.
  • Use the documented procedure instead of improvising.
  • Take a break, if the situation permits.

Complete aloud before committing to an irreversible or high-blast-radius action.

The actual problem is: __________________________________________________

The strongest evidence is: ______________________________________________

The main uncertainty is: _________________________________________________

We considered: __________________________________________________________

We are choosing this because: ___________________________________________

The owner is: __________________ The expected result is: _____________

We will stop or reassess if: _____________________________________________

Did the action work as expected? _________________________________________

Which attitude, if any, was present? _____________________________________

What system change would make the safer response easier next time?

This worksheet supports judgment. It does not replace technical expertise, runbooks, incident command, or emergency procedures.