WHAT IS THE NORM?

At Street Ready, we have a concept called Understanding the Norm.

Every area has a baseline or what we consider normal for the particular place. For example, downtown Manhattan during the day should be crowded but the NY public library should be relatively silent. Both of these places have different conventions of what is the norm. So if you walked into the library and people were yelling and screaming, you would soon understand that something abnormal is happening.

Being aware of baselines is a crucial Street Ready skill. You can’t know if you’re about to walk into an unsafe situation unless you’re familiar with what’s normal for a particular place. This will equip you to know if you are about to be in harm’s way and need to take immediate action.

Practice Questions to ask yourself when determining an areas baseline:

Is this street always so empty?

Is the noise level I’m hearing normal? Or has something happened?

Is the smell in this place normal?

Does the weather seem adequate for this situation?

This year you must get familiar with the baseline of your home, your gym, your neighborhood, and your place of employment. It can be the difference between being a victor or a victim in a potentially dangerous situation.