So many self-defense advocates feel they up to the task of defending their homes in a home invasion, believing that they can handle the situation with cool determination. However, many forget how much stress levels increase in an unfamiliar situation.

Just because you can quickly enter your vault to reach your home-defense gun in full light, when everything is safe and secure, doesn’t mean that you can do the same when you think someone unwanted is in your home.

A while back, I revealed that my home alarm went off about midnight, waking the family and indicating that my front door was open. While my home plan worked for the most part, I did run into one small problem: It took three tries to properly enter my electronic safe’s code to obtain my Colt 1991. While this only added a few seconds to my response time, that time could have made a difference if I was facing a determined attacker.

The stress of the unknown made me rush the code, which caused a small problem, and made realize how much stress must be factored into the equation. Even knowing that even if the person ignored the screaming alarm, he or she still had to pass through two gates on the stairs before reaching the family, I still rushed the process.

Since then, I’ve been trying to implement stress into my training. In fact, since then I’ve been diving into my safe in the dark at random times. It’s still not easy, as without danger, my mind still knows that it is a drill. How do you induce stress into your training?