Decisions and Actions That Protect
Pause, Verify, Decide — Your Personal Process
A simple three-step process you can use in any situation to make better decisions under pressure.
Approx. 2 min reading · Includes diagrams; allow extra time for reflection and linked resources.
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Your focus
What you’ll learn
- Apply the three-step process — Pause, Verify, Decide — to at least three different types of suspicious scenarios you might encounter.
This lesson gives you a practical, repeatable process: Pause when you feel pressure, Verify through a known channel, and Decide with confidence. You’ll practice applying this process to real scenarios.
A Simple Process for Any Situation
You don’t need to memorize a long list of policies or threat types. You just need a process that works in any situation. Here it is:
1. Pause. The moment you feel urgency, pressure, or anything unusual — stop. Don’t click, don’t reply, don’t act. Just pause. This is the most important step because it breaks the urgency cycle.
2. Verify. Use a known, independent channel to confirm who you’re dealing with. If it’s an email from your CEO, call their known number (not the one in the email). If it’s a text from your bank, call the number on your bank card. Verify before you trust.
3. Decide. Once you’ve verified, make a confident decision. If it’s legitimate, proceed. If it’s suspicious, report it. If you’re not sure, ask someone you trust.
This process works for any situation — email, phone call, text message, or in-person request. Practice it until it becomes automatic.