In the case of finding yourself within a few paces and under threat of a predator:
I have one personal experience with a man with malicious sexual intentions following, talking, making body contact, shying away, being told to fuck off, and continuing to follow me while unbuckling his belt (I am a male).
The solution (while I could have ran, I was not content with the chance of being caught off balance or seeing where I live or anything like that) came in holding my ground, raising a clenched fist and very present-mindedly yet firmly agressive, stating "...
Certainly some relevant information in these recent posts on learned blankness (comments are a goldmine) and building small skills in the right order.
I've experienced a notable increase in acuity of focus, multi-tasking, list-making and avoiding unnecessary mental hiccups through a few things:
practicing mental math on the 3-4 digit arithmetic practice on Khan Academy (which interestingly enough, while I did not consciously define it, taught me to approach learning in a rather similar manner to that described in the two LW posts linked above)
sites like
Think about things you don't know how to do. :)