Whilst flying as a fairly new coey, a few moons past, el Capitano (with 16 million hours on type) in the right seat had ripper of a brakes vs collective moment which certainly got my attention from the paperwork. Everything went a very red colour and once I had picked myself up off the floor I managed to stuff the collective back on the floor which of course then had everyone stuck to the roof! Great fairground ride!
Now that the screens had returned to a much nicer shade of green the red glow was coming from the other side of the cockpit!
A few thousand hours later I too have very nearly done it and most other classic cock ups on a few occasions. Like the old saying, there are those who have and there are those who are yet to.
The best method I find to stop myself from getting a similar red face is the same with all these brain/body interface problems...slow down and have a look at it before you switich it, pull it, push it or whatever. The concept of 'fast hands, cool pilot' is b*l
l*cks, just slow down a half second and make sure what your hands are doing is what your brain intends.
I like the fingers round the other way idea though.