Techniques, Tactics & Mindset.

Years ago I was trying to figure out what you needed, other than techniques, to win a fight. I was trying to fathom that because a lot of martial artists were constantly being beaten by the average street fighter without any formal training.

I boiled it down to three things. Techniques, Tactics and Mindset. The analogy I use to illustrate the difference between them is that of four police officers rushing to an armed robbery in progress. The first cop to arrive has great technique - in this example that means he is a class A pistol shot and can hit flys off a pig's back at 300 yds. He stands in the middle of the parking lot and gets shot by the bad guys before he can even fire a round. Why? Because he lacked the tactical training that would have taught him to take cover.

The next cop has had such tactical training and is also a good shot. He takes cover behind the engine block of the car and draws his weapon, but, faced with a real live human as a target, instead of a piece of paper at the range, finds he can't bring himself to pull the trigger and kill another person.

The third cop has no such qualms...he wants desperately to shoot all the bad guys and he's tactically trained so he knows to take cover to. Unfortunately, because his technique is poor, he shoots himself in the foot, his partner in the leg, the lights of his cruiser, pigeons on the roof and an old lady at the bus stop.

Only the fourth officer, aware enough of tactics to take cover, technically skilled enough to hit what he aims at, and, most importantly with the mental wherewithal to drop the hammer on another human can possibly prevail.

So, what do you learn at your school? A bunch of techniques only? Or are you learning tactics and mind-set to?

Tune in to the next post and I'll explain why, even if you are learning those three, it still may not be enough.

Nick