Hair Trigger Self Defense

When it comes to self defense you don’t have time for hesitation. That’s why you need to develop a hair trigger to protecting yourself and your family.

This doesn’t mean you have to become a loose cannon…it simply means you know where the proverbial “line in the sand” is drawn, and will not hesitate once someone has crossed it. For most situations in life it’s a good idea to take your time when making a big decisions.

Self defense is not one of those situations. Unfortunately hundreds if not thousands of people get hurt every year because they acted too late in a dangerous situation. The biggest problem is not that people aren’t aware of their surroundings. Most people are aware that something is wrong long before they are attacked. I’m sure you have experienced this uneasy feeling at some point in your life, we all have.

Humans are really good at picking up on the body language of others or just plain recognizing that something around us is wrong. We are biologically programmed to be good at self defense, it’s our mind that gets in the way. Most people do no not react when they get that ‘somethin ain’t right’ feeling. They ignore it, repress it telling themselves everything is okay, or worst of all just plain have no idea what to do. When they finally realize they must do something it’s too late.

Why do people do this? Well I’m not a psychologist but my guess is that most of us don’t like the idea of being mugged or jumped or getting into a bar room fight. To make matters worse ignoring these signs actually increases the chance of you getting mugged or attacked. Lucky for you I have a simple self defense strategy that can solve all of this.

I call it setting your personal triggers. It’s kind of like a self defense auto pilot system you plant in your brain so you don’t have to think much in the heat of the moment. What is a personal trigger? It is nothing more than a decision you make today that changes how you act in a self defense situation tomorrow.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say you are walking back to your car after a late movie. Your wife or girlfriend is with you, the poorly lit parking lot is almost empty. You notice a guy walking towards you from a nearby alley way. There is no other car around yours, what could he be possibly walking towards you for? He’s about 100 ft away, now you are getting a bit amped up (this is your body telling you something ain’t right). He keeps walking, only 50 ft away now. Another few seconds pass, he is only 30 ft away…

What do you do? Most people would do nothing until this guy was 5 or 10 feet away. Close enough to be a real threat to you and your loved ones. The average person too busy thinking about what they should do, what they should say, or trying to decide if this guy looks like a threat.

This is bad news. Letting a potential attacker get that close is a big no, no if you want to prevent a violent conflict. Any self defense instructor, cop, or soldier will tell you that 5-10 ft is well within striking distance. To make matters worse if this guy is a predator he came prepared, probably with a knife or a gun. You went out expecting to see a movie, he went out expecting to mug someone.

Bottom line: if you let an attacker who wants something you have get to close you are going to get a little bit banged up, even if you win the fight. Definitely not my idea of a nice night out.

Luckily this will never happen to you because you are about to learn exactly how to prevent this type of predator from getting anywhere near you, and if he ever does you’ll become the predator and he will be the victem. This is where the personal triggers come in.

You get to decide exactly how close you let someone get to you before you engage them. You own the space around you, nobody gets in without your consent. This distance will vary by the location, time of day, and other factors, but you need to decide ahead of time what those factors are and how close you let someone get in each of those scenarios.

For the scene I described above I would suggest that 50 ft is pushing the limit. Cops consider a man with a knife to be a lethal threat within 30 feet, you should too (since knives are extremely easy to conceal you have to assume any threatening person may have one). The best part is that all you need to do in this situation is tell the person to stop and ask them what they want.

Pretty simple right? You have every right to ask someone to stop, because they are entering your personal space and threatening your safety. Telling them to stop and asking what they want does two things. First if this guy is harmless he will stop and say something like “sorry for startling you” or tell you what he wants. If he is a predator he won’t stop coming towards you, but you will now have time to rush to your car, or tell your girlfriend or wife to run the other way and get help while you ‘take care of business.’

Lastly, engaging a potential predator while he is far away tells him that you are not a good target and that you are willing to put up a fight. Not only that, you can escalate you aggression to the point that you become the predator and he becomes the victim. When most predators realize that you are fully prepared and willing to hurt them they will leave you alone.

Setting personal triggers is one of the most effective self defense techniques I know of. This is life saving stuff (and you usually don’t even have to throw a punch). This technique will not only prevent 9 out of 10 conflicts, (remember criminal are opportunistic, they don’t want a challenge), it will also take away the element of surprise and put the ball in your court if you cannot avoid the fight.