Mistake #1 - You Don't Have Situational Awareness - Situational awareness means you see the "orange alert" signals of suspicious and dangerous-looking behavior on the part of suspicious and dangerous-looking individuals.
Solution: You must trust your "gut" instinct. When you feel that something is wrong or not right in a strange environment, pay attention to those feelings. Don't ignore the individual with the shifty eyes wearing the thick wool overcoat in the middle of a hot summer August day with his hand placed inside of his coat pocket.
Mistake #2 - You Don't Look Around For Objects In Your Environment Which Can Be Used As Weapons - Forget about nunchakus, shiroken stars, bo staffs and kung fu swords that ridiculously many sifus teach the use in kung fu schools. This ain't ancient China folks! You are not going to walk around with any of these ancient weapons. One, the law won't allow it, and Two, most of them are too complicated to maneuver and use expertly. How many times have you seen on America's Funniest Videos someone demonstrating the use of nunchakus and then wind up hitting himself in the "family jewels"?
Solution: If you see a ketchup bottle in a fast food restaurant, (or any hard and easy to grab object), if necessary, grab it and use it. If you have a cup of hot coffee (or cup of any liquid for that matter) throw it in the face of an aggressor unexpectedly, then kick hard several times to the shins, and follow through with other blows.
Mistake #3 - Allowing An Obvious Aggressor To Strike First - This is a judgment call, but there is a point where the situation moves from a gray area to jet black. If someone gets verbal with you, but is just yelling and screaming while standing in the same place, this is usually a sign that he is not a real threat but is just letting off steam. Now, if that same person starts to clench his fist, start moving in aggressively toward your personal space even though you are stepping back - now it's time to use a preemptive strike.
Solution: You strike first and fast in a way and in an area that will devastate him and stop him cold in his tracks. Best first blow? Front kick his shins hard a couple of times, and follow up with an eye rake, tiger claw, fingers curled inward from top to bottom over the eyes or a 45 degree angle close range foot stomp to the knee.
Mistake #4 - Not Continuing Your Attack After You Have Committed To Executing The First Blow - In street combat, it is a dangerous mindset to want to just "control" the situation or placate the attacker. I know of a case where a brown belt in kung fu got into an altercation with an individual whom he swiftly and luckily managed to knock to the ground with a high round house kick to the face (the type of kick that I would not recommend in a street combat situation) anyway, to make a long story short, when the guy hit the ground after that kick to the face, he feigned being hurt more than he actually was. When the brown belt bent over to "talk" to the guy to calm him down, and as he was explaining how unnecessary it was for them to be fighting, the guy on the ground quietly grabbed a brick and smashed it into the brown belt's skull, knocking him unconscious and giving him a brain concussion.
Solution: Once your commit to hitting someone with the first blow, make sure it is a blow that counts and - don't stop hitting - until your attacker is either completely subdued or knocked out.
Mistake #5 - Trying To Do High Aerial Kicks Instead Of Low Line Kicks - Forget Bruce Lee. Forget Jackie Chan. Forget Jet Li. Forget the movies. This is real life. You are not trying to fight pretty, look cool or feel like an action hero. This is not sports fighting. This is not tournament fighting. You are, in many cases fighting for your life or the safety of your loved ones.
Solution: Fight to survive. Fight low down and dirty. Kick the shins. Kick the knees. Kick the groin if you have a clean shot at it. But never kick higher than waist level. Save that for the Hollywood movie producers. You job is just to save your life.
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