Who's it for? (Martial Arts/Self-defense)

It seems like a pretty obvious answer, but I often think that when people are looking into martial arts or self-defense training, people often forget that their initial reason for training in this area needs to be maintained as the focus of what they are striving for.

What I mean is this:
When People first join a school or course, they initially want to be able to protect themselves. Most don't have any ideas of grandeur where they have a goal to be "the best" martial artist  in the world. They also don't have any care about being able to beat any other martial arts style out there. They just want to defend themselves against the situations that there is a higher probability of finding themselves personally encountering on the street. Parents just want their kids to be able to protect themselves against a bully, or several bullies.

Yet when you look at the way training takes place in a "Traditional" Martial Arts school, a Mixed Martial Arts School (MMA), and even now in the industry of Reality Based Self-Defense (aka RBSD - usually rooted in Military trainig), the training quickly veers away from that main initial focus. Instead teachers try to answer the "what if" questions that the excited, imaginative, enthusiastic new students (and even long term students) come up with. Some of these questions are valid:

• "What if a potential attacker is approaching me under the guise of asking me for directions, or change?"
   
• "What if someone ambushes me out of no where?" (like what happened recently to a woman near Seattle's Greenlake Park while she was out for a run)
   
• "What can do I do if I'm surrounded by 2 or more bullies at school?"

Other "what if" questions, though, can easily redirect the focus to areas I believe are too premature, and are unnecessary for where the student is at, especially in their beginner phase:

• "What if I square off against a kickboxer, or MMA guy, or Brazilian Jiu-jitsu guy?"
   
• "What if the opponent has experience with trapping skill, too?"
   
• "What if I'm surrounded by men with automatic rifles?" (there are RBSD guys that actually train you in these scenarios)

None of these later scenarios matter if you do not have some basic fundamentals down:

• Environmental Awareness
• Psychological/Emotional Awareness (especially with your own mental/emotional state, as well as the other party(ies) involved)
• How to defuse the situation
• When to Act
• How to Hit Powerfully & Effectively enough to stop the opponent from attacking

Also none of the latter "what if's" are not highly probable to happen to you. Why? Most, not all, but most Martial artists, MMA fighters, or RBSD pratitioners are not likely to just pick a fight randomly with you. Despite some egotistical practitioners that are out there, they will not fight you unless you've done something to provoke them. And if you're provoking, you're not using self-defense, you are trying to be a bully yourself. But if you are nice person who is just trying to make sure you are able to defend yourself while you're "out & about", you have a higher likelihood of getting hit by a car then being randomly attacked by any of the above martial arts/self-defense practitioners.

If martial arts becomes a career where you are an instructor, then you should worry about the potential egotistical practitioners out there who will challenge you. Or if you boast about rank or being a "bad A". But if you're not, you need to focus on what you will run into that is "HIGHLY PROBABLE". When you can handle those situations with 100% confidence & 100% instinctively, then (in my opinion) is the time to think about the latter "what if" types I listed above.

Stay focused on what matters 1st. Get it so that it's innate/instinctual for you. Then enjoy everything else out there, and problem solving all the other stuff that you can. But always remember, that a good foundation is important, fundamental, and should take precedence above all. Keep training, keep moving, but do it Mindfully!