The #1 Weapon Ever Made (+ How To Use It Best)

It is a long distance weapon that can be used further than a sniper rifle.

Or it can be used at such close range that you are literally face to face.

It deals lethal force.

Or just enough to resolve the situation.

It is sharper than a sword forged by Masamune.

Yet also blunter and more powerful than a caveman’s favorite club (and I don’t mean nightclub).

It also has defensive capabilities that can really save your butt.

Some choose to carry it around in plain sight and flaunt it around.

Some keep it on them hidden from casual view.

Figured it out yet?

Answer: the human mind!

Now, I don’t mean that your brain has a bunch of secret weapons of mass and minor destruction designed in it and you can defeat the biggest baddie by throwing your brain at him. I don’t mean the tiny and megalomaniac lab mouse that wants to take over the world either.

Your mind can be an essential weapon in the fact that it is adaptable.

Let’s take a step back. Raise your hand if you have heard the phrase “a weapon is supposed to be an extension of your body”?

I’m betting you have your hand up. And that’s a good thing. The phrase definitely rings true. When you wield a weapon–no matter what weapon it is, nunchaku or twin tiger hook swords, escrima sticks or karambit, whatever—the last thing you want to have to worry about is having to worry about it.

A weapon isn’t something you should feel awkward using. At every single moment in time, you should feel in control of yourself and your weapon.

How about another phrase? “Your body is an extension of your mind”.

Any raised hands?

If you haven’t heard that, that’s ok. In the words of The Notorious B.I.G. “If you don’t know, now you know”.

If your mind is unfocused, your movement will be unfocused. If your mind freezes, your body freezes.

If your mind is receptive to what is happening around you, your movement will be free to react accordingly.

The good: you can view the same situation with many different views and reactions.

The bad: you can view the same situation with many different views and reactions.

That freedom of reaction can cause a person to search through their options momentarily before executing a decisive tactical response (read: freeze).

And while it’s nice to have so many different options to deal with a response—after all, if one option fails, we can just move on to the next one like Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz—that momentary freeze can be particularly troublesome if we are trying to protect ourself from being force fed a double-decker and triple cheese knuckle sandwich.

The solution, you ask?

Generalization.

Look for the commonalities. The best way to do this is to fight like a geometry teacher.

Well, a really kick butt geometry teacher. See angles and shapes rather than punches and tools.

There are countless techniques that a person can execute, but only so many angles they can come at. If you learn to recognize and deal with these angles rather than the individual technique, it will save you many a headaches. And missing teeth.

This applies to any weapon you have in your hand as well. If you were fighting like a geometry teacher earlier, now you need to think like said teacher’s smart aleck simpleton student.

See your “weapon” for what it really is.

A bo (long staff) identifies as follows:

•Long rod

•Blunt

•Can poke

Nothing more, nothing less.

When you simplify it like that, it can open you up to a whole host of other possibilities. It’s kinda like when you were younger and your mom said you could grow up to be anything you wanted to be in life.

Suddenly, a bo can be a broom, a long tree branch, a pipe. Though, no matter how hard you try, it probably won’t become president.

Here are some more “tags” you can look for in a weapon:

•Can stab

•Can slash/slice

•Can hook

•Flexible

•Heavy

•Light

These are just a few though. You can think of some more, but I would recommend keeping the number of “tags” low so that it is easier to liken the weapons to one another. Remember that you are looking for the similarities, not the differences.

The idea of generalization leads to the concept of having a decision tree. Put simply, a decision tree is a strategic way of viewing your options in a top-down manner.

Starting at the top, we have one question with two or more possible outcomes. Each possible outcome splits downward into another question with more possible outcomes. That process continues on as long as necessary or until you have analyzed most every possibility.

Kinda like one of those choose your own adventure books.

This works great for business but don’t apply this to fighting!

At least, not exactly.

If you are trying to defend yourself then you need to flip the whole diagram upside down. Start with the many different options (is it an overhead angle strike? Side angle? Kick? Blunt weapon? Sharp weapon?) and reduce the options until you reach a single result every single time (surviving).

In other words, have tactical combinations you can use from a common position you may find yourself in while fighting. Not necessarily a common starting position, but rather, a position you often happen to go to during a fight or sparring bout.

Speaking of position you go to during a fight, there is one more way of utilizing your mind as a weapon that I’ll write about. The last thing I’m going to talk about is your surroundings. I mentioned earlier how anything can be a weapon when you view it simply. That applies to your surrounding as well.

A couple of steps, a brick wall, or even a stone pillar can be turned to your advantage. If you’ve seen the movie Home Alone then you know how dangerous your ordinary surrounding can be.

Miyamoto Musashi: strategist/swordsman

The famed swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi, was said to have utilized the sun to aid in his defeat of another master (he reflected the sunlight in his opponent’s eyes).

While your surrounding can aid you, they can also hinder you.

If your aggressor grabs the high ground first or backs you up into the corner, then that definitely won’t be of any help to you.

Your awareness is what dictates how helpful your surroundings are.

Your surrounding can be of help or hindrance, it depends solely on who notices first.

“One mind, Any weapon.”

– Hunter B. Armstrong