Defenses that don’t work

There are probably a million ways for a specific defense strategy to fall apart. Here are some on the top of my list:

• If you do not know / see what you are defending against.
• If you have wrong assumptions – there just isn’t any single universally workable solution. Every skill has some specific assumptions / parameters.
• A late defense is as good as no defense – If it takes a lot of time to prepare, chances are that it will not be there when needed
• If you are too committed and have no contingencies, you will get into trouble real soon.
• If you are a sitting duck – Attacks will eventually leak through if you allow it to continue without interruption. You need to give him something to worry about.
• Bad mechanics give you a false sense of security and will cost you dearly.
• If you anticipate an attack too early, you end up showing your method of defense too early.
• If the defenses get too complicated / specific, you may not be able to match with the ‘right’ defense easily.
• If you try to defend too many things and not prioritize what is most important.
• You don’t believe in the defense yourself or that it doesn’t really reflect how you feel at the time
• You are defending in a way that is very predictable.

Exercise
How do you solve or avoid the pitfalls of the above? Using the above information, try to side-step the most common pitfalls and describe what a successful defense strategy / skill should do.