Self defense instructors hear some variant on this question all the time: “Of all the self defense tactics you know, which one is the most effective?”  Extensive research into hundreds of answers from hundreds of instructors have led to two self defense tactics that cropped up over and over again.  Both appear in almost every self defense syllabus from street fighting to military self defense manuals to Jeet Kune Do and even some schools of Aikido.  Both of them are somewhat obvious once you hear them, but things you might not actually do unless you know how effective they can be.