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After a night out with friends, you come home around 10 p.m. — not late by any standards.

You follow the same routine. You park your car and open the door to your apartment. After you enter, you close the door and lock it as soon as you get in.

Then it happens.

Suddenly you feel the weight of something huge hit you and grab you from behind. A leather glove covers your mouth, and before you can even process what’s happening, you are thrown to the floor. A voice muffled by a ski mask says to do exactly as he says. If you don’t he’s going to kill you.

In situations like these, most fights are lost before they have even been waged. The sad truth is that attacks like these do happen to even the best of us, and when they do, we have no idea how to defend ourselves. Though from an early age we have been taught the importance of essential life skills like reading and writing, the critical need for awareness of self-defense has been lost.

As a longtime martial arts instructor, I frequently have new students come through my door after attacks like the one I described above, suddenly all too aware that self-defense is nothing to be taken lightly. They realize they may have escaped with their lives once, but the next time they might not be so lucky.

I want to make abundantly clear that the ability to defend yourself is in no way dependent on achieving a level of expertise in martial arts. In fact, this book is written and designed for those individuals who are unwilling, uninterested or unable to practice martial arts, but smartly realize the need to understand basic self-defense. This book is also designed for individuals whose loved ones would benefit from the knowledge contained in these pages.

Put as simply as possible, the mission of this book is to provide an easy guide to basic self-defense. Whether you are leaving for college, a stay-at-home mom or a professional, you can benefit from this guide. Unlike other authors whose systems are detail-heavy and overly systematic, my goal is to arm you with fundamental knowledge that will help you escape the most common violent encounters. These are basic techniques for defending yourself at home, school and in your workplace.

Previous experience in self-defense is not needed here. You do not need to be an athlete, nor must you be particularly agile or flexible. You simply must be a willing-and-able human being who is ready to take control of his or her situation. You only need the conviction to be the victor, and not the victim.

I have practiced Tae Kwon Do since the age of 9, and as such it has always been my goal to spread the word of martial arts and its life-improving benefits. Somewhere along the line, I began to realize that martial arts just aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some hate being in their bare feet. Others don’t want to wear an outfit that so closely resembles pajamas. For these and other, more practical reasons, the fact is that some people will never walk into a martial arts studio.

This should not absolve people from learning to defend themselves, however. In my mind, self-defense should be just as important as reading, writing and arithmetic.

As individuals, we walk into this crazy world hoping nothing bad happens to us. When fate turns against us, we hope we’ll be saved. But hope should never be a strategy, because the threat of violence in our society is abundantly real.

Consider these staggering statistics:

 According to City of Hope, one in every three women across the world has been subjected to a rape or sexual assault. One-third of American women say they have experienced this sort of attack during their lifetimes.

 In the United States, someone known to the victim commits 89 percent of sexual crimes.

 Around 44 percent of rape victims in the United States are under the age of 18, while 30 percent are under the age of 30.

 According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a violent crime occurs once every five seconds in the United States. A rape or violent assault occurs once every two minutes. A murder occurs once every 34 minutes.

The most fundamental mistake people make is allowing the misconception that “bad things don’t happen to good people” to lull them into complacency. Most of us feel that if we don’t proactively engage in violence, then violence won’t enter our lives. Believe me, this is simply (and quite unfortunately) not the case. When it comes to self-defense, we must hope for the best, but anticipate the worst.

Then there are those of us who know violence is in our midst, but we are just too preoccupied with work and our electronic devices to be present when our turn comes.

Both of these groups end up being victims of violent crimes — every day, ever hour, every minute.

Nothing would thrill me more than if you were to read this, leave your house, and sign up for classes at your nearest martial arts studio. However, my goals for this book are grounded in the reality that you will probably never do this. All I want is to spread the importance of daily vigilance and basic self-defense.

If after you read this, you start scanning your surroundings, locking your doors immediately upon entering your vehicle, and in general find yourself walking through the world with a greater air of confidence, then I have succeeded.

Allow me to be perfectly clear: You will not be anything remotely close to a martial arts expert when you finish this book. You will not be physically tougher. You will not be able to break boards or bricks after you complete the last page. However, if you keep an open mind and know that at any moment an act of violence could happen to you or your loved ones, then this book could potentially save your life.

As a practicing martial artist for over 28 years, I learned from an early age that only two things happen in life: you are either growing or dying. You are either up on your toes and leaning into life or back on your heels. What I’d like to have come from this book is that you are the former and not the latter.

I believe that just as it is the duty for all spiritual disciples to spread the word of their beliefs, it is our duty as martial artists to spread the word of the benefits and importance of self-defense. It is our job to create a more peaceful world, not a more violent one. It is my particular conviction that achieving this requires us to keep self-defense as simple as possible.

If the techniques presented in this book appear overly elementary, then I have achieved my goal. I will be providing you with techniques that are both easy to learn and battle-tested. They are not biased toward those with flexibility or muscularity.

That which is simple is easily repeated. Jack Nicklaus’ golf swing was simple — for him. Kobe Bryant’s shooting form is simple — to him. This system will be simple—for you. At the same time, it is important that you keep things simple. Don’t add or complicate the situation or scenarios. If you are thinking that maybe you should read as many books as possible to gain as many techniques as possible, you are dead wrong. Bruce Lee said, “Fear not the man who practices 10,000 kicks once. Fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

It baffles me when I see self-defense instructors teaching men and women, most of whom will never step onto a mat ever again, an array of complicated holds, joint locks and blocking-striking combinations. If people don’t feel comfortable and understand a move completely, they will not use it in a dynamic situation.

For the average person, simply knowing a few “go-to” moves is far better than knowing multiple techniques. Fewer is better for the person who isn’t interested or doesn’t have the means to practice martial arts several times a week. I say this because there is a theory called the Paradox of Choice. When a person is presented with multiple choices, they often become indecisive for fear of selecting the wrong option. This indecision can definitely lead to disaster in a threatening situation.

My black belt means everything to me. It represents almost 30 years of hard work, discipline, blood, sweat and tears. Without a doubt, I will absolutely make my daughter achieve her black belt. The understanding I will arm her with — as I have thousands of students before her — is that a black belt is just that: a belt. Her real weapon is knowledge. This includes the tips and techniques that can be effective; the discipline and focus that could become useful; the conditioning, both mental and physical, that may propel her to be the victor in an altercation.

My aim with this book is not to arm you with the necessary weapons to be a champion in the ring, but rather to arm you with a handful of weapons, which in certain situations could allow you to survive when your life is in danger. As you read, please keep in mind that I’m not trying to make you a champion in the ring. I am trying to make you a champion in life.

I just ask that you remember one thing: safety is a choice. It is proactive, not reactive. The fact that you’re reading this book tells me you might already know this.

As I said before, please don’t worry if you’re not young, strong, tall or fast. None of that matters here. What matters is that you’re here, and you’ve brought an open mind and an appreciation for simplicity. If you can absorb the basic steps outlined on the pages that follow, regardless of your shape or size, you will definitely have the knowledge needed to be the victor in a violent situation and not the victim.