In combat, you’re not just clashing bodies, you’re clashing minds and of course, pitting your spirit against each-other. If you can read how someone thinks, you begin to see the shape of their intentions. And when you can read intention, you gain an edge, not by brute force, but by clarity. You start reacting less and anticipating more.
You stop chasing their rhythm and begin influencing (even guiding) it. You make the opponent play your game. But there’s a danger though, and I will focus on it in this article:
The more certain you are that you “know” them, the easier it is for a cunning opponent to use that certainty against you.
When Your Analytical Skill Become Prejudice, thus a Weakness that can be Exploited
In martial arts, fighters who pride themselves on reading opponents often fall into a hidden trap, they start looking for patterns so eagerly that they see them even when they’re not there. This happens due what in psychology is known as Mental Heuristics. In simple terms, they are shortcuts in our way of thinking, so we can judge something without spending much energy and time. A type of survival mechanism developed to keep our mental RAM (short-term memory space) as free as possible, so we can notice new things that can threaten our survival
But the question is. Have we trained our consciousness to pick that up when it happens? Have we trained our introspective abilities so we can scan our inner world honestly, and realize when that happens? Have we cultivated self-honesty to an acceptable degree?
If we don’t we risk fooling ourselves due to mental heuristics. And a cunning, skilled opponent knows this. Many people, who have at least an above average IQ, and are not hesitant to use it, will feed you a false pattern, so they can “condition” your nervous system and your thought patterns too.
In combat, maybe they throw a few lazy jabs, always followed by a right cross. You take the bait, thinking you’ve “figured them out.” Then, in the moment you expect the cross, they step back and counter your counter. Your own assumption becomes the hole in your guard.
This is not limited to the ring. In business, a competitor might deliberately leak “plans” that seem predictable, making you overcommit resources in the wrong direction. In social dynamics, someone could present an exaggerated emotional reaction, knowing you’ll respond predictably, because they’ve studied you.
The principle is the same: if they can predict your prediction, they own the exchange.
A Zen lesson from Samurai Training
Takuan Soho, the swordsman and Zen master, taught that in combat, the moment your mind becomes “caught” —whether by an external distraction like your opponent’s stance or by internal noise like your own thoughts— you risk losing precision, timing, and flow. That brief hesitation, even a split second, can be enough to tip the balance toward defeat. In high-pressure situations, freedom of mind isn’t a luxury, it’s survival.
In social dynamics and business, perhaps you have a bit more time compared to combat, but still, there are moments you don’t have the luxury to get your mind “caught”.
And one thing that gets your mind “caught” are precisely your mental heuristics left unchecked. The samurai — the elite, who were trained in the arts, science and warfare— understood that reading an opponent was essential, but they feared the arrogance that came with thinking the reading was complete.
They had a saying: “After victory, tighten your helmet straps”. A quote often attributed to Ieyasyu Tokugawa, and one of the interpretations of these words is to not lower your vigilance due to lack of attention towards mental heuristics.
In Kenjutsu, this meant never committing fully to the belief that the enemy’s sword would fall exactly where you think it will. They trained to read intention and remain open, able to pivot in a heartbeat.
This same mindset applies in modern life. The manager who assumes they “know” how a rival company will act risks being blind sided when that rival changes strategy.
The athlete who studies an opponent’s game film but can’t adapt mid-match becomes a hostage to their own preparation.
Awareness works best when it’s fluid.
If you “grip” ideas too tightly — forcing every action into a pattern you’ve already decided exists — you risk turning awareness into prejudice. You stop seeing what is, and only see what you expect. And I won’t deny that there are cases where foreseeing something gives you an edge. But, there’s a difference between that and leaving mental space only for prejudice.
Psychologically, this is called confirmation bias, the tendency to look for, and interpret, information that supports what you already believe. We all experience it. But what makes the difference is how deep and powerful our introspection/self-reflection is. So. in combat, unchecked confirmation bias gets you hit. In negotiations, it costs you opportunities. In relationships, it makes you misread intentions and overreact to ghosts that aren’t there.
Some Examples of Mind Games that come into my mind
Sports: In tennis, a friend of mine who was experienced and cunning, intentionally lost a few points with slow serves to make the opponent relax, then suddenly unleashed full power at a critical game point. Of course, he had confidence, maybe even more than he needed. But it was intentional. He had studied his opponent, tested his reactions, and took a calculated risk to see if he could turn the opponent’s mind against itself. Yes, the opponent could’ve done the same.
That’s the nature of fluid competition: you have to stay aware, stay adaptive, and keep the pressure on without losing your own edge.
Business: A startup might act as if they’re struggling with funding while quietly preparing a market takeover, letting competitors feel secure until it’s too late. And that is exactly what another friend of mine did.
Social dynamics: When working as a salesman, in a negotiation I often used to “give in” early on a small demand to make the other person think they’ve gained ground, so they would lower their walls, and they would be less aggressive when the real stakes arrived.
Each case is the same trick: they exploit your overconfidence in your own read of the situation.
Some Countermeasures: Staying Unreadable While Reading Others
Hold patterns loosely
If you think you’ve spotted a habit, act on it, but keep the mental door open for it to be wrong. Always leave space for surprise.Test your read
In combat, this might mean probing with a feint to see if the reaction matches your expectation before committing. In business, it’s small, low-risk moves to confirm your intel before the big investment.Train for disruption
In combat, don’t just spar against people you can read easily. Seek out unpredictable styles. In other aspects of life, from time to time, put yourself in environments where you can’t control all the variables.Master your own tells
Just as you read others, they’re reading you. Change your rhythm. In conversation, vary your tone. In sports, adjust timing. In business, avoid obvious patterns in your decision-making.
Closing Thoughts
The samurai trained in Mushin — the “no-mind” state — so they could act without hesitation or bias clouding their perception. Today, that translates into being fully present, without letting your ego attach to “knowing” the other side.
In a dynamic (at times chaotic), fast-changing world, the edge goes to the one who reads intention without clinging to certainty. You can guide the rhythm without needing to control every beat. You can anticipate without predicting yourself into a corner. Because the moment you believe you’ve got them all figured out, you might be walking into the trap they’ve been setting from the very start.
So, in other words, it’s important to not mistake awareness for total control.
There’s no such thing. No mind is fully predictable, and no human being fits neatly into a pattern forever. If you become too certain, too locked into your assumptions, you stop seeing clearly. You start projecting. You turn awareness into prejudice.
And when that happens, you will often leave an opening, one your opponent can exploit.
The idea is to read intention without arrogance. To observe without attachment.
To stay open, even as you analyze. Because true control isn’t rigid labeling, it’s the balance between understanding others and not losing sight of your own awareness in the process.
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Know/assess patterns of yourself and opponent and intentionally disrupt your own while being prepared for that of your competition. Love it
The moment you hunt for a pattern, you stop seeing the truth, and start wrestling with your own imagination.