What so many people teaching and taking self-defense classes fail to realize is that predators do not fight by the rules. You will without a doubt go back to your basic instincts in the critical seconds of an attack. Fighting Mother Nature and what your instinctive responses are is a tough battle, and not usually won in a few seconds. I may as well just lie there and take it. The first thing any person taking a self-defense course should understand is that they are committing to a complete reprogramming of their instincts.
Continued training is only the beginning.
First, there has to acceptance of a few basic things. Your best weapon in any attack is your mind. Thinking through the situation, possibly even identifying it before it happens and remaining fully aware or your situation both personally and in your surroundings.