We’ve all probably heard the term ‘Warrior Mindset‘ being used quite a bit in recent years, with very little explanation as to what it really is. Well, a true ‘Warrior Mindset‘ is the original way of creative problem-solving and “thinking outside the box.” A brief look into human history will provide you with countless examples of this. Successful warriors from all over the world have demonstrated ingenuity, creativity, extreme discipline, and many unique value systems that have been carried on into our modern-day society. But what is ‘Warrior Mindset‘?
There are countless definitions of what a ‘Warrior Mindset‘ is, as the concept can mean something completely different to people based on their experiences or backgrounds. Generally speaking, however, the term is often associated with the mindset of those who place themselves in harm’s way by choice (i.e. military personnel, police officers, civilian sheepdogs). With that being said, you don’t have to be a ninja, cop, Army Ranger or Navy SEAL to have developed a ‘warrior mindset;‘ as the warrior mindset has been a part of human culture for hundreds if not thousands of years.
‘Warrior Mindset‘ is more than aggressiveness and determination, it is about overcoming challenges and adversity. It’s about possessing, understanding, and being able to utilize a set of psychological and physical skills that allow someone to be effective, adaptive, and persistent. It also allows someone to use optimal decision-making, psychological techniques, physical and tactical skills learned in training and by experience.
“Given enough time, any man may master the physical. With enough knowledge, any man may become wise. It is the true warrior who can master both….and surpass the result.” – Tien T’ai
In many cases, people are consistently encouraged to maintain their mental focus and to utilize a ‘warrior mindset‘. However, most are rarely ever trained on HOW to actually accomplish that task. Regardless of the definition, real warriors have always been encouraged to train and accumulate both mental strength and physical strength. Within the modern military & law enforcement communities, it is often assumed that mental toughness will magically generate, or automatically result from tough physical and tactical training. This is not always true; in fact, it usually isn’t true at all, but mental toughness skills can be trained directly. In order to develop the true warrior mindset, it is imperative that you work to develop a mental training program. You must be open to learning and eliminate mental roadblocks (which can be challenging). You must, in a sense, break yourself down (just like military boot camps do when new soldiers enter into the military) and then build yourself back up.
The goal of a ‘Warrior Mindset‘ is to integrate the psychological with physical and tactical training to add a dimension that is often overlooked, but necessary to achieve the maximal performance of a skill. If you only talk about mental toughness but don’t actively train it, you haven’t developed into a complete warrior….regardless of what physical skills you have developed. You’ll find, with proper training, that you can possess the power to overcome any obstacle and change your outcomes if you train yourself mentally. This is the point at which you will truly bring out the ‘Warrior Mindset‘ within yourself.
This originally appeared in the Combat Trade Craft blog and is re-posted here with the permission of the original author. This first appeared in The Havok Journal on March 9, 2015.
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