Thought for the day (2) : More thoughts on mindset and the “warrior” mentality.
Thou, I am probably as guilty as anyone, I think the word “warrior” is thrown around so much that it has lost its meaning. From pampered professional athletes to weekend tact cool guys on the range, this is the word to use to justify whatever you are doing and whatever new tactical gadget you just overpaid to own.
I am going to post an article by MVT where the author uses the word numerous times, but, lists his opinions on what constitutes a “warrior mindset”. Different outlooks and an open mind creates intelligence thinking. If you get anything from it, then it’s not a waste.
MVT: The Warrior Mindset and Firearms Culture,
“Warrior Mindset is more than aggressiveness and determination, it is about over coming challenge 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
“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 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 in which you will truly bring out the Warrior Mindset within yourself.”
If you consider yourself a self-reliant and capable individual, then you need to action the warrior mindset. By your thoughts, actions, training and capabilities, you are working to become an embodiment of the warrior mindset. This is not something that you need to be concerned about only if you are in a martial profession, because in the great American tradition of individual self-reliance, we should all be capable self-reliant individuals. Thus, you are a protector of yourself, your family and your children. However, what is mostly missed is the fact that the utility of developing the warrior mindset and associated tactical skills, is not simply tactical capability. No, development of an effective warrior mindset is a positive character building process and will filter across and benefit all areas of your professional and personal life.
If we dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of tactical training in order to develop a warrior mindset, then we are directly concerned with developing:
_•Physical Fitness and Strength. _
_•Hand to Hand Self-Defense Skills. _
•Skill at Arms.
_ _
_Tactical Skills & Knowledge. _
•Physical & Moral Courage.
What is often missed, but is essential to a true warrior mindset, is talked about in the quotes at the top of the page:
_•Problem Solving & Decision Making Ability. _
_•Performance Under Stress. _
_•Psychological Resilience. _
_•‘Will to Win.’ _
_•Teamwork. _
_•Leadership Qualities. _
_•Situational Awareness. _
•Communication Skills.
These are the character building qualities that are essential to a warrior mindset and which will bleed across into your personal and professional life.
