Think Like a Warrior
The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable
This is our first Note on Darrin Donnelly and the first of six books from his "Sports for the Soul" series. We'll be featuring the entire series. This book is a fable about a college football coach going through hard times who is lucky enough to spend time with five of the most legendary sports coaches in history: John Wooden, Buck O’Neil, Herb Brooks, Paul “Bear” Bryant, and Vince Lombardi. Those coaches each share ONE Big Idea to help him navigate his challenges and fulfill his potential. I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas from this one so let’s jump straight in.
Big Ideas
- John Wooden on Effort + AttitudeOn effort and attitude.
- Buck O’Neil on Joy and EnthusiasmOn love and enthusiasm.
- Herb Brooks On big dreamsOn dreaming big.
- Bear Bryant on being relentlessOn being relentless.
- Vince Lombardi on choosing faith over fearOn faith over fear.
“Success is a choice. Whether you succeed or fail is primarily determined by the beliefs you choose to hold about yourself and the world around you.
Numerous studies confirm that a person’s mindset determines the type of life a person lives. Whether you are happy and successful or frustrated and miserable is a result of your mindset. And your mindset is determined by your inner beliefs—beliefs that you get to freely choose.
The story that follows reveals five inner beliefs held by the world’s greatest achievers. These beliefs create the mindset that makes a person unstoppable as they chase their dreams—whatever those dreams may be. For reasons you’ll learn in the book, I refer to this unstoppable mindset as ‘the warrior mindset.’ When you think like a warrior, there’s nothing that can stop you from achieving your goals. ...
Though the main character in this story is a college football coach, he’s representative of anyone with a big dream and the desire to be successful. ... Regardless of the career path each of us may be on, we all experience plenty of unforeseen obstacles as we follow our dreams. The five inner beliefs revealed in this book will empower you to take control of your life and overcome any obstacle that stands in your way. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey as you develop your own warrior mindset.”
~ Darrin Donnelly from Think Like a Warrior
I don’t remember exactly how I found this book on Amazon. It must have been recommended as I was buying another book on mental toughness. I do, however, remember being impressed enough by the fact that it had nearly 3,000 (!) reviews with nearly a 5-star average that I decided to give it a shot. And, I’m glad I did. It’s FANTASTIC. (Get a copy here.)
I love reading sports books for a number of reasons. First, as Darrin points out, the field of sports psychology is often referred to as “the science of success” because sports provide a REALLY powerful, simple frame to see if a given approach works or not. As Darrin says: “The scoreboard doesn’t lie.”
And, even more importantly for our purposes, sports books are entertaining—which makes them a GREAT way to give people who might not be into personal development an easy way in.
With that in mind: If you have a loved one who’s into sports but *not* that into personal development, I think this might be a GREAT book for them.
This book is a fable about a college football coach going through hard times who is lucky enough to spend time with five of the most legendary sports coaches in history: John Wooden, Buck O’Neil, Herb Brooks, Paul “Bear” Bryant, and Vince Lombardi. Those coaches each share ONE Big Idea to help him navigate his challenges and fulfill his potential.
btw: I read this book on a Sunday. I loved it so much I immediately bought the FIVE other books in Darrin’s “Sports for the Soul” series. Then I read ALL FIVE of *those* books by the end of the week. They’re all truly incredible. We’ll be featuring the entire series.
I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas from this one so let’s jump straight in.
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Download PDFI often refer to our players as elite warriors, not because they are going to war and certainly not because what we are doing is anything remotely as serious as war, but because they are trained in an incredibly rigorous way and are constantly engaged in physical, mental, and spiritual combat.
Get the BookJohn Wooden on Effort + Attitude
“‘I sincerely believe that the difference was that I didn’t talk about winning and losing. I didn’t talk about beating opponents. I kept our focus on only what we could control: our effort and our attitude in the present moment.’
‘This philosophy came from my Dad. He told me that I should never try to be better than someone else. But, he also said that I should never stop trying to be the very best that I could be. ‘You have control over that,’ he said. ‘You don’t have control over others.’
‘This was the difference-maker. I taught my players that being successful had nothing to do with the final score. Success could only be measured by whether you put in the maximum effort. You could lose on the scoreboard and still be successful if you gave your absolute best effort. You could also win on the scoreboard and be unsuccessful if you didn’t give your best. Regardless of what the final score says, only you can know if you’re successful because only you can know if you truly did your best.’
‘By focusing on only the things you can control, it also forces you to think, live, and act in the present moment. This is so important. People waste too much time and energy thinking about past mistakes or worrying about the future. But there’s nothing we can do about the past and the future is determined by what we choose to focus our thoughts and actions on right now. You have to focus on the present. That’s where your life is lived. How often people forget this.’
Wooden’s words hit me square. I had been wasting too much time and mental energy stressing myself out by replaying past mistakes or worrying about what might happen in the coming weeks and months.’”
That’s wisdom from the first coach we meet: John Wooden.
As you may know, The Sporting Newsnamed Wooden the “Greatest Coach of All Time.” His UCLA Bruins won 10 NCAA Championships in 12 years and once had an 88-game winning streak. He’s also the ONLY person to ever be inducted into the NCAA Hall of Fame as BOTH a player AND a Coach.
Wooden is one of my all-time favorite teachers and heroes—which is why his Heroic portrait is staring at me as I type this. (Check out our Notes on Wooden andBe Quick But Don’t Hurry.)
What you may *not* know is that Wooden spent ELEVEN years coaching high school basketball. Then, during World War II in 1942 (at 32 years old), he joined the United States Navy. He served until 1946 and left as a lieutenant. Then he coached college basketball for another SEVENTEEN years before he won his first NCAA Championship in 1964. He was 54 years old.
By that point, he had been coaching for nearly THREE DECADES. I always find it helpful to remember that our heroes weren’t always heroes.
Here’s what’s even more important for our purposes: Wooden didn’t focus on winning or losing. OF COURSE he wanted to win, but he knew that the only way to have the best shot at the outcome goals WHILE winning the ultimate game of life (RIGHT NOW!) was to focus ALL of his and his players’ energy on what was 100% within their control: their effort and their attitude.
Here’s the essence of Wooden’s wisdom the hero of the story writes down: “I FOCUS ON ONLY THE THINGS I HAVE TOTAL CONTROL OVER: MY EFFORT AND MY ATTITUDE. By focusing on only what I can control, my effort and my attitude in the present moment, I will have the peace of mind that comes from knowing the results will take care of themselves. I will not lose myself in the past or worry about the future. I will focus on the present. If I truly give my maximum effort to be the best I can be today, I will be successful. NOTHING can take that from me.”
P.S. As Darrin points out, Wooden’s approach was very similar to another legendary coach: Nick Saban. Saban calls it “The Process.” We talk about The Process in our Notes on Ryan Holiday’sThe Obstacle Is the Way where he quotes Saban telling us:“Don’t think about winning the SEC Championship. Don’t think about the national championship. Think about what you needed to do in this drill, on this play, in this moment. That’s the process: Let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand.”
The great mental toughness coach Brian Cain echoes this wisdom inThe 10 Pillars of Mental Performance Mastery where he tells us:“Remember, depression is obsession with the past, anxiety is obsession about the future, and optimal performance is obsession about the present.”
‘Success is not something others can give you,’ Wooden said. ‘True success can only be attained by knowing you did your very best to become the best you’re capable of becoming. I don’t care what the scoreboard says, what your record ends up being at the end of the season, or what your job title is. If you give your best, you will be a success.’
I focus only on the things I have total control over: my effort and my attitude.
Buck O’Neil on Joy and Enthusiasm
“‘No, no, no,’ Buck said. ‘You’ve got it all wrong. You can’t blame anything outside of you for taking away your joy. Only you can take the joy out of your life.
‘I told you about all the unfair things I went through, but I didn’t let those things rob me of my joy and my love for the game of baseball. If my grandfather could stay optimistic after everything he went through, what excuse do any of us have? No, man, you’ve got to stop letting stuff out there take the joy out of your life. Passion and optimism, these are things you have to give yourself. Nobody can give them to you.’
‘I hear what you’re saying, but I can’t ignore reality,’ I said, ‘There is a lot of negative stuff going on right now in my career and in my life. I can’t ignore those things.’
‘There’s a big difference between ignoring those things and dwelling on them,’ Buck said. ‘Sure, there’s negative stuff out there, always will be. But you’ve got to zap those negative thoughts and focus on the positive. You’ve got to keep your focus on the love of the game and the good things in your life. You’ve got to take the time to be thankful for all the wonderful things you have going for you.
‘Finding what you love is the first step. After that, you have to remind yourself every day why you love it. Otherwise, the world can strip away your passion.
‘The world isn’t fair and it isn’t easy. You know this. But you have so much to be thankful for. You have so much going for you. Start counting your blessings and you’ll quickly realize they’re trouncing your curses.’”
Buck O’Neil is the second great coach we meet in this great fable.
Have you ever heard of him? I hadn’t before reading this book. His story is astonishingly inspiring. His grandfather was kidnapped as a young boy and brought to America on a slave ship. But he never lost hope and never became bitter and encouraged his son and his grandson to dream and then go do the hard work to achieve those dreams.
And that’s what Buck did.
He became one of the all-time great players in the Negro Leagues of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Then he became a scout for the Chicago Cubs and the first African American coach in Major League Baseball. More recently, he was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame. (You can watch a tribute video and learn a little more here.)
Buck was an incredibly inspiring and joyful man whose enthusiasm and love for life deeply affected everyone he met. And, that’s what he teaches us in the book.
Here’s the inspiring summation of the wisdom from our time with Buck O’Neil:“I LOVE WHAT I DO AND I ATTACK EACH DAY WITH JOY AND ENTHUSIASM. I am passionate about what I do for a living. I am grateful for the talents and interests I’ve been uniquely blessed with that lead me to my purpose in life. I am fully committed to doing something I love and something I was born to do. I do not wait for someone to hand me the life I want to live, I go out and create it on my own. My passion for what I do gives me a competitive advantage over those who don’t have the same level of passion. I zap negative thoughts and focus on the positive. I find opportunities in every obstacle. Life is good. I am grateful for all the wonderful blessings of my life.”
I love what I do and I attack each day with joy and enthusiasm.
Herb Brooks On big dreams
“‘What a person believes is possible will largely determine what it is that person can or cannot do,’ Herb said. ‘This is why our dreams and goals are so important. As the leader of your team, you owe it to your players to encourage them to believe bigger. We owe it to our families, our communities, our nation. We owe it to everyone around us. Dreams do come true and we need to become a nation of dreamers once again!
‘And yes, you will encounter failures. Let me save you the suspense. When you set big goals and chase big dreams, you will fail along the way, especially at first. That’s part of the process. Failure is a necessary step on the path to making big dreams come true. But failure along the way confirms that you’re setting big goals, and that’s good! Nothing worth doing is ever easy. But with each failure and each setback, you get closer and closer to your ultimate goal.’ ...
‘Of course, none of that happens if you don’t have a big enough dream. If you don’t set big, crazy, unreasonable goals, you’ll never know how far you could have gone.
It takes courage to chase big dreams. It takes courage to set big goals again and again and to keep chasing after them no matter how many times you fall short. To be a leader, you must have the courage to dream big, to commit yourself to those dreams, and to relentlessly pursue those dreams no matter what obstacles you face.’”
That’s from the chapter in which we meet the great hockey coach, Herb Brooks.
Ever heard of “The Miracle on Ice”? Brooks was the coach of that team. As Darrin tells us: “Herb Brooks wasn’t just a hockey coach. He was America’s coach. He famously led the United States hockey team to a win over the ‘unbeatable’ Soviet Union team in the 1980 Winter Olympics.”
The wisdom we get from him?
Have the courage to dream BIG. Expect failure. Dust yourself off and have the COURAGE to continue to dare greatly.
Bob Rotella and wisdom from How Champions Think came to mind as I read this. Rotella tells us: “People who go for greatness are going to get knocked down a lot. They’ll have difficult times. They’ll struggle with doubt and uncertainty. People around them will question the wisdom of their quest. The issue is not whether you’ll fail, because you will. It’s whether you’ll get back up and keep going. It’s whether you can sustain your self-confidence and your belief in yourself and keep bouncing back. Failure is only final when you stop striving.”
Here’s the summation of the wisdom from this lesson:“I DREAM BIG AND I IGNORE THE NAYSAYERS. I set huge goals and I fully commit myself to achieving those goals. I ignore those who tell me to be more ‘realistic’ about my goals. Naysayers represent the voices of fear and cynicism and I will not listen to them. I remind myself of all the reasons my dreams CAN come true. I will become the best version of myself and the only way to reach my full potential is to aim as high as possible. Every day, a person makes the choice to either move forward or backward. Today, I choose to move forward and chase my big dreams. Miracles will occur when I work hard to follow MY dreams.”
I dream big and I ignore the naysayers.
Bear Bryant on being relentless
“‘That’s the one thing that separated my teams from everybody else’s.’ He paused, as though he was about to reveal the secret to success. ‘Mental toughness. My teams were relentless. In practice, I pushed them to the edge of where they thought they could go and then pushed them further and further past that. They learned that their ability to handle pressure and adversity was limited only by their beliefs. That’s what mental toughness is all about.’
‘Sounds sort of like Navy SEALs training,’ I said.
‘It is sort of like that. Most people have no idea how much pressure they can take, how many obstacles they can withstand, how many times they can get knocked down and still get back up…
‘I would tell my teams, ‘Winning isn’t imperative, but getting tougher in the fourth quarter is,’ Bear said. ‘That’s what mattered most to me.
‘It all starts with the belief that you can handle whatever challenge you’re facing. You can go further. You can withstand any trouble that comes your way.
‘If you believe that, if you believe that deep in your gut, then nothing can beat you down. Nothing at all.’”
That’s from the chapter on our time with legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant who, for the record, got his nickname wrestling a bear as a kid. :)
The essence of his wisdom? BE RELENTLESS. You can handle more pressure than you think.
When I think of the word “relentless,” I think of Michael Jordan’s mental toughness coach Tom Grover and his book calledRelentless. As it turns out, he talks about pressure as well.
Here’s how he puts it: “Pressure can bust pipes, but it can also make diamonds. If you take the negative view, it will crush you; now you’re in an ‘I can’t do this’ frame of mind. But the positive view is that pressure is a challenge that will define you; it gives you the opportunity to see how much you can take, how hard you can go. Everyone wants to cut back on stress, because stress kills. I say bullshit. Stress is what brings you to life. Let it motivate you, make you work harder. Use it, don’t run from it. When it makes you uncomfortable, so what? The payoff is worth it. Work through the discomfort, you’ll survive. And then go back for more.”
Then there’s our collection of Navy SEAL wisdom. Of course, all those authors echo this wisdom.
In Unbeatable Mind, Mark Divine tells us: “You are capable of so much more than you think you are, but you have been kept in the dark about this potential your entire life. I call this potential your 20X Factor, in that you are capable of at least twenty times what your current paradigm allows you to believe.”
How do we tap into that 20x power?
Follow the wisdom from this lesson:“I AM RELENTLESS AND I WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON MY DREAMS. I know that problems will come my way, but I know that I have what it takes to overcome each and every one of them. No matter what obstacles I face today, I will fight my way through them. Nothing can stop me from reaching my chosen destination. I CHOOSE to persevere and never back down from the obstacles that stand between me and my dreams. Simply making this decision to never give up ASSURES me of success in whatever I set out to do. I will never, ever give up on my dreams. I am unstoppable.”
I am relentless and I will never give up on my dreams.
Vince Lombardi on choosing faith over fear
“‘I believe we all have a moral obligation to use the talents God has given us and to pursue the dreams God has placed in our hearts. And that means working extremely hard to enhance those talents and chase those dreams. We must see ourselves as co-creators with the Creator.
‘You see, our skills can only be honed and our character can only be improved by pushing ourselves to the max. By overcoming the struggle and adversity that comes from trying to become the very best we can possibly be. By reaching our limit and then pushing even further. That is how we give our best. That is how we achieve greatness.
‘If you give anything less than your best, you’re not only cheating yourself, you’re also cheating your Maker. You have a responsibility to become the best version of yourself, the person God made you to be. Too many people back down or quit before they’ve given their all.’”
That’s our fifth and final inspiring coach: Vince Lombardi.
His main lesson? We need to choose FAITH over Fear. We need to cultivate the CONFIDENCE to know that we have what it takes to meet any and all obstacles that stand in the way of us doing what we’re here to do. And, there’s only ONE way to do that.
We need to EARN that trust by working extremely hard to enhance the talents we’ve been given just like Angela Duckworth tells us in this +1 on Effort Counts Twice.
Here’s the distillation of Lombardi’s wisdom:“I CHOOSE FAITH OVER FEAR. I have complete and total confidence that I have what it takes to accomplish the dreams in my heart. Most failures are a result of people falling to their fears and worries. I am fearless. I am fully committed to pursuing my dreams, developing the unique talents I’ve been blessed with, and becoming the person I was born to be. I know that if I give my absolute best today, I can safely trust God to put me where I need to be and to make sure that everything works out for the best. I believe I am here for a reason and I have everything I need to fulfill my purpose in life. Success follows faith and I have unbreakable faith.”
John Wooden. Buck O’Neil. Herb Brooks. Bear Bryant. Vince Lombardi.
Five of the all-time greatest coaches. What do they tell us?
Focus only on the things we have total control over: effort and attitude. Love what we do and attack each day with joy and enthusiasm. Dream big and ignore the naysayers. Be relentless and never give up on our dreams. Choose faith over fear.
When? TODAY, Hero. Day 1. All in. LET’S GO!
I choose faith over fear.
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