The Warrior Mindset – A Competitive Advantage

posted on: January 6, 2019
author: Brian Lomax, Ed.D.

One of my favorite competitive mindsets for success is what I call the “Warrior Mindset.” It is a fundamental mindset of a great competitor and it is best expressed by the following quote:

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.”   -Carlos Castaneda

The Ordinary Man

Before examining the warrior in this quote in more detail, let’s consider the ordinary man first. What does it mean to take something as a blessing or a curse? In my opinion, it means judging everything that happens to you as either good or bad, and then basing your behavior on that judgment. For example, let’s say that you are competing in a tournament and you or your team drew the #1 seed. A common reaction would be to think you were unlucky and that you’re going to lose. You might say something like, “That sucks. I came all this way just to lose in the first round.” Based on that reaction, you probably act differently than you would if you were playing someone else.

Another example would be the tennis player who loses a point when the opponent’s shot hits the top of the net and dribbles over. Losing a point this way feels like terrible luck and if it happens more than once in a match, you feel like things aren’t going your way. These reactions are common, and unfortunately, represent an ordinary mindset. It’s not the mindset that is going to help you compete like a champion.

The Warrior

Now let’s take a look at the warrior. The warrior that Carlos Castaneda is talking about in the above quote isn’t necessarily a warrior in the traditional sense of that word. Rather, he is someone who is fighting for personal freedom. He’s fighting the battle to control the ego. That’s a difficult battle that never ends.

To succeed more often in that battle, it’s necessary to view everything that happens in life as a challenge. The first step in that process is acceptance. Whatever just happened, happened. It’s in the past now and it can’t be changed. Accept it. The second step is to embrace it. Embrace the challenge of life and everything it throws at you. That’s not always easy, but it will provide a path forward. Cursing your bad luck won’t do that. Since you get to choose your attitude toward the various events in your life, you want to use that power to help you move in the direction of achieving your goals and objectives.

The Warrior Mindset

I was talking to a young tennis player this morning and she was telling me how she had a 5-2 lead in a set, and all of a sudden her opponent started playing lights out. The opponent came back and at 5-all in the set, this player felt like she had been mentally broken by the other girl. This scenario happens all the time in tennis.

How would a warrior react to this situation? She would embrace it! It’s 5-all! She’s still in the set. She still has everything to play for. It doesn’t matter how she got to 5-all. The important thing is that that is the score and she still wants to win. By giving her all in this situation, she will learn so much about herself and she will be a better player for the experience.

Taking that approach to blowing a 5-2 lead is not ordinary, and that’s the point. You don’t want to be ordinary. You want to be a warrior. You want to embrace the challenges that sport and life throw at you. That’s where great achievements come from and it’s where you find personal growth. Adopt the warrior mindset today.