Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable (Sports for the Soul Book 1)

by Darrin Donnelly

never listen to naysayers.

reputation for being someone who didn’t like to waste even a minute of his time.

Bear taught you the importance of mental toughness and never giving up.

mental toughness, perseverance, and total commitment in the face of adversity.

“Herb taught you the power of dreaming big, aiming higher than mos...

and pushing yourself to be the best you c...

He also taught you to ignore the critics, the cynics, ...

“Buck taught you how important it is to love what you do and to tackle each day with a positive, can-do attitude. Again, this is something I totally agree with.

Coach Wooden taught you to focus less on wins and losses and instead keep your focus on what you can completely control: your effort and your attitude. Give your best and then let the results take care of themselves. Powerful advice to live by. I agree 100 percent with Coach Wooden.”

‘Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing?’”

What I said was that winning is not everything, but making the effort to win is.

that the will to win is everything.

meant that giving everything you’ve got to achieve a worthy goal is w...

“In fact, I also said, on many occasions, that the will to win and the will to excel are more important than the results that follow.

Man must not ever lose his will to excel and improve.

you can never be apathetic or...

You have to keep striving, keep moving forward, keep excelling, a...

believe that while you can’t always be first, you have to believe that you should have been first.

You must believe that you were never beaten, but that time simply ran out on you.

“What you’ve learned from the other coaches are four of the five core beliefs that make a champion a champion,”

“If you—or anyone else—were to embrace these beliefs, to really live by these principles day in and day out, you would accomplish anything you set your mind to.

This is the final, and most important, belief.”

“A man will only rise as high as his confidence level,”

“And confidence is all about how you approach the unknowable.”

“There are many things in life that we can’t control and we can’t know,”

“Each of us must determine exactly how we approach this unknowable realm of life.

“Many people approach this realm with fear and ...

Some people try to ignore ...

that strategy usually leads to either too much caution o...

Champions, however, approach the unknowable realm with co...

“Whether you walk into the unknown with faith or fear deter...

“Every action you take and every decision you make is done out of either faith or fear,”

Are you walking forward in faith or fear?

The answer will determine your success.

“Man will only go as far as his faith and confi...

My job as a coach, a teacher, and a leader was to continuously build more and more ...

They had to believe they cou...

They had to have faith in themselves and their abilities and this faith needed to be exp...

You defeat defeatism with confidence.

The more confidence you have, the more faith you have, the more you believe in yourself and your abilities; the more success and happiness you will have in life.

confidence is a fickle thing.

Fear has a way of creeping in and deflating our confidence.

Once that happens, you’re in big trouble because it spreads d...

hours after the big win your team pulled off,

fear is creeping back into the psyche of your players.

“Sometimes, we start losing our confidence and we don’t know why,”

“That’s the most frustrating. Regardless of why it happens, the key is to realize that confidence is a precious commodity. It must be continuously protected and built upon. It’s the energy that drives you forward and determines your future.”

“How do we make sure we’re always building confidence and protecting it?

“The fastest and easiest way to build confidence is through preparation.

If a man knows that he’s put in the work and the study and made the sacrifices necessary to be successful at something, he can be confident