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

by Darrin Donnelly

“But remember this,” I yelled over the commotion. “It’s a choice you have to make. Whether to be a warrior or a quitter is a choice that you must make.

Each one of you is responsible for that choice.

“What’s going on?” I asked Jimmy on the sidelines. “Is it the wind?” “I don’t know what it is,” he said. “I’m just not feeling it today.” “No problem,” I said. “We’ll give Ray another shot. Next man up.” Jimmy was surprised by my abrupt decision to replace him, but I couldn’t help but think of Bear Bryant’s tactics

for lighting a fire in his star players by demoting them from time to time. I wanted to see how Jimmy responded.

Jimmy pulled me aside. “Coach, I want back in.”

“Ray’s playing pretty good,” I said. “And you’re not feeling it today, remember? Don’t worry about it, we all have days like this.”

we kept our focus on only what we could control.

All you can do is play your absolute best, relentlessly chase your dreams, and let the results take care of themselves.

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

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

Champions, however, approach the unknowable realm with confidence and faith.

“Whether you walk into the unknown with faith or fear determines your future.”

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

Lombardi said. “It’s a choice we’re all constantly making, usually without even realizing it. 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...

“That’s the only way to be successful. 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.

“The thing is, as I’m sure you know, 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 defeatism everywhere. A team that thinks it’s going to lose is going to lo...

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

“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 that he has a huge advantage over those who were not willing to pay such a price.

“For a man to be confident in a task, he must know that he has done everything possible to properly prepare for it. He will then exude confidence.

“Another way to increase confidence is to raise the bar of expectations for ...

If you refuse to settle for anything less than your best, you’ll be amazed at ...

“If you want to raise confidence, raise expectations.”

“Studying people who have already done what you wish to do is another way to quickly and easily build confidence. If they accomplished something you seek to accomplish, simply do what they did and there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to accomplish the same. Learn from those who have gone before you, learn how they did it, learn from both their successes and their failures. This is another simple way to build confidence, but most people don’t think to do the simple things that lead to success.

“From a leader’s perspective, he can quickly build confidence in his troops

by letting them know that he believes in them. Again, simple but effective. Of course, the troops must trust the leader for this to be effective and the leader must fully believe...

“Everyone needs to have someone they trust telling them they believe in them. And the most important perso...

You have to tell yourself again and again that you have what it takes to succeed. There is tremendous power in self-talk and the right self-talk quickly produces self-confidence. Always tell yourself that you can do it. Never talk down to yourself. This is a...

“You must also make it a habit of visualizing your future success,” he continued. “Use your imagination to see yourself achieving your dreams. Take some time to dream vividly and think about what it will look and feel like when you accomplish your goals. Most people do the opposite. They visualize all the things that could go wrong in the future or have gone wrong in the past. They then make decisions out of fear and a lack of confidence.

“The fastest way to lose confidence is to dwell on past mistakes. Once an error

is made, learn from it, then put it out of your mind. The mistake has served its purpose, now it must be forgotten. If you dwell on the mistake, you’ll create new fears in your mind...

“It starts with always choosing faith over fear. Everything will work out for the best if you make it a habit of choosing faith over fear.”

“My faith in a higher power, my faith in God, has always been the center of my life and the source of my strength and confidence,” Lombardi said. “The higher power that resides in the realm outside of what we can see and touch, this is where I found my confidence. I don’t know where else a man could ever find the type of faith I’m talking about.

“In God is where I find my assurance that everything will work out for those who give their very best. I firmly believe that. I have total confidence and total trust in that. God is the greatest source of confidence.

“You see, when we place our dependence on God, we no longer have to worry. This type of faith allows us to be bold, even recklessly bold, in the pursuit of our dreams. Faith in God takes confidence to a whole new level. It provides us with help along the way as well as sureness in our action. We can know ...

“When you have that type of faith, there is nothing to fear. There is no match for ...

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 fu...

“If you give anything less than your best, you’re not only cheating yourself, you’re ...

You have a responsibility to become the best version of yourself, the person God made you to be. Too many people back down o...

They may hope and pray and call that faith, but all along God is waiting for them to get off the couch and start boldly pursuing what it is they desire.

“And don’t misunderstand me, I know the importance of prayer. Prayer was central to my life. I went to Mass every morning and I prayed throughout each day. But I never expected those prayers to replace the need for bold and aggressive action on my part.

O...

contrary, the two were intertwined. My habit of prayer was part of who I was and my faith was the fuel for everything I did. I prayed for guidance and strength and for God to take care of the things that I couldn’t. I knew that God expected me to b...

“To that I would say, the story isn’t finished,” Lombardi said. “You’re only seeing a small chapter or scene in a much bigger story that God is moving

you along in.

“People are constantly being guided down a different path than they originally set out on. I believe the Good Lord tends to put us in the right place. We have to trust that. We have to trust that God knows our purpose b...

“We also have to be careful not to confuse a temporary problem with a permanent one. God has a way of molding us into the people we’re supposed to become and often times when we think we’ve reach...