Warrior Ways Blog Series - Ten Tools That Will Help You Transform Your Life

What if I told you that there are some simple tools you can collect in order to make your life easier, happier, and more fulfilling? What if I told you that these tools are completely free, and fairly simple to implement. All it takes is your will to do so, and some level of consistency. You don’t have to be perfect - it’s just a matter of a few concentrated minutes each day. In this blog series, I will give you ten tools - a new one in each post. Use this series like a challenge, and practice in between posts. Even if you master just one of these tools, you will notice a difference in your life. Imagine getting all ten! 

How do you master life? I suppose if you ask a hundred people, you might get a hundred different answers. Some might talk about finances, or material success of some kind. Others will talk about accomplishments, careers, family, but you will notice a commonality with all of those things. They are all external. They are all circumstantial. The one thing that remains constant throughout your life is you. The one person you have to hang out with from birth until death, is you. Nobody else, and nothing else. You are born with nothing, and you die with nothing. I’m not trying to be morbid, I’m just telling it like it is. So let’s throw all that other stuff aside. Let’s deal with the one constant in your life - you. How do you master life? You become the best possible you that you can be - and you learn to love yourself unconditionally. 

There is not a lot that people agree on these days, but I think one of the few things that we can get a majority consensus on, is that life is hard. The struggle is real, and there is no getting around it - not if you're a human, anyway. Maybe my sweet little terrier mix, Taquito, would disagree - he's got a pretty cush life. But the rest of us - we don't get any free passes. So if that's the way it is, and there is no getting around the fact that hard stuff happens to everybody, what do we do? We prepare for it! We train for it, just the way you would train for an Ironman race. You don't just sign up and show up for an Ironman. You have to train and prepare for months beforehand! You have to create a plan, be consistent with training, get the right gear, and eat right - at the very least! Competing in an Ironman is tough, but with the proper preparation, anyone can do it!

Life is the same. With the proper preparation and tools, it gets easier to wade through the difficult parts. That is how I came up with Warrior Ways. I often visualize this scene of a warrior calmly walking through chaos - there are objects flying about, a storm is whipping through, but the warrior just calmly, and slowly, walks through the chaos. They are barefoot, and very intentionally, walk putting one foot in front of the other, with their weight slowly rolling from the heel to their toe with each step. They remain grounded. They are unphased. They are strong, stable, and can handle anything. 

While the chaos in our lives might not always be visible (such as a storm or objects flying past you), the concept remains the same. In our real lives, chaos is illness, injury, financial pressure, layoffs, addiction, poverty, war, loss, and the list can go on forever. Many of these are things we can't control. What we can control is how we are affected, and how we react. 

Creating a strong foundation, staying grounded in it, and connecting to your inner peace and wisdom will make all the difference in living a happy and fulfilled life. It will also keep you from getting knocked off center every time life throws you a curveball - and believe me, it will. 

Over the past few years, as I have put hundreds of coaching hours under my belt, I have learned that we are more similar than we are different. I have learned that at the root of everyone's struggles, whatever those may be, are limiting beliefs or intrusive thoughts that are dragging them down. I am talking about everyone, from the uber successful to people facing homelessness. We all fight the same monsters. It is, after all, the human condition. 

This life is not for the faint of heart. It is chalk full of pain and suffering, and over the years, both in my personal and professional development, I have collected some amazing tools to help myself and others through all of it. 

This blog series is an effort to share those tools, and what feels to me like the keys to unlock some life changing secrets.

Why Warrior? 

The definition of a warrior is someone who is courageous, brave, and has the heart of a fighter even when they are not actively engaged in battle. They are authentic, loyal, and have a deep sense of honor. In other words, they are prepared and ready for whatever comes their way.

The first part of my process when working with a client is getting their inner game right, and I refer to this as warrior training. The goals with this are to:

1. Build a strong foundation so that the inevitable storms of life don’t throw you off center
2. Feel rooted and grounded with core beliefs that support you and lift you up
3. Connect with your inner wisdom, your higher self

With these systems in place, the rest - all of it - gets a lot easier. 

Imagine a life where:

• You are no longer affected by other people’s negativity or emotions
• You trust and follow your intuition with peace and clarity - You trust yourself
• You are no longer reactive when you feel triggered or when those around you are triggered
• You love and accept yourself fully - all parts of you - so it is easier to feel love from others
• You live in the present instead of obsessing over past events or worrying over what might or might not happen in the future

In the following posts in this series, you will learn all of the tips, tools, and tricks you need in order to always be the warrior version of yourself. Learn how to move calmly through this chaotic world. 

You need a solid foundation.

You need to feel rooted and grounded - especially for those moments when the ground gets pulled out from under you. 

In this series, you will be given ten tools, along with instructions on how to access and use them, that will absolutely change your life.

The Ten Tools:

1. Mindfulness - The Therapeutic Effects of The Present
2. Taking Inventory - Meet the Pieces of You
3. Finding Your Essence - Connect to Your Inner Child
4. Empathy - How Leading With Empathy Will Improve Your Relationships
5. Radical Self Love - Embrace Your Soulprint!
6. Perspective - How Changing Your Perspective Changes Your Circumstances
7. Pause - How Taking a Moment Always Changes the Outcome
8. Defining Your Values - How To Use Your Core Values to Make Big Decisions
9. Visualization - How Painting a Picture in Your Mind Can Change Your Reality
10. Conflict/Resolution - The 10% Rule

I want to be clear that these tools are all things that are implemented internally. You don’t need anything to achieve expert status in any of these areas. There are exercises that can help you in some of the areas, most of which involve journaling, but even that is not necessary (although the science behind the benefits of journaling is kind of insane). The point is, these are not the tools that people are usually recommending (like get 8 hours of sleep, write in your gratitude journal, drink lots of water, exercise, spend time in nature, etc). Those things are great too - by all means, if you can get one or all of the things on that list done each day, then you are winning. But I’m talking about building strength from the inside out. So that you are prepared. 

Whether you want to go on this full journey with me, and read and implement all ten of the strategies, or you just pick up one idea that resonates, I have succeeded! Along with each tool there will be exercises that you can use to strengthen that particular muscle. The goal is for this series to turn into a workbook that will include both the information and the exercises - Warrior Ways Workbook. So stay tuned!

I am going to kick it off by giving you a wonderful bonus tool, which is to become the observer. It’s time to gather data. You begin in the research phase. With anything that you want to change, you first have to understand it. If you want to break the cycle, you first have to understand the cycle. If our goal is to become the warrior - the highest and best version of you, let’s start to gather all of the things and reasons that stand in our way. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What are my triggers? 
• What are my thoughts after getting triggered? 
• What are the most common thoughts running through my head?
• What am I thinking when I feel nervous or stressed?

Do you see a pattern here? We are monitoring our thoughts - because you can’t change what you don’t understand. If you haven’t read it yet, there is a wonderful book by Eckhart Tolle called The Power of Now. In it, he talks about the power and importance of becoming the watcher of your thoughts. If you can become the observer, then you have stepped outside of the thought - instead of getting caught up in it. This will help you separate your wisdom from what is happening in your mind. You have a deeper wisdom - one that we will talk more about in this series. It is deeper than what is happening in your mind. Your mind gets stuck in limiting beliefs, intrusive thoughts, worries, and ego. If you can step outside of that, and observe it, you can also get past it. You will no longer be affected by limiting beliefs or imposter syndrome. You won’t have to compare yourself to others, because you will know your worth and celebrate your uniqueness. 

Your first task is to get used to observing your thoughts. You can write them down in a journal if you want to, but it is not necessary. Check in with your thoughts throughout the day, and notice what is happening in your mind. Especially notice in moments of stress and anxiety. Recognizing the pattern is the first step in changing it. 

Optional Exercise:  Daily mind dump journaling. Each day, write in a journal for three to five minutes. Just write what is in your mind, without judgment. Write without worrying about grammar or punctuation. Just write. It might be full of things you are worried about, things that have to get done, and things that you say to yourself on a regular basis, whether they are true or not. Those are your core beliefs. Let’s find out what they are, and if they don’t serve you, there is good news - you can change them!

Sign up here if you are interested in one-on-one coaching to work on these and any other life strategies.