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Warrior Mindset

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4.5 out of 5

433 global ratings

5 star		73%
4 star		15%
3 star		6%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

Warrior Mindset

byDr. Michael Asken

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Top positive review

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Alain B. Burrese

Highly recommended!

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2011

"Warrior Mindset: Mental Toughness Skills for a Nation's Peacekeepers" by Michael J. Asken, Ph.D., Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, and Loren W. Christensen, with a Foreword by bestselling author Brad Thor, is an outstanding book for all military, police, martial artists, and anyone else wanting to develop the mindset to deal with high stress situations in order to perform. As the title suggests, it is aimed at those in the military or law enforcement, the warriors of our society. However, I do believe the lessons contained in this book will help those outside of these fields as well.

In Thor's Foreword, he quotes General Patton, "If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do." I agree with Thor, that this is so true. When I taught at the 2nd I.D. Scout Sniper School, we used high fatigue to help train the mind, because when the body gets tired, the mind sometimes quits thinking. This book would have been a great resource back then. I wish it had been available back then, and am glad it is available today.

The book is extremely well researched, and there are numerous pages of references. The authors have taken the best from these sources and condensed it down to make it relevant, practical, and easy to digest for those that want to incorporate mental toughness training into their training regimens. And if you are a soldier or law enforcement officer, you must incorporate mental toughness training into your program. Your life, and the lives of those you work with, may depend on it. If you are in athletics or business, these techniques will also help you perform, even though it might not be life or death.

Some of the information in this book will be new to people, and some such as breathing and imagery will be familiar. (Read the book to see how they differentiate imagery from visualization, something I really liked and shared with my Hapkido class one night to reinforce some of the solo training exercises I tell my students to perform when they don't have training partners available. However, even those topics that are familiar are presented in a refreshing and practical way that is directed toward those in high risk occupations, those positions that really need these techniques and strategies to perform at their highest.

I really can't recommend this book enough. For any law enforcement officer, soldier, or martial artist, this book is a must read. For those of us who teach to the above, this book will enable you to be a better instructor as you incorporate mental toughness lessons with your physical teachings. Highly recommended!

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of Hard Won Wisdom From The School of Hard Knocks and others.

11 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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Weak Sauce

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2012

No reason to make separate reviews since I bought these both at the same time.

Epictetus says that the purpose of philosophy is to make life better. In this regard most philosophers are failures, Kierkegard, Hume, Spinoza all write a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo that don't mean squat to the average person, nor do they enlighten us how to be better humans and thus live better. Even Nietzsche at least paints a picture that you can utilize to your advantage even if he could not. The book the Warrior Mindset is comparable to works like those from Spinoza, irrelevant.

When I bought The Warrior Mindset I expected a work that both inspired me and informed me on how to be better than I am. How to handle tough people and situations. It fails miserably by boring you to death with definitions, statistics, figures, and other wonky crap that doesn't actually help you. The chapters are titled things like fear and the warrior mindset or arousal and the warrior mindset and all they do is tell you about distractions from having a warrior mindset as if this is something we all have but these distractions are in the way. You don't grow a garden by merely pulling weeds you got to plant seeds as well. If you've ever read a self help book just imagine the first three utterly useless chapters. Now make the whole book like that. Not to mention the world arousal is used almost as many times as St Augustine asks for forgiveness.

Leadership and Training by Paul R. Howe is completely different. It is written by a plain spoken and experienced person instead of a smug psychologist or a public speaker. It's written in chapters not in bullet points. There wasn't a bunch of lame ass chapters about problems that get in the way of having the right attitude it gives you the answers to having the right attitude. Things like step one, have a good reason for what you do, something to fight for. Sounds simple and obvious but how many of us have actually thought of something that really inspires us to do our job(other than to receive a paycheck). If you don't believe in what you do then you will be weak and thus not have an indestructible mindset.

55 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Alain B. Burrese

Highly recommended!

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2011

Verified Purchase

"Warrior Mindset: Mental Toughness Skills for a Nation's Peacekeepers" by Michael J. Asken, Ph.D., Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, and Loren W. Christensen, with a Foreword by bestselling author Brad Thor, is an outstanding book for all military, police, martial artists, and anyone else wanting to develop the mindset to deal with high stress situations in order to perform. As the title suggests, it is aimed at those in the military or law enforcement, the warriors of our society. However, I do believe the lessons contained in this book will help those outside of these fields as well.

In Thor's Foreword, he quotes General Patton, "If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do." I agree with Thor, that this is so true. When I taught at the 2nd I.D. Scout Sniper School, we used high fatigue to help train the mind, because when the body gets tired, the mind sometimes quits thinking. This book would have been a great resource back then. I wish it had been available back then, and am glad it is available today.

The book is extremely well researched, and there are numerous pages of references. The authors have taken the best from these sources and condensed it down to make it relevant, practical, and easy to digest for those that want to incorporate mental toughness training into their training regimens. And if you are a soldier or law enforcement officer, you must incorporate mental toughness training into your program. Your life, and the lives of those you work with, may depend on it. If you are in athletics or business, these techniques will also help you perform, even though it might not be life or death.

Some of the information in this book will be new to people, and some such as breathing and imagery will be familiar. (Read the book to see how they differentiate imagery from visualization, something I really liked and shared with my Hapkido class one night to reinforce some of the solo training exercises I tell my students to perform when they don't have training partners available. However, even those topics that are familiar are presented in a refreshing and practical way that is directed toward those in high risk occupations, those positions that really need these techniques and strategies to perform at their highest.

I really can't recommend this book enough. For any law enforcement officer, soldier, or martial artist, this book is a must read. For those of us who teach to the above, this book will enable you to be a better instructor as you incorporate mental toughness lessons with your physical teachings. Highly recommended!

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of Hard Won Wisdom From The School of Hard Knocks and others.

11 people found this helpful

A General Civilian's Review

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2010

Verified Purchase

For full disclosure, I am not involved in the armed forces, but rather a general civilian. I purchased this book based on positive reviews I have received stating that this book was backed by concrete scientific research and studies, a feature many "mindset books" lack.

This book does not disappoint in that area. Warrior Mindset contains numerous practical exercises for developing a stronger mind and backs each exercise with research for doing so. The book is clearly laid out and easy to follow. Warrior Mindset is directed at the armed forces, so naturally numerous examples are from armed forces or police scenarios. There are also numerous sports examples and occasionally other professions. Despite this, I was pleasantly surprised of the take-aways from each chapter as they are very much relevant to whatever field you are in, specially the practical exercises.

The only downside to this book is it is dry. The research is of huge benefit, but sometimes I craved for a more personal sounding voice to the authors. It reads like a manual. This could be a positive or negative depending on your taste.

Overall, if you have come from a world of lightly backed research books on mindset that make you feel good, but provide little practicality; this book will be refreshing. It is raw, honest, and to the point. But realize this book IS directed towards the armed forces.

76 people found this helpful

Malini L. Goculdas

Warrior mindset - and implications for the rest of us

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2011

Verified Purchase

I have almost finished reading Warrior Mindset by Dr. Michael Asken, Loren Christensen and Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. This book is related to other books, namely On Combat and On Killing.

These books target the professional warriors of our society, the police officers who protect the streets and the soldiers who fight for their country and its values. In their own parlance, they are the "sheepdogs," guarding society/civilians/"sheep" against "wolves." The sheepdogs share capabilities of wolves in that they can be powerful and dangerous, but they use their power for the good of society. They are the ones who run towards danger, while the rest of us run from it. A sense of duty and honor pervades their commitment to their profession, but many also live their lives in this way, always aware that one day they may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Warrior Mindset discusses the mental toughness required of warriors, and how to attain and maintain it. It is key to develop and train that mindset, so that in the hour of need, one is prepared. As Grossman pointed out in On Combat, "You do not rise to the occasion, you sink to your level of training."

What might surprise you - although it shouldn't - is that the techniques described in Warrior Mindset include meditation, visualization/imagery, affirmations/positive thinking, muscle relaxation techniques, arousal/psyching up, being in "the zone," etc. The terminology comes in military packaging, such as Tactical Arousal Control, Stress Inoculation Training (SIT), OODA loop, etc.

There is nothing necessarily mystical about this stuff, the authors assure their warrior readers; these are proven techniques and methodologies to help you cope with the ultimate stressful situation or "condition black," when your heart is pounding so madly that you may experience tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, memory lapses, etc. At such a time, you better hope your training has built up enough muscle memory that it kicks in and helps you do the right things - within your sphere of control - to get out safely.

There is a lot of wisdom in this compact book. There are ABSOLUTELY lessons in this book for laypersons. As a matter of fact, every single one of the methodolgies also applies in the civilian world. Highly recommended.

19 people found this helpful

This is a book for every warrior, or want to be warrior. A must book to read and study.

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2010

Verified Purchase

Finally, a book that actually tests your warrior skills and shows you how you can improve your performance. This short review cannot do this book justice. This is not a book you can just skim over. It is more like an academic text that should be studied in order to get the most benefit. As someone who actually enjoys taking tests, after taking this test, I personally was not pleased with my performance on this warrior mindset examination. Even though I successfully passed each section, I also found out the areas that I need to improve upon to be a more complete and effective warrior. If you desire to really live as a warrior, this is a book that must be read and studied.

This book covers the entire realm of what it takes to be a warrior. It begins by a screening examination to determine your strong areas and where you need to improve yourself. It moves to the importance of physical conditioning (This is where I scored the maximum), handling the stress of combat, a mental attack plan, developing concentration skills, tactical performance factors, tactical self-talk and mental toughness, the danger of negative thoughts and the importance of having the winning warrior attitude Do not pass up the appendix sections because they have some very valuable instructions on how to use relaxation techniques for warriors.

In conclusion, all serious military and law enforcement officers and trainers should have a copy of this excellent book in their personal library and continually review themselves and their students using this book as a guide.

Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Monadnock Defensive Tactics System)

33 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Warrior/Emergency personel mandate(imo)

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2013

Verified Purchase

I felt this was an excellent read. Imo, it should be on the readers list for USMC commadants reading list, police, fire and ems reading lists. The cons of this book imo were the authors often overlapped their own research into the book - Grossman, Asken, Christian. Though imo this book delves the deepest as far as one piece of work integrating the ability to keep mental toughness and clarity. A definite top read. My quick breakdown and take away from the book is breath control( to control the autonomic system), goal orientation, progressive steps to goal all provide a feedback loop for mental toughness. As a professional firefighter one of the top calls we respond to on a Daily basis is "shortness of breath, difficulty breathing," most of these people are unable to self regulate themselves, this is the strength of the book imo on making people aware and teaching them the means and need to do so. Personal examples would be a 4yr old with a badly deformed wrist from falling 6plus feet, had the ability to self regulate due to the calm parent present, he did not shed a tear or complaint though in obvious pain in comparison to regular calls from adults for their panic attacks from the simplest of things. This is not to say this is the only book where one could learn to self regulate, but it is the most comprehensive with regard to research and application for the warrior-military, police, fire, ems. This book recognizes the need for the physical and psychological tools needed for optimal success. "The secret of success in life is for a a man to be ready for his time when it comes" B. Disareli

10 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2012

Verified Purchase

No reason to make separate reviews since I bought these both at the same time.

Epictetus says that the purpose of philosophy is to make life better. In this regard most philosophers are failures, Kierkegard, Hume, Spinoza all write a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo that don't mean squat to the average person, nor do they enlighten us how to be better humans and thus live better. Even Nietzsche at least paints a picture that you can utilize to your advantage even if he could not. The book the Warrior Mindset is comparable to works like those from Spinoza, irrelevant.

When I bought The Warrior Mindset I expected a work that both inspired me and informed me on how to be better than I am. How to handle tough people and situations. It fails miserably by boring you to death with definitions, statistics, figures, and other wonky crap that doesn't actually help you. The chapters are titled things like fear and the warrior mindset or arousal and the warrior mindset and all they do is tell you about distractions from having a warrior mindset as if this is something we all have but these distractions are in the way. You don't grow a garden by merely pulling weeds you got to plant seeds as well. If you've ever read a self help book just imagine the first three utterly useless chapters. Now make the whole book like that. Not to mention the world arousal is used almost as many times as St Augustine asks for forgiveness.

Leadership and Training by Paul R. Howe is completely different. It is written by a plain spoken and experienced person instead of a smug psychologist or a public speaker. It's written in chapters not in bullet points. There wasn't a bunch of lame ass chapters about problems that get in the way of having the right attitude it gives you the answers to having the right attitude. Things like step one, have a good reason for what you do, something to fight for. Sounds simple and obvious but how many of us have actually thought of something that really inspires us to do our job(other than to receive a paycheck). If you don't believe in what you do then you will be weak and thus not have an indestructible mindset.

55 people found this helpful

Handbook to Learning Skills in Mental Toughness

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2010

Verified Purchase

What I enjoyed the most about this book is the "manual" style it is written; the purpose of it is clearly not just informing about the topic of mental toughness but actually helping to guide the reader into developing valuable skills. That is what makes it such a wonderful addition to On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society and On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace . Using research, studies and interviews with professional warriors, the book shows the reader how to understand and control stress, fear, as well as learning techniques for relaxation, concentration, tactical imagery, amongst other valuable skills.

Between Loren W. Christensen, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, and Dr. Michael Asken (who I was not familiar with prior to reading this book but was extremely impressed by), you really couldn't ask for more qualified folks to write a book of this nature and while reading it you have no doubt that you are in good hands.

I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone, but especially soldiers, police officers, and martial artists; anyone involved in the combat professions and arts. Being a former soldier myself, I especially want to emphasize how valuable this book would be to someone in the military trying to mentally prepare themselves for a deployment.

70 people found this helpful

Different type of "self help" book

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2013

Verified Purchase

In a world full of negativity I need a daily dose of coping skills. This book is about the coping skills of those in more stressful situations than any of us "normal" folk will ever find ourselves in. I got to this book via a Google search after reading an article about how well the Navy SEALS handle stress in combat. That article, sorry I can't remember where I read it, went into detail of how almost no Navy SEALS have problems with post traumatic stress disorder, that affects many other combat vets. While they admit the intense "weed out" training the SEALS go through during BUDS training, Hell week and beyond plays a big part by those not so hard wired to handle highly stressful situations, they also say some of these coping skills are not only taught to the SEALS, but can be learned by us mortals. I like the book. It isn't the typical self-help book that lines the shelves at any book store, and that kind of explains why I like it so much.

11 people found this helpful

Idkijustbuystuff

Amazing book for life, not just for warriors !

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2012

Verified Purchase

I'm a criminal justice student and this book was recommended to me by a firefighter as a way to help me deal with some conserns I was having about entering law enforcement. Amazing read! This book should be read by any one that has to deal with a stressfull situation and keep a cool head. The prosess of what stress is, how it affects us, and what can be done to handle and minimize it is covered. The mind and body are addressed, how they both can lead to mission failure ( don't be intimidated by the lingo, your mission can be as common as dealing with a coworker, or something more specialized) and what can be done to improve skills for both. There are numerous references to experiences and studies backing up the information in this book, this is not an old soldier lamenting over how it was done in his day. I have no doubt the information in this book will make me a better officer, it has already made me a better employee at my current job. Buy this book!

10 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Mental Body Building & Athletic Training

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a great way to help you develop your own mental training regime, especially if you do not have the time nor finance to attend one of those expensive seminars.

It's not a book to some secret mystical chi/ki power source and there is a lot of science given to back up what is being said (but just skip over that part).

For years psychologists and combatants have been trying to figure what makes people mentally tough and psychologically prepped for violence. This book shows you how to systematically train yourself psychologically for violence.

To be sure it's a guide that highlights important principles as opposed to a do this for 20 mins a day kind of program. To get the most from this book practice what it tells you to and figure out your own training routine.

4 people found this helpful

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