Elite

CHAPTER 5Choosing the Warrior Mentality

A warrior mentality is a critical component of becoming elite. One of the key characteristics of elite people is that they refuse to be victimized. The world is not happening to them. They are happening to the world. Warriors are not victims. In fact, you cannot be both at the same time. You must choose. This choice is one you must make every day. Will you be a victim or will you be a warrior? I can certainly admit that I’ve had a couple of moments in life when that was a hard choice to make.

Marathon Is Half the Word

A few years ago my wife and I spent a year in Montana. We had two kids at the time – one was three years old, and one was one. My wife had been wanting to fulfill her lifelong dream of running a half marathon. Neither of us had been running as part of our workout routine, so she had a long way to go. I had a long way to go as well but did not share the same passion as her and have always hated running. Although I wasn’t going to run the half marathon with my wife, I did want to support her in whatever way possible.

The best way to support a mother is to offer to watch the kids. That is the single most helpful thing that a father can do for a mother, besides maybe the dishes. But I wasn’t satisfied with merely watching the kids. I wanted to take on a more significant role. So I decided to pull out an old skill set that I hadn’t used for some time, one that I had developed in my younger years and was actually quite good ...