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I know personally what it is like to be told that you are too scrawny, too stupid, too young, too old, too unrealistic, and too unreasonable. I even understand what it is like to buy into these useless, diminishing beliefs or internal conversations. More importantly, I have put them aside to accomplish whatever I want. I don’t say this to brag in any way. I say this because if a guy like me—who was kicked out of a public elementary school system for being too unruly, sent to a place where the state sends juvenile delinquents, was assigned a special education classification when I later returned to the public school system, had a teacher tell one of my parents I would never amount to anything—can put aside all the mental baggage that comes with that kind of a journey, then so can you.
But, it is not easy. In fact it is very challenging and often feels as if I am at war with myself. I must combat and hold off the doubts, the stress, and the fear that creeps in whenever I stretch to accomplish a task beyond my comfort level.
This is reality: Rarely, if ever, will you be attacked, and, most likely, you will never see combat in the literal sense, but the principles that make for effectiveness in battle are just as relevant in the daily challenges you face. Unleash the Warrior Within is going to give you weapons that will allow you to think and act decisively.
Think of Unleash the Warrior Within as your own personal armory of weapons. Some of the weapons in it may be useful all the time, some may only be useful for specific situations, and some may be of no use to you at all, but they are there for others to use as they like. In the end, these weapons exist only to help you focus on the most important things at the most important times.
What is focus? My humble attempt at a definition of the word focus is this: when clarity, concentration, and action converge to create a specific result in the present.
Whatever you want out of life comes down to your ability to focus. No one really ever teaches us how to focus other than just to say “focus.” We are supposed to understand exactly what that means and, maybe for the most part, we get the gist of what is means. But, the challenge is that focus is like a laser beam: move a little to the left or right or add a little fog or some distance, and the laser either misses the target completely or diffuses to such an extent that it acts like a poor flashlight.
If focus is where our mind, body, and spirit converge to create specific action in the present, then doubt, second-guessing, hesitation, the unknown, stress, pain, and fear are the obstacles that diminish the quality of our laser-like focus.
During the stress of combat, nothing is ever close to perfect. Combat demands a mix of incredible flexibility, focused intensity, and a clearly defined purpose. Unleash the Warrior Within is designed to help you perform in this environment. It is through this extreme metaphor of combat, when lives are literally on the line, that we will explore the dynamics of fear, doubt, hesitation, and the numerous other obstacles that diminish who you are and who you are capable of being.
What will you get from this book? You will get the challenges and the opportunities only a warrior would take on. You are capable of more than you ever thought. You have within you the power to alter your universe, not in a mystical, hokey sense, but in the concrete application of proven principles that will unleash within you a warrior who cannot be stopped. This book is part psychology, part strategy and tactics, part drive, but most importantly, it’s about having heart. Unleash the Warrior Within is a gateway to the noble virtues of wisdom, courage, determination, generosity, honor, and wellbeing.
This is what a true warrior stands for and it is what you are capable of being, if you so choose. This philosophy of performance is a proven path for accomplishment. I have used it to accomplish everything I have done. It has now been published in four languages and has served tens of thousands in accomplishing what they want. Based on the many responses I’ve had from readers through letters and email, I’ve received further confirmation that it works. It will serve you. In this new edition, besides this new preface, I’ve added a small amount of additional material to nearly every chapter. My intention: To add just a handful of new ingredients, very sparingly, to help make my principles and message even clearer and even more effective.
I extend to you an invitation to meet your true self within these pages and explore the adventure that is your life. There are challenges within these pages, but for the warrior, they are opportunities to see how far you can go and what you are absolutely capable of being.
- Mack
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Excerpted from Unleash the Warrior Within by Richard “Mack” Machowicz, by arrangement with Da Capo Press. Copyright © 2002. Buy it here.
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