Warrior Mindset: Mental Toughness Skills for a Nation's Peacekeepers Paperback – January 1, 2010

"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.

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)

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.