Since I’ve decided to name this blog “Renegade Warrior”, it’s probably a good idea to embark on this project by talking just a bit about its underlying philosophy and the agenda behind it. Obviously, I’ve chosen a rather fierce notion for the purpose of labeling a body of articles that maps out many of my insights and experiences in the field of personal growth and applied psychology. It is certainly not what the majority of people with an interest in self-help, learning, neuroscience, strategic thinking and personal improvement would usually expect, no matter how open they are to principles and strategies originating from all kinds of traditions and schools of thought. So, undeniably, my choice of title can be interpreted as provocative and even as somewhat eccentric. In fact, I’m well aware that such a blog title might feel disconcerting to some of my readers, especially if they have no way of knowing why I make this connection.
Rest assured, what I write about is by no means intended to position me as the coolest guy on earth, and I’m sure this will become evident to you very soon. Also, what I present throughout these pages is not an anthology of superficial fluff, let alone a random compilation of untested theoretical concepts. Instead, my articles are supposed to offer insights into the foundation upon which my life unfolds on a daily basis, outlining the guidance systems that I utilize in order to get access to the kinds of experiences I’m looking for. In this sense, the blog title is much less a call to combat, and much more a metaphor for a mindset that allows for conquering reality in ways that ensure very distinct outcomes. At this point, you cannot really know what I mean by that in a practical sense. Except, of course, if you’ve already read a decent number of my articles before you’ve decided to read this introduction. But even if you have, it might be interesting for you to learn a bit more about the motivations that drive my writing. So, allow me to help you understand.
To anyone who knows me personally, the domain name, as well as the range of topics I address, shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Ironically speaking, I’ve always had a bit of a low threshold when it’s about indulging people with elaborations on my ways of thinking, preferably on occasions when my viewpoints are indeed called for and appreciated. However, I should probably warn you that I’ve also encountered some individuals who’ve come to conclude that not asking me certain questions can be easier than dodging the answers. And, my personal experience has indeed taught me that, in quite a number of situations, restraining myself from revealing certain opinions can be as much a time as an energy saver. Which, of course, is a constraint that I don’t necessarily feel the need to subject myself to within the framework of this blog.
For those who don’t actually know me as well as they think they do, the articles on this website offer a chance to discover a side of me that they might have happily been ignoring so far. So, in this case, spending time on these pages could turn out as either a considerably disturbing or tremendously delightful experience. Then again, for anyone who has never met me in person, this blog will offer insights into my ways of thinking, feeling and acting my inner map of reality into outer existence without leaving the safety of their own home. Which, in all probability, some people will greatly appreciate.
If, on the other hand, you’ve already come across content that I’ve published anywhere else and you’ve been toying with the idea of getting to know me in person at any point in the future, reading these articles might help you warm up to me quicker. Or, it could give you a few solid reasons to change your mind. The thing is, as much as I’d like to guarantee that anyone will be able to benefit from my outpourings, I’m well aware that human nature is eager to thwart such a premise. Attempting to please everyone will rarely allow for us to live up to our full potential. But also, it will likely inhibit us from creating the utmost value for those who are willing to listen and are genuinely open to learn from other people’s perspectives. So, without further beating about the bush, let me hit you, my esteemed reader, in a manner of directness I deem appropriate.
In most modern societies, and especially in any of the wealthier countries on earth, people don’t worry about surviving as much as they’ve had to in previous times. In a way, this is a blessing, as well as a curse. Nowadays, it feels quite normal to frequently come across fellow human beings whose habitual ways of dealing with life are fundamentally flawed, and even dysfunctional. These people consider the friction they experience in all kinds of everyday situations as inevitable, as well as (as absurd as this may sound) reassuring and rather sedative. For them, not removing the obstacles they encounter appears quite acceptable, as long as they’re not the only ones who meet similar amounts of resistance in kindred ways.
A lot of people have a hard time comprehending the freedom that becomes accessible to us when we detach ourselves from limiting frames of mind, as well as negative emotional experiences, that wield a tremendous amount of influence on those conscious and unconscious decisions we make every day. Meaning, they don’t realize that a lot of things can actually become surprisingly effortless when we muster the will to change perspective and start experimenting with different sets of beliefs and approaches to life. In other words, many people are largely focused on their fear of losing what they have. They cannot see what they’d be able to gain by associating themselves with an alternate interpretation of reality that is equally real, and possibly even more real, than what they’ve experienced so far.
The odds are that what you’ll find when you follow the path that I lay out in my articles contradicts what your instilled survival instinct tells you to focus on. In all likelihood, your exposure to the educational system hasn’t been much of an inspiring, let alone empowering experience in your childhood and youth. Historically speaking, the school curricula you’ve been presented with have never been designed to capacitate you for succeeding in life on your own terms. Every so often, it may even feel like each and every rule we’ve ever been taught by our parents and society has only been created to ensure that we stay in line and keep submitting ourselves to what others expect from us.
In my view, it’s tremendously useful to embody a warrior’s attitude if we want to conquer the limitations that our social programming has burdened us with. But also, we’re well advised to become capable of yielding a warrior’s mind in order to effectively deal with those hostilities that some of our fellow human beings are likely to respond with when we start expressing more of our inherent potential. We cannot be ourselves without building a certain level of resilience. The problem is not that people don’t wish for us to reach our goals in life and find happiness. Instead, the real issue is that people prefer us to do things in ways that are compliant with the rules and limitations they impose on themselves. And, a lot of people don’t like the idea of feeling questioned or challenged by us daring to give ourselves permission to go beyond what the vast majority of people consider themselves capable of accomplishing.
As you’ve quite possibly already guessed, I don’t see much of a point in following the warrior’s path by obediently binding oneself to a set of rules and procedures that has been compiled in ancient times. Also, I wouldn’t be eager to uncritically follow somebody else’s lead, even more so if that someone, back in their days, essentially had no way of knowing what everyday reality would be like in modern times. I do believe in the notion of timeless wisdom. However, I’m also convinced that principles can, and need to be, applied to different situations in different ways.
Personally, I like to look at the path of warriorhood as a metaphor for the path of mastery. To me, it’s a figure of speech that represents a fundamental paradigm centered around the idea that anyone who wishes to live a fulfilling life should be focusing on learning and self-guided skill acquisition like their life depends on it; simply because it does. I don’t consider it to be particularly relevant if you aspire to master a martial art, reach high levels of proficiency at writing persuasively, become an eloquent public speaker, get to the next level of business expertise, turn yourself into a better salesperson, grow your own food, or become really good at juggling alive minipigs while wearing a blindfold and standing barefoot on glowing coals. The only thing that is important to me is that there’s at least one skill that you want to reach mastery in, so you can utilize this goal as a guiding theme and accelerating force on your pursuit of self-mastery.
Everything I talk about in this blog, in one way or another, is aimed to inspire you to come up with your own take on life, using the principles and experiences I touch upon as an inspiration to pave your own road to personal freedom. Of course, making those tools available to yourself that I make use of, as well as replicating the experiments that my life is run by, is likely to be an effective catalyst for your own development. Still, as I said before, I don’t want you to become a warrior by anyone else’s definition. I have no interest in you becoming a servile devotee to some kind of predefined codex that doesn’t truly take your personal situation into account. Also, I don’t want you to get the impression that I believe that my way is the only way. However, I do want you to understand that in order to become extraordinary yourself, you need to be willing to diligently study the ways and strategic approaches of people who’ve created extraordinary outcomes, not only from a theoretical but also from a practical angle.
Over the years, I’ve immersed myself in a decent number of traditions and methods that offer valuable insights from numerous perspectives. But also, I’ve realized, many times over, that making useful connections between different schools of thought that haven’t been made in this specific way before can bring a sense of purposefulness into your life like nothing else. And, at times, breaking taboos that come with certain traditions, can turn out to be the only way to create extraordinary outcomes within a reasonable time frame. In this very sense, I want you to become much more than just a warrior. I want you to become a renegade as well.
The strategies I present to you in this blog are meant to serve you perfectly well when applied in an unadulterated way, without much risk of you turning yourself into an exact copy of me in the process. However, since your specific interests and goals might indeed differ greatly from mine, it’s likely that you’ll catch yourself applying these strategies in ways that add a lot of personal touch and create rather different outcomes. Also, you’ll probably end up creating your own strategies, using my conclusions and perspectives as a reference point, rather sooner than later.
Still, what I ask from you is to first understand what I talk about and unleash your creative powers just a bit further down the road, granting yourself the necessary time to collect a certain amount of experience. Obviously, I cannot offer a guarantee for anyone to reach any specific outcomes, since I cannot make a universal prediction about how any one individual is going to put into practice what I teach. However, as a coach, having worked with all kinds of clients over the years, I can tell you one thing for sure: changing the recipe of a cake without taking the time to bake it even once with all of its prescribed ingredients while thoroughly following the tried-and-tested steps of the manufacturing process to the letter, is rarely a good idea. Whatever I do, I usually do for reasons that shouldn’t be foolhardily ignored. Therefore, in a manner of speaking, what you want to avoid is prematurely shortcutting those shortcuts that I talk about, as this might well prevent you from reaping crucial benefits that you don’t want to miss out on.
Now, having said all this and without further ado, let’s get to it. Since this is a blog and not some kind of structured seminar, I’ve deliberately chosen to take a largely intuitive and somewhat eclectic approach when it comes how my articles are sequenced. Still, don’t be fooled, there’s a method to the madness. Randomly picking and choosing any topics you want to read about can certainly be the most viable option for you. Then again, at some point you might come to realize that, if you want to find out how all the pieces of information that I offer build on one another, it’s a good idea to read a bunch of these articles in the chronological order they’ve been published in.