About The Warrior's Way
How The Warrior's Way® material was developed.
In 1978 I received a BA in Geology from the University of Colorado, but geology was never my passion. What I really loved was climbing. After a tour of duty in the Army, I moved to Wyoming to work in the oil fields. In 1982 the price of oil dropped precipitously and I, along with the majority of oil-field workers, lost my job.
I was lost. What do I do now?
I was forced to look at myself. Soon thereafter I moved back to Tennessee to work at my father’s industrial-tool business. One feeling kept nagging at me: I needed to align my work with my passion.
Working in the tool business was frustrating. I was in a state of divine discontent. I was hitting bottom. I knew I needed to do something different, so I started looking for help.
On the commute to work, I began listening to informational and inspirational audio programs. At home I read numerous philosophy and self-help books. What I found in my search for meaning was this: It’s our responsibility to create our life’s work in something we are passionate about because that is the most effective way we can create happiness in our life.
A life’s work in “that something” is the best path to challenge us and it’s the most effective way to serve others.
By 1995 I had mountains of notes, books highlighted, and stacks of favorite audio programs.
Could I synthesize all this information and create a course to teach fellow climbers? Going through all my material, I looked for core themes. Key processes kept recurring in slightly different forms. If a person went through one of these processes effectively, he was empowered. If ineffective, he experienced self-limiting thinking and fear.
I also recognized that the mass of people do indeed think in a self-limiting way.
I identified seven distinct processes. From these discoveries, I began to create my course.
I set the goal: to find a way to teach my insight to climbers.
After reading and listening to overwhelming amounts of information I felt I was drowning in it. I needed some guide for my material. I received an insight early one morning as I was waking up.
As I was waking, I had a persistent thought. “Follow the warrior’s way that don Juan talks about in the Carlos Castaneda books.” It was just the framework I needed to guide me.
Studying Castaneda’s books and other books on warriorship in more depth, I came up with the guiding principle I was looking for. The warrior’s way is all about impeccable use of attention. Everything hinges upon how one uses attention—-does one waste it or focus it onto the task at hand? This principle was a very pragmatic and tangible guide.
By being observant and paying attention, I structured my ideas around a warriorship framework.
