Way of the Warrior Kid 3: Where there's a Will...

My kids love these books and I love the message they send. They encourage kids to have proper character and work hard, which is something pushed low on the agenda for most kids today. Since we have started this series, I’ve seen my children take accountability for their actions. I can ask them to reflect on if their behavior is what a Warrior Kid would do when they are not staying on “The Path”. This usually causes them to shape up! They have also become more physically fit since starting the books because they want to work harder at their specific sports and be the best they can be. It’s been a joy to read the series to my three children (10, 9, and 6) and see them respond positively in their actions. What we fill our minds with is who we become. Kids need more books like these!<br /><br />I’m thankful Jocko wrote these books and I hope he will continue to add to the series!

My son and I love the way of the warrior books and this one did not disappoint. However, compared to the first two I don’t think it was the strongest book however I can definitely appreciate the lessons Jocko teaches in the book.<br /><br />My son is patiently waiting the next book... hopefully Jocko will get to work

Brooklyn read on her own and rated it 4.5 stars!

The series is over and we can’t thank J. Bott enough for putting us into these. Excellent lessons were taught in a really approachable and understandable way. I love that the main character Marc is flawed and working at overcoming his weaknesses. The warrior kid path is a great system to help kids reach their potential.

I defiantly loved this book and I think all kids should learn the lessons Marc did. It is so so important to learn from what other people do in order to improve, particularly in Jiu Jitsu. Ego can be a big problem for kids Marc's age. <br />While I think there are a lot of valuable lessons to be learned from the book, I wish Jocko Willink had explained the difference between pushing yourself and running yourself into the ground. Particularly with running. You can injure yourself if you go to hard to fast. I would still definitely recommend the book to all kids between 8 and 12, and would suggest that teens also read Extreme Ownership.

Excellent. Must read for kids, parents and all.

The final narrative book in the Warrior Kid trilogy. It is, once again, excellent, and takes the problems Marc is confronting to the next level.<br /><br />By being on The Path (living by the Warrior Kid Code he developed in Book 1 and refined in Book 2), Marc is kicking some serious butt. He can do more pushups, situps, pullups, and squats than anyone. He's the 2nd fastest kid in the class. He's progressing really well in Jiu-Jitsu. He's making tons of money from his business, Marc's Meticulous Mowing. He's got great friends in Kenny and Nathan (both former enemies), both of whom look up to Marc and are on The Path. Things SHOULD be going well for him.<br /><br />And then Danny shows up, right at the end of the school. He beats Marc in pullups, in running, and in school. AND it turns out he's better than Marc at Jiu-Jitsu. AND he's really nice! Kenny and Nathan both admire and look up to Nathan. And Marc Does. Not. Like. It.<br /><br />This is such a fantastic theme to hit on. In America (perhaps in many other places but certainly in America) there is a problem of "keeping up with the Joneses", of comparing yourself to celebrities on social media, on basing your own personal value on how much better or worse you are than others around you at school, work, sports, whatever. What do you do with that?<br /><br />In comes Uncle Jake for the summer.<br /><br />Each book has a set of 3 problems that Uncle Jake helps Marc confront. In this case, the 3 are: learning to actually push yourself to the limit using willpower (using running as the example), controlling your ego (jealous of Danny), and (a somewhat repeat from Book 2), not judging others since you don't know their whole story.<br /><br />To the first: Marc wants to run faster.<br /><br /><blockquote>“Well, it’s just that I don’t really like running that much.” Uncle Jake was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at me and said, “I could have guessed that.” “Why?” I asked. “Because you aren’t comfortable when you run. It isn’t easy. You have to push hard when you run, and that hurts. It hurts to be uncomfortable. And you don’t like it. That’s why you should do more of it.” “Wait. I tell you I don’t like running, and you tell me I should do more of it?” “Exactly. If there is something that you don’t like doing, something that makes you uncomfortable, you should do more of it. It will make you better. And it will also make you more comfortable at being uncomfortable.</blockquote><br /><br />So Marc's goal becomes to run a mile in under 7 minutes, then in under 6 minutes. To do the latter, he has to push himself to the absolute limit, such that he can't even speak when he's done with the mile. In fact, Uncle Jake berates him for being able to have a conversation after finishing the mile because he didn't push himself hard enough.<br /><br /><blockquote>“Why can you talk?” “What?” “You’re talking. Why is that?” Uncle Jake asked, looking mad. “Well, because you asked me a question, Uncle Jake,” I responded nervously. “That’s not what I mean. You’re talking because you didn’t go hard. If you went hard, you wouldn’t even be able to talk when you finished. You stayed in your comfort zone.”</blockquote><br /><br />The purpose of this is to teach WILL.<br /><br /><blockquote>“Will is determination. It is resolve. Will is when you hear that little voice and you feel like you are going to break, but instead of listening to that little voice you dig deep and KEEP GOING. Understand? That’s will. You KEEP GOING.”</blockquote><br /><br />Of course, this is just the next level to Discipline Equals Freedom from Book 1.<br /><br /><blockquote>“Marc, this is about life. This is about facing challenges. This is about EVERYTHING. “Remember how hard you worked a few summers ago to be able to do ten pull-ups?” Uncle Jake asked. “Of course I do,” I replied. “You couldn’t do any pull-ups when the summer started, but we made a plan, and you worked hard, and you made it happen. And like I told you, you can do that with almost anything in life. Well, it’s the same thing here. You can always push yourself a little bit harder. If your will is strong, you can always dig a little deeper. Where there is a will, there is a way. Even if you can only move another foot—or another inch—you can always keep going. That’s your will, Marc. WILL. And if you have a strong will and apply that determination to everything you do, you will be able to accomplish almost any goal you can set for yourself. And the more you build your will by doing hard things, the stronger your will becomes. If you have a strong will—almost nothing can stop you.”</blockquote><br /><br />This is about EVERYTHING. Great line. Exactly right.<br /><br />To the second: Marc has to come to peace with the fact that Danny is better than him at things, and that by becoming friends with Danny Marc will be able to improve faster.<br /><br /><blockquote>Guess what, you aren’t going to be the best at everything all the time. You aren’t going to beat everyone and be smarter than everyone. That’s not the way things work. And if you let it bother you this much, you will always feel like this—angry at yourself—angry at other people. Angry at the world. But if you can control your ego—put your ego in check when it needs to be put in check and allow it to be strong when it needs to be—you won’t be angry, you’ll be happy. You’ll do better. And you’ll be a better person.”</blockquote><br /><br />This whole plotline is interesting and hard to get into in too much detail here. But there are excellent discussions about ego between Marc and Uncle Jake, especially when Marc is caught lying about a jiu-jitsu injury.<br /><br /><blockquote>“A person’s ego should be balanced in the middle somewhere. They should have confidence, but not be overconfident. They should believe they can win, but at the same time know they are going to have to work hard to get there. So ego isn’t good or bad, it is just something you have to learn to control.”</blockquote><br /><br />In fact, Marc eventually becomes the captain of the Jiu-Jitsu team over Danny, but asks the coach to make Danny the co-captain. And he never would have gotten that good without Danny's help.<br /><br />Finally, for judgement, in the prior book Nathan was poor. Danny, however, seems very well off, and Marc is stumped why Danny won't ever hang out. It turns out that Danny spends time with his brother because his brother has a learning disability.<br /><br /><blockquote>“That’s only part of the lesson. The more important lesson is that you don’t know what is going on with people in their lives and you shouldn’t judge them.<br />...<br />“But what did you learn about you?” he asked. I wasn’t quite sure what Uncle Jake meant by this.I must have looked puzzled, because after a quiet moment, Uncle Jake said, “You should have learned a few things. You should have learned that just because people appear to have everything doesn’t mean that their life is easy. You should have learned—once again—not to judge people without knowing them. On top of that, you should see your Warrior Kid Code number five, where you say ‘A Warrior Kid always tries to help others.’ Danny is really living that every day as he tries to help his brother. And, you also should have learned, like Danny has learned, that you are lucky to be healthy and that you need to take advantage of that and be the best you can every day.”</blockquote><br /><br />Also, along the way, there are bits of wisdom that, themselves, could be whole books.<br /><br />Uncle Jake teaches Danny how to get faster at running using Interval Training.<br /><br />He also teaches Danny to perform when conditions are not perfect.<br /><br /><blockquote>“But I’m—” “But you’re what?” Uncle Jake said sharply, making me want to keep my thoughts to myself. But I just didn’t feel like I could do it today and I had to tell him. “I’m sore from the jiu-jitsu tournament.” “Doesn’t matter,” he replied. “And we haven’t taken any rest days from working out, so my legs are sore.” “Doesn’t matter,” Uncle Jake repeated. “And you woke me up earlier than usual. I just think I should get a full night’s rest if I’m going to try to do this.” “Well, you aren’t going to get a full night’s rest. And you are going to be sore. And you are not going to try to do this. You are going to do this,” Uncle Jake said in a stern voice.<br />...<br />“Do you think that conditions are always going to be perfect for you in life?”<br />...<br />“It doesn’t matter that you are tired. It doesn’t matter that you are sore. You have a mission to do. You have trained to do it. You are capable of doing it. You are going to have to push yourself hard—but you can do this.</blockquote><br /><br />Or about the ephemerality of life.<br /><br /><blockquote>I thought about what Uncle Jake said about life going by fast, just like summer days. I guess that was what he was talking about. “Don’t waste it,” I heard Uncle Jake say in my head. I won’t, I thought to myself.</blockquote><br /><br />Or about how the journey is the point.<br /><br /><blockquote>Then I thought about everything I had learned from Uncle Jake and I realized that every time I think I know a lot, he teaches me something new, every time I felt like I was getting to the end of The Path, there is a little bit farther to go. And I’m not sure if I will ever reach the end of The Path. But I do know this: I am going to stay on it.</blockquote><br /><br />Great read.

Както може да забележи всеки, който хвърли един поглед на снимките на автора на книгата, Джоко Уилинк изглежда така, сякаш не е роден от майка, а е иззидан от гранитни блокове, а лицето му е изсечено от най-горния блок с чук и длето.<br /><br />Той прави кариера както с външния си вид и с безкомпромисния си начин на говорене, като основната му мантра е че ако нещо не става, напъни го и ше стане. Така ако не можеш да направиш нещо, се налага да се напънеш за да можеш. Което в живота е като цяло доста добър съвет, защото хората не обичаме да се напъваме много. <br /><br />Волята е червената нишка в третата книга от поредицата за Детето-войн и как да я възпитаме в себе си.

Marc is finishing the seventh grade and everything seems to be going great. Him and his buddies are all training jiu-jitsu and he's staying on the path, but Marc finds himself at odds with another classmate named Danny. Danny is a good looking kid, fresh shoes, nice hair, and runs faster than Marc. This bothers Marc and he does not handle it well going into it. <br /><br />Yet again, here comes Uncle Jake to help Marc navigate this struggle he just can't seem to figure out. Another set of lessons from Former Navy Seal, Jocko Willink. Children AND parents should be reading this series.

We read this at way too slow of a pace to keep Jacks (10) attention. Benny (7) still really enjoyed it even though it was pick up and put down for 10 minutes at a time. <br /><br />The lesson seemed to be the same as the last book- don’t judge others. Get to know them. <br /><br />I did like the lesson on will. And putting in the hard work if you want to reach a goal. That’s solid and I need to keep circling back to the themes from all 3 books bc they are great for raising little men.