Warrior Upgrade: Twenty Ways to Upgrade to a Warrior Life

By Andy Dickinson

Embracing the Warrior Within: Triumphing Over Adversity with Determination and Courage

Warrior Upgrade delves into the remarkable life journey of Andy Dickinson. After extensive contemplation of the concept of a warrior over the years, Andy outlines the timeless qualities available to everyone, which epitomise modern warriorship. Driven by the profound impact these classic characteristics have had on his own life, this book offers a foundation in invaluable lessons for those seeking to conquer obstacles and live life to its full capacity.

Warrior Upgrade compiles Andy's personal motivators, enabling him to conquer significant personal limitations and propel himself from adversity to inner peace, contentment, and happiness. With Parkinson's disease as a prominent presence in his life, constantly reinventing itself, presenting new challenges and affecting daily experiences, this book contains the code by which he lives to achieve all that he has – body, mind, and spirit.

It serves as a poignant reminder that we all possess a considerable amount of knowledge already, and seeks to harness the wisdom we already have. You will learn how to challenge the narrative you tell yourself and cultivate the mindset necessary to accomplish whatever you set your mind to. Armed with newfound strength, you will be fully prepared to embrace the challenges and opportunities that life presents.

For those who are at a point in life where enough is enough, and change is the only option, Warrior Upgrade is your guide, taking you on a journey of truth using tools to overcome personal limitations, find determination, and ultimately embrace inner strength.

Warrior Upgrade invites us to rethink what it means to be a warrior by showing us how to live a peaceful life, a spiritual life, and learn to follow the signposts so many great spiritual warriors have left for us over the centuries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrew Dickinson
• Release date: Aug 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9780648435051

Book preview

Introduction

This book certainly has morphed since the beginning. With the success of my first book Stand Tall , it made sense to follow the same format for this one. But I found I had so much more to say on so many other parts of my life.

I covered the martial arts in detail in my first two books. But in this book they’re just a foundation. I know I risk alienating my readers by delving into my time as a flight attendant and how it affected my life. But I decided to be open and honest, and not hold back. Because if I’m going to write about trust and courage and other timeless qualities then I need to be totally honest with you. It may be to my detriment, but I have to do it.

So this book has taken on a new focus. I have always wanted to write a self-help book, and the lessons that helped me were just too important not to share. This is the book that changed my life. It is the code that I lived by to achieve all that I have, body, mind and spirit. It does not matter where you are up to in your life. The Warrior Upgrade will help you.

I will start this journey at high school and then go into what it was like being a plumber. Finishing my six-year apprenticeship was an epic achievement, especially considering the suffering I experienced from the beginning. You may be thinking, Six years? Aren’t most apprenticeship only four? Becoming a plumber, drainer, gasfitter and roofer takes a long time. There’s three years of doing day release at TAFE, two years of night TAFE, and an extra year on top of that.

I recently recommended a plumber to my younger brother, and to my incredible surprise it was Matthew – an apprentice plumber who worked for the same company more than 40 years ago and is still working as a plumber all these years later. So as much as I disliked my job as a plumber, there are those who obviously love it.

As I said, I haven’t made martial arts the focus of this book. There’s so much more to my life, as you’ll soon see. But there’s no doubting the importance of martial arts in my life, and I’ve included some metaphors to get my point across in a way that makes sense to me.

Parkinson’s now takes up a large part of my life. It keeps re-inventing itself, and my work is to be in the best shape possible so I can keep up with its ever-changing face. Parkinson’s is different for everyone, and no two cases are the same.

I gain strength through my contact with the Michael J Fox Foundation, and Shake It Up Australia Foundation. They work tirelessly to fund a whole range of future treatment possibilities. Clyde Campbell, the founder of Shake It Up Australia Foundation, is a good bloke. He also has Parkinson’s, so he knows exactly what it’s like. I’m blessed that I have time in my day to write, and don’t have the pressure of full-time work. I’m determined to keep teaching as much as I can for as long as I can.

A special Thank you to my family, including my sisters. While no family is perfect, we’re all that we have, and so I intend to make the most of it.

I’ve also touched on the ‘spiritual’ side to my life (for want of a better term). For me, it’s all quite straightforward. Nothing fancy or esoteric, although you may think otherwise after reading the introduction to my next book. It’s quite ‘out there’.

I think we’ve established a level of honesty between us now. The only way I can explain what I wrote is that it’s part of me, and as clear to me today as it was when it first happened.

I’ve been careful with people’s names, and in most cases have kept things on a first-name basis.

I’ll now leave you to enjoy this short journey.

The warrior?

I’ve thought about this for many years. For me I think the idea of a warrior has morphed over the years to include anyone who wins over adversity. It’s moral and honest. I liken the modern warrior to having certain qualities. Many of the qualities that I include in this book are classic characteristics that to me represent warriorship. But I’m no expert, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

What defines a warrior? Is it a bloodthirsty gladiator? A calculated and calm samurai? Or is it a doctor or nurse working long hours to care for the sick without reward?

When you look at our history and try to define a warrior, we can often see a misguided notion that some dictators over the centuries are remembered as great warriors. The warrior is the person who stands up against these people or countries and refuses to be bullied.

So I now look on a warrior as someone who doesn’t hurt another. It needed to change. It needed to evolve. Maybe if we can rethink what it means to be a warrior we can learn to live and teach how to live a peaceful life, a spiritual life, and we can follow the signposts so many great spiritual warriors have left for us over the centuries.

But therein lies another problem. Give someone a little power, and they weaponise their spirituality. How many people have been slaughtered in the name of religion over the centuries? There’s no clear definition that defines what a warrior is. So all we can do is to say what it’s not. (I’ve written some guidelines that might help.)

I’ll first share with you a time when I was living in ignorance and heavily into fighting and hurting. There wasn’t a great deal of softness around me. My fighting resembled a mad man intent on not giving an inch. I thought I was a warrior, but it was all purely a physical facade.

Then I fell all the way down, right back to the beginning. And I wallowed there until someone picked me up, lifted me onto their shoulders, and gave me a big shove forward.

This shove was important, as it broke my trajectory of misery. This is when I learned The Warrior Upgrade.

Almost isn’t good enough

The hardest and the best thing about warriorship is that it’s long term. It needs to be integrated into your life, so it becomes a life style and not just a short course.

There are two important elements that are often overlooked in creating warriorship for life. The first is you need to make good choices long term, to the point where they become an ingrained habit. You can’t just pay them lip service. Long term means every day for years – not just when you need it. 

The other thing is there’s no middle path. That leads to mediocre effort where you’re not quite striking the goal. You must set your target and follow through with 100% every time.

So once again, you need to commit to the long term. This means creating master habits you enjoy and that empower you so they don’t seem like any effort at all.

So these habits can be built up and reinforced over a period of months, if not years. I use martial arts as a good metaphor, as the grading system is great for developing long-term habits.

The second point is that almost isn’t good enough. You’ll find it difficult if you have this attitude. The slightest hesitation will have you spring boarded back to where you began and having to repeat the entire process again and again until you finally get it.

The first step

Taking that first step to recovery is the first step of warriorship. That’s what this book is about – the road (or what I call The way) back to health and beyond. But I must warn you. It’s fraught with obstacles.

This book is about how I overcame everything in my way, and how you can use the same lessons to live a life as a modern warrior. I’d even go so far to say a modern spiritual warrior.

So, do you think that you’re a warrior?

As I’ve said, there’s no clear definition of what a warrior is. My take on it is that you must live to a code that’s well defined. You need to have life experiences, maybe even some hardships, and push through them in a positive way.

And you don’t hurt people. You help them.

Let’s just cut all the excuses

Over the years I’ve taught thousands of people. And I’ve heard all the excuses as to why someone can or cannot do something.

But it boils down to this: You’ll only do what you feel is important to you.

No matter how busy you are, if what you’re thinking of doing isn’t a priority, you just won’t do it.

I’m not going to waste your time (or mine) espousing fancy philosophy and using words like ‘determination’, ‘courage’ and ‘respect’ to try and motivate you. Because it won’t make any difference unless you really, really want to do it.

And you usually get to this point when all else has failed – many times.

So, let’s cut the excuses and get to the heart of the matter. If you want something badly enough, you’ll find a way to make it happen. You’ll find the time, the resources, and the courage to take action. You’ll make it a priority, and do whatever it takes to achieve what you want.

So if you’re ready to make a change and take control of your life, get ready to be shoved forward.

Pain is a great catalyst for change

Only when we’ve experienced enough emotional pain will we start to avoid situations that bring that pain back, and realise our current behaviour is making