Your Hero’s Journey to the
Dark Warrior Crucible
Welcome, Warrior
You’re about to step into a 7-day transformation designed to reset how you think, lead, and perform. The Dark Warrior Crucible isn’t just a workout—it’s a strategic reset, built around the timeless structure of the Hero’s Journey. Over the next week, you’ll navigate seven pivotal phases that mirror both your business challenges and personal evolution.
This is more than preparation for a physical event—it’s about sharpening your clarity, strengthening your resolve, and anchoring a new identity. Along the way, you’ll select a powerful symbol to represent your growth and shed an unproductive habit that’s been holding you back.
The Hero’s Journey: Your 7 Phases
Every epic story—from myth to boardroom—follows this arc. You are the hero of your own enterprise, and the Dark Warrior Crucible is the proving ground where you are reforged. Each phase has a coaching lens to help you reflect on where you are and where you’re going.
Day 1: The Ordinary World – Honor and Embrace Your Roots
What it is: Your starting point—the routines, systems, and structures you’ve built. The familiar world where your leadership story begins.
Reflection: Are your current rhythms serving you, or keeping you comfortable but stagnant?
Day 2: The Call to Adventure – Recognize the Spark
What it is: A challenge, opportunity, or vision that disrupts the ordinary. It’s the moment you know you’re capable of more.
Reflection: What is pulling at you right now—a bigger vision, a new market, a reinvention of self?
Day 3: Refusal of the Call – Confront the Resistance
What it is: The doubts and limiting beliefs that whisper, “Not now, not you.”
Reflection: Where do hesitation or fear of failure still influence your decisions?
Day 4: Meeting the Mentor – Find Your Guide
What it is: Every leader accelerates when they find the right perspective, whether from a coach, a peer, or a book.
Reflection: Who or what is sharpening your edge right now—and what guidance are you ignoring?
Day 5: Crossing the Threshold – Take the Leap
What it is: The moment you move from intention to execution. You stop preparing and start leading into the unknown.
Reflection: What decision are you on the edge of making—and what would change if you said yes?
Day 6: Tests, Allies, and Enemies – Face the Trials
What it is: The heart of the journey, where you face challenges, build alliances, and confront obstacles. It’s the grind that shapes you into a warrior.
Reflection: Are you in the thick of struggles, learning who’s with you or against you, or is this phase still ahead?
Example: “I’m juggling setbacks at work, but my gym crew keeps me going, and I’m learning to tune out the haters.”
Day 7: The Return – Claim Your Victory
What it is: You return to your world, transformed by the journey. You bring back wisdom, strength, or a new perspective to share with others.
Reflection: Have you completed a big chapter and come back stronger, or is this triumphant return something you’re still working toward?
Example: “I crushed that goal and feel like a new person—now I want to inspire others to do the same.”
Where Are You in Your Journey?
Take a moment to reflect: Which phase feels like your current reality? Are you still in the Ordinary World, just vibing in your routine? Are you wrestling with doubt in the Refusal of the Call? Or maybe you’re deep in the Tests, grinding through challenges? There’s no right or wrong place to be—this is your story.
Exercise:
1. Read through the phases above.
2. Write down or say aloud: “Right now, I’m in [Phase Name].”
3. Jot down a sentence about why that phase feels true for you. Example: “Right now, I’m in the Call to Adventure because I’m itching to try something new but haven’t committed yet.”
4. As you move through the 7 days, approach each phase as if it’s your past (a lesson learned), present (your current reality), or future (a step you’re heading toward). This flexibility lets you make the journey your own.
Supercharge Your Journey: Break a Bad Habit
Transformation requires clearing space. For these 7 days, commit to removing one habit that undermines your energy, focus, or leadership capacity.
This isn’t about self-denial—it’s about discipline, focus, and creating room for what matters most.
What’s a Bad Habit?
It’s anything that dims your fire or saps your strength. Common culprits include:
• Alcohol → Sharpen mental clarity for decision-making.
• Sugar → Stabilize energy for high performance.
• Doom-scrolling → Reclaim focus for strategy and creativity.
• Negative self-talk → Replace with intentional affirmations.
Exercise: Commit to a Sacrifice
Take 5 minutes to reflect and commit. Ask yourself:
• Name the habit that’s costing you the most.
• Define why eliminating it strengthens you.
• Choose a replacement action that fuels performance.
• Declare it: “For these 7 days, I’m giving up [habit] to lead with clarity and strength.
Why This Matters: Breaking a bad habit is like shedding old armor that’s too heavy. It’s a declaration that you’re ready to level up. Each time you resist that habit, you’re building mental muscle for the challenges ahead. By Day 7, you’ll feel the difference—this sacrifice will make your victory sweeter.
Preparing for the Final Day: Your Warrior’s Mark
The Dark Warrior Crucible on Day 7 isn’t just a test—it’s the initiation of your Dark Warrior Alter Ego. To make this transformation real and repeatable, you’ll choose a Warrior’s Mark: a physical symbol or intentional ritual that you can use to call forth that identity whenever the pressure rises.
What is a Warrior’s Mark?
It’s more than swag or sentiment—it’s a trigger for state change. A Warrior’s Mark is a physical anchor you choose to represent the mindset, clarity, and resilience you forge in this crucible. When you touch it, wear it, or perform the ritual you’ve assigned to it, you’re not just remembering your transformation—you’re summoning the Dark Warrior Alter Ego that carried you through the crucible.
This Alter Ego is the version of you that acts decisively under pressure, refuses excuses, and executes at the highest level.
Exercise: Choose Your Warrior’s Mark
Examples of Warrior’s Marks:
• A leather wristband you grip before a high-stakes meeting, summoning grit and presence.
• A coin or stone in your pocket you touch before a difficult conversation, grounding you in strength.
• A phrase you shout, or silently repeat, before you step into the arena of leadership.
• A ring you twist before making a hard decision, reminding you of the clarity you claimed on Day 7.
Why This Matters
High performers don’t rise to the occasion—they fall to the level of their training. The Warrior’s Mark ensures your training isn’t left behind on Day 7. It’s a portable forge, a personal ritual, and a summoning call for your Dark Warrior Alter Ego whenever life demands your best.
With your Warrior’s Mark, you don’t have to wait for inspiration or motivation—you activate the Alter Ego on command.
How to Use This Journey
This 7-day experience is designed as more than preparation—it’s a reset for how you think, act, and lead. Each day focuses on one phase of the Hero’s Journey, paired with a practical exercise to sharpen your clarity, resilience, and execution.
Here’s how to maximize it:
Engage Daily
Treat each day’s phase like a leadership briefing. Read the lesson, reflect honestly, and apply it to where you are right now—in business, in life, and in your personal growth.
Anchor with Reflection
Each exercise is simple but powerful. Use a journal, voice notes, or even a 5-minute reflection block to capture your thoughts. What you record becomes the blueprint for your transformation.
Break the Old Armor
Your commitment to eliminating one limiting habit clears the space for change. Every time you resist that habit, you’re reinforcing the discipline and focus of your Dark Warrior Alter Ego.
Charge Your Warrior’s Mark
As you move through the journey, begin assigning meaning to your chosen mark. By Day 7, it becomes the trigger that summons your Dark Warrior Alter Ego—the identity you can call on whenever the pressure mounts, whether in the boardroom, on the field, or in life.
Carry It Forward
This crucible is the spark, not the finish line. Once the week ends, your Warrior’s Mark ensures you can access the clarity, strength, and courage you forged here—on command, in any situation.
Ready for Day 1?
Day 1 - The Ordinary World. You’ll honor your roots—your home, your grind, your starting point. For now, rest easy knowing you’ve taken the first step by mapping your journey, planting the seed for your Warrior’s Mark, and committing to shed a habit that’s holding you back. Wherever you are, you’re already a warrior.
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien