What is a Happy Warrior?

There is a phrase I use often. It has great meaning for me. Recently, a number of you have asked me to define what it means for leaders. I’m happy to do this. In fact, this request has brought me home to what I believe about this phrase and, given the world news we’ve all been enduring of late, I’m eager to offer this vision to you.

The phrase is “happy warrior.”

In my mind right now is an image from a favorite movie, Chariots of Fire. I hope you’ve seen it. The movie opens with a scene of athletes running in Scotland. It is cold. They’re exhausted. They’ve gotten all wet and sandy because their coach is making them run along a dank, cloudy Scottish beach. The camera slowly shows each runner in the pack.

These runners are from different backgrounds and are running for different reasons, as we learn from the movie that soon unfolds. Some are driven. Some are trying to overcome their past. Yet some are what I call happy warriors. They are just as miserable, wet, and exhausted as all the other runners, but they have smiles on their faces. They are happy in the hardship. The pain of their training just gives them joy. They don’t expect it all to be easy. They just want it to have meaning. And it does. So they run, smiling like fools, happy in the agony, running for the glory of God and what they hold dear.

Happy warriors are those who understand that life will not be easy. Yet they find joy in the battle, in the struggle, in the challenges before them. They accept that difficult things are the price of victory, so they dive in. In fact, it could be that life is sweetest when contending with comrades at your side. So, live in the moment, throw yourself into the struggle, find joy in it, and feel the wonder of conquering having given your all. Conquering yourself. Conquering a problem. Conquering toward a noble vision.

Now, it’s pretty simple what makes happy warriors. They believe in God and a higher purpose. They believe in destiny, that battles are ordained. They have made peace with the hardships of life—in fact, they see adversity as the price of an exceptional life. They love being in a band of brothers or sisters. They love conquering. No one celebrates the victories like they do. Always, there is a smile on their faces and the joy of the warrior in their hearts.

Life is hard. Pain comes. Battles are required. Struggle is always with us. The happy warrior knows God is near, the hardship is refining, victory is possible for the deserving, and all of it prepares us for greater battles another day. Raise a glass to battles yet to come!

I want you to be a happy warrior. I want those who look to you for leadership to drink from your contagious joy and devotion. I want them to see the smile on your face when challenges come.

Declare war on anything in yourself that makes you less than a happy warrior.