Armored Knight Psychological Strength Building

“Psychological strength is the measure of our ability to manage situations through the power of our mental preparation. It involves cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and spiritual aspects, all acting in concert to address the challenges we face. These elements all rest on a bedrock of purpose, our fundamental reason for living.”

—Tony Kern, The Armored Knight, 2022 (forthcoming)

What this "Knight" stuff all about?”

Dr. Kern chose to use the metaphor of the Armored Knight because it helps explain the key relationships between the person inside (the Knight) and the various elements of protection he or she must become comfortable wearing (the Armor) to stay safe and effective on the field of battle (our increasingly crazy everyday world). Becoming an Armored Knight is the first of a three-part, robust, science-based “mental strength for all” lifestyle program developed over the past five years to help anyone—and everyone—build and continuously grow their psychological strength. The overall program is called Armored Knight: Psychological Strength Building, and it currently has three components, all offered as separate courses but meant to be taken sequentially:

1. Becoming an Armored Knight – Preventative and restorative psychological strength building across five specific areas: Purpose, Cognitive Strength, Behavioral Strength, Emotional Strength, and Spiritual Strength.
2. Slaying the Three-Headed Dragon – Identifies and confronts the threat of psychological disengagement caused by apathy, frustration, and cynicism - the Three-Headed Dragon who stalks the unsuspecting, leading to isolation in life and disengagement at work.
3. Fighting the Infinite Battle – Builds the positive and proactive lifestyle of continuous readiness, personal growth, mental power, and stability through a mindset-driven code for living.

This course covers the first of these three and places you at the center of an adventure, providing new knowledge, encouragement, skills, and other activities to continuously build greater psychological strength for the day you may need it, especially if that day is today.

Objectives:

• Dive into psychological strength, our overall mental wellbeing, hardiness, and grit. Use exercises to discover your purpose, which is the foundation of psychological strength.
• Building psychological strength requires enforcing the four components that comprise it: our cognitive strength, our behavioral strength, our emotional strength, and our spiritual strength. Tools and exercises are used to develop a personal plan to build each of these domains.
• Completely optional faith-based lesson provides additional material and tools regarding spiritual strength, for those who put their faith in a higher power.
• Review each of your plans daily or weekly to continue improving after completing the course.

A note for HR and mental health professionals. This program is not designed to replace any existing mental health approaches or employee assistance programs, but is intentionally designed to complement them.