“Oh my warriors, whither would you flee? Behind you is the sea, before you, the enemy. You have left now only the hope of your courage and your constancy.” – Tariq, The Breath of Perfume
Tariq, an Umayyad commander and leader of the Muslim conquest of Visigothic Hispania, and an army of 7,000 crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 711. Upon their arrival, he ordered all his ships to be burnt, desolating himself and his men with one goal and only two outcomes: death or conquest. Three years later, they had conquered two-thirds of the Iberian Peninsula.
Tariq removed optionality. He replaced “we might, we could, we can” — one is wise to remove these entirely from their vocabulary — with “we must.” He blurred the lines so that conquest or death became the only options.
That is absolute motivation. There is nothing like committing entirely. It demands mind, body, and soul while propelling us into action. Entertaining half-truths is never in our interest. Full-immersion, characterized by “I must,” is the only true path toward the mesmerizing attraction of sheer irrevocability.
