Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (show-off) was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of present-day Mexico under the rule of the King.
Cortes’s empire-toppling success is attributed to one totally-badA order he allegedly gave upon arrival:
BURN THE SHIPS.
This was meant to send a message to his crew. They were there to go forward, to conquer. There was no turning back. Failure was not an option.
You had to be willing to die to roll with Cortes. Because he was ALL IN.
When we are faced with the choice between Succeed or Die, when there is no returning to our comfort zone, our instinct will be to rise to the challenge.
Kind of like how Will Smith got so popular talking about being successful: You have to want “it” bad enough to die for it.
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It has to be THAT important. And not just the goal; it’s much more about the act of achieving, of letting hunger drive tenacity until you finish what you set out to do, that matters.
I’ve learned that. In pushing my limits, it has become clear that dedication is essential. And not just dedication to a goal, because Jose can change or upgrade as we go along and reach newer levels of attainment and understanding. The dedication is to being implacable, being totally relentless and unstoppable.
Because I see it like this:
There are 2 choices: be on the other side of my goal, made all the better by taking on the challenge; or take the double hit of being the person who never tried and didn’t achieve the goal. The time is going to pass either way.
And don’t think in such simple terms as actual physical death. Remember whose site you’re on.
Who you are, who you were, has to go before you can become the person who lives your dreams. Remember what Einstein said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Go into your ambitions with no intention of going back to your old way of being. Allow yourself to rise to the challenges that come with every stage of your evolution & be changed by them.
Because challenges will come.
And they are a chance to become better. If we are never challenged, we can never know where we stand… where we can grow… how we can pull a Pokémon & level up.