# Absolute Victory

By Randall Degges · July 17, 2011 · https://rdegges.com/2011/absolute-victory/

> A Genghis Khan biography got me thinking about absolute victory. Forget just doing your best: go all or nothing on your next project, and leave no rivals.

![Barbarian Sketch][]


I've recently started reading biographies of famous historical figures, and
came across some very interesting stuff while reading
[Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World][], a biography of the life
of [Ghengis Khan][] (*an amazing book, by the way*).

While Ghengis Khan had many traits worth writing about, one in particular
caught my attention: **absolute victory**.  When Ghengis Khan entered
conflicts, he did so with 100% of his energy and effort.  To him, every
challenge required life-or-death dedication, and the complete destruction of
his enemies.  During times of war, after the [Mongols][] had conquered a city,
they would then:

-   Round up and kill all of the rich people living there.
-   Loot the city.
-   Leave the city, allowing the citizens of the city to manage it as they
    pleased.
-   Marry one of the new city officials into Ghengis Khan's family.

During Ghengis Khan's time period, this was unheard of.  Instead of simply
looting the city and moving on, Ghengis Khan went to extraordinary measures to
completely desolate the city's political structure by killing all members of
high-society, thereby removing the main long-term threat of revenge and future
political problems.  Furthermore, by allowing the local populations to control
their own cities as normal, and by marrying one of their officials into his
family--Ghengis Khan adopted these cities as his own family.  This helped unify
cities under his overall rule, and lead to a sense of security and loyalty for
the people living in these regions.  Even though they were not Mongols by
culture, they had become Mongols by family ties, and through their great
treatment, allies of Ghengis Khan.

This led me to think of how *absolute victory* is perceived in today's society.
In modern society (at least in Western culture), *absolute victory* is heavily
frowned upon.  It is often said that one should do "one's best", and that
relentlessly pursuing victory is selfish.  I believe this view stems from
Western mannerisms.  It is considered impolite to publicly display your lust
for victory.  By wanting to achieve victory, it is often implied that you want
others to lose, which makes people feel uncomfortable.

I like the idea of *absolute victory*.  It inspires passion, drive, and desire.
The idea of simply "doing your best" may sound noble, but often doesn't live up
to its expectations.  When you simply shoot for "your best" in anything you do,
you subconsciously lower the bar for "your best".  By missing the critical
component of competition and life-or-death dedication you remove an enormous
amount of pressure from yourself to achieve at a much higher level.

Imagine how much more you could achieve by mentally staking all or nothing on
victory.  Instead of working on that new startup you've been thinking of,
commit to it life-or-death.  Make it into the best possible company you can,
and push it to a level that leaves no room for competition of any sort.
Completely dominate your competitors in every way, and leave only ashes in your
wake.  It may sound extreme, but focusing on *absolute victory* will help drive
you to do your best work.

Try harnessing that fire inside of you, and practice *absolute victory* on a
project sometime this week.  Be merciless with your execution.  [Let me know][]
how it works out, I'm extremely interested in this sort of thing.


[Barbarian Sketch]: barbarian-sketch.png "Barbarian Sketch"
  [Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0609809644/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0609809644&linkCode=as2&tag=rdegges-20 "Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World"
  [Ghengis Khan]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghengis_Khan "Ghengis Khan Wiki"
  [Mongols]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongols "Mongols Wiki"
  [Let me know]: mailto:r@rdegges.com "Randall Degges' Email"