Hannibal At Rome's Gates

Change your attitude and beliefs by finding that distinctive element in your nature to support your motivation.

In the novel “Aleph”, the famous author Paulo Coelho discusses about the epic journey of Hannibal, one of the greatest leaders of all times.

The Romans expected a maritime battle, since the two cities were divided by a few hundreds of kilometers of sea. But Hannibal went through a desert and the Gibraltar strait with a huge army, he went through Spain and France, and the Alps, with soldiers and elephants, and he attacked the empire in the North, this strategy being one of the greatest military stories ever to be written.

On the way there, he defeated all his enemies and, all of a sudden (nobody knows why, not even today) he stopped in front of Rome’s gates and didn’t attack when the time was right. The result of his indecision: Carthage was destroyed from the ground up by the Roman legions. Hannibal stopped exactly when the odds favored him, and he paid a great price for this. He was defeated by indecision in the very last moment.

Do you “click” on the primary element of your nature that can bring quality traffic to a performance model covered by the guarantee provided that some opportunities are reinforced in order to decisively change the course of events?

If you were Hannibal, would you leave your decisions to the whimsies of the moment and would let victory get away? What in your nature can make you change your mind at the last moment?

I firmly believe that the nature of every person is built by two distinctive elements: a well-structured element in conscience, which is the sum of all hopes and ideals, and an element conditioned by the exterior reality created by the act of knowledge of some aspects blocking its development – which cannot be replaced in the last moment by the first element.

So the way we act depends on the knowledge of our own interior universe, but it is somehow conditioned by the exterior reality, as well. Everything is reflected in our conscience, which, like someone well noticed, is a mirror of the exterior world. Not only that. This mirror reflects our true qualities – put in various life situations.

And if we’re wondering why Hannibal stopped at the gates of Rome, even though he could have conquered it so easily, well, this is due to a psychological phenomenon called Self-Intimidationtranslated as “Wow, I can’t believe this, it is much too easy.” It’s unexpected, isn’t it? That is, to have such a lofty purpose, for which you would give your life, to conquer a world detached as if from a magnificent dream, this is worth a moment of reflection, a moment of extra thought, a moment of introspection. One last moment of admiration.

The same thing happens when you go on a trip to a wonderful place like the Taj Mahal in India. When you’re a stone’s throw from the magnificent monument, you don’t just rush in, do you? First you admire it from the outside, you take a lot of photos, you write some memoirs in the diary, you call some friends to tell them how wonderful it is there, etc. And at the end of the day, after the soul has become accustomed to all surrounding views, you seem to want to see what it’s like inside, don’t you?

A true leader knows that the best option for a humiliating failure is to believe in a miracle.

When we are put in a new situation, we have to deal with a lot of changes and we, ourselves, are subject to a lot of changes. It is necessary to self-encourage ourselves and to self-discipline ourselves to act like our conscience says and not how our exterior reality dictates, but in correlation with it. In other words, in new situations, I think it is more important to “click” with the first element of our nature and take responsibility to follow until the end our ideals, but also keeping in mind the surrounding realities.

No one really knows why Hannibal stopped in front of the gates of Rome, although I told you my point. Just like nobody knows how you will react when you will get to the “open” doors” that you must pass in order for your success to be guaranteed. Your success will be conditioned by your convictions and values to which you will refer in the last moment – by the world reflecting in your conscience and which influences your decisions.

Therefore, the primary element in your nature that can bring quality traffic to a performance model is that Self-Intimidation that can result in the injustice of fate because you have remained faithful to the belief in the miracle. Sometimes you end up not being able to change the course of things precisely because you have gone too far with faith, and Divinity does not always reward a too spectacular destiny precisely because man hoped more than he should in the result of a worldly, transient, selfish joy, rather than in the existence of a spiritual ideal that prevents anarchy.

Encouragement helps people reach their potential; it gives them strength, offering them the energy to go further when they stop because of a matter of conscience. What or who must support you and maintain your motivation?

I am talking about that saving element that helps you play your book until the last moment – that element in your nature that puts away any doubt on your self-respect and your own ideals.

The prophetic sign of weakness in leadership is the guarantee of a victory used as a determining factor in a state of total security built on the background of a faith that not only demands but also commands.

I believe that true faith translates into actually experiencing the gospel message in daily life, not through a selfish action from which it is understood that happiness can be achieved alone, or only for oneself. So, dream of changing a world that represents a better place to live in, not changing a world just because it shifts the focus of the mind towards oneself.

Hannibal At The Gates of Rome emphasizes the reality that you can also confront in the last moment – right when you’re about to reach your goals. What does your conscience say? Are you comfortable to make the step towards success? Is there a hindrance to annul your motivation even when you have reached the highest step?

Change your attitude and convictions by finding that distinctive element in your nature to support and maintain your motivation.

Conclusion: A leader must be a good strategist. When he has his strategy in place, it is presumed that he considered all his possible options, all the alternatives, and he is ready to act spontaneously and effectively in all unforeseen situations. A single moment of weakness is enough to be defeated. A single moment of doubt that “sabotages” his actions can be fatal – just like having one or more aces up his sleeves in unforeseen situations means that he has a life buoy on the foamy waters of a “sea” in full storm.