When to Burn the Boats

Written by Alex Blackwell - 30 Comments
Categories: motivation

burning-boat

Commitment takes courage. Many times we are content to stand on the sidelines and just watch as the game is being played. It’s safer there; but there’s no action and no opportunity for success, or growth.

Sometimes we just need to jump into it and see what happens. Sometimes we just need to burn the boats.

The ancient Greek warriors understood this idea. These Greeks possessed an unwavering attitude to victory and commitment. When the Grecian armies landed on their enemy’s shore, the first order the commanders gave was “Burn the boats.”

These commanders knew the power of motivation and necessity. With no boats to retreat to, the army had to be successful in order to survive. As the soldiers watched the boats burn, they knew there was no turning back – there would be no surrendering.

In our lives we need to do everything possible to make good decisions. We may not always be right. But if we follow a process of gathering the facts, analyzing the risks, and creating a viable plan based on the information available, more times than not we will make the proper decision.

However, fear can keep us from moving forward. Consider the missed opportunities in your life. Think about the relationships you didn’t pursue, or end. Think about the career opportunities you allowed to pass by because you were more comfortable with the status quo. Think about the dreams and goals you once had, but are now stuffed down into a seemingly unreachable place. Imagine if you had burn some boats along the way.

A leap of faith is just that – a leap from what you know and trust and to the unknown. Frequently, growth lives on the landing spot where you leap. The question then becomes, “do I leap”; “how do I know I know if I’m following my heart’s desire and not just making a stupid mistake?”

The answer is you really don’t know, for sure. The Greeks didn’t know, for sure, if they would be victorious, but there were extremely motivated because there was no other course; no other way. They didn’t think about the “what ifs.” they only thought about how to prevail and win.

You have the same choice in front of you. Perhaps there is a book you have always wanted to write, or a business you have always wanted to start; or someone you would like to approach and begin a conversation.

Safety nets are good because they can protect you from pain and injury, but they can also keep you from really putting it on the line. The suggestion here is not to do your due diligence or act in a rash manner, but rather once you have completed your discernment process and your inner voice; your inner wisdom, says, “Go!” You go!

Remove the obstacles and the excuses. Storm the shore with the attitude you will be successful. Set fire to the boat that took you there and watch as it lists in the water and then disappears.

Turn around and look forward; look ahead. Leave your fear and regret at the bottom of the water with the boat and begin moving in the direction you want to go. Surrender to no one or nothing and fully commit. You will get to where you want to go. You will be victorious, too.

Image by Visulogik.

  • http://sidsavara.com Sid Savara

    I love this post. Talking about leaps of faith reminds me of a quote – sometimes you just have to take a leap, and grow wings on the way down.

  • http://www.yinvsyang.com Pete

    Love it. I totally agree. I did not know that about the Roman soldiers. That is a great analogy. I always write about taking that leap of faith. It’s the most important step. As a matter of fact, instead of being scared to take it, be scared not to. Be scared not to ‘burn down the boats’!

    http://yinvsyang.com/

  • http://www.adaringadventure.com/blog/wordpress Tim Brownson

    Emigrating from the UK was a bit like that. We didn’t burn the plane, but there certainly was no turning back without looking foolish and losing a LOT of money.

    The first year over here in coaching with no network of any sort was tough. In fact, I think if I’d have known just how tough, I wouldn’t have bothered. Now though it’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made and I can’t imagine ever moving back permanently to live in England, much as I love it.

    Excellent article Alex!

  • http://www.authenticselfdiscovery.com/ Authentic_AlexG

    Good post. I agree sometimes you have to take a bold leap of faith.

    I wrote a similar post:
    http://www.authenticselfdiscovery.com/categories/lifestyle_design/5_bold_ways_to_changing_your_life.php

  • http://www.aliventures.com Ali

    Great article, Alex. I agree that sometimes the “no turning back” is a real spur — I can’t go back to my day job, so I’m sure as heck gonna make my freelancing work!

    I’m glad you’ve emphasised not being rash, though. Burning boats on a whim is not a good decision; doing so because you’ve fully committed to the path ahead is.

  • http://www.attractionmindmap.com Evelyn Lim

    Great article! When we have no alternatives to turn to and nothing else to fall back on, we do what it takes for us to survive and succeed.

    Evelyn

  • Andrea Hess| Soul Realignment

    Great article, Alex. Commitment and certainty are powerful creative forces. I recently took a huge leap of faith in leaving my relationship and supporting myself and my daughter on my own.

    I have to say – that burned boat was nothing but dead weight. Only now is it obvious how confining and restrictive it was!

    Sometimes we can’t tell how great it’ll be to take a leap of faith until we jump.

    Blessings,
    Andrea

  • http://www.MindPowerMarketing.com Robert@MindPowerMarketing

    great points; if we don’t make 100% commitment to something, chances are we will find an excuse not to complete it.

    Regards

    Robert

  • http://shanelyang.com/blogs/articles/ Shanel Yang

    “I never look back, Dahling! It distracts from the now.” – Edna Mode from “The Incredibles” : )

  • http://www.OSUsource.com Chadwyck

    Thanks for this post. I found it through StumbleUpon. It’s a coincidence, because today I’m telling my boss that I’m going to be leaving to pursue freelance work.

    I’m adding you to my feed reader!

  • Markie

    “Burn the boats”, awesome.

  • http://hunternuttall.com/ Hunter Nuttall

    And Edna was the one who made flame-resistant costumes for the Incredibles, so they’d be able to burn the boats!

  • Adamant

    The Greeks did not burn their boats as a general rule. Boats were a significant investment of time, energy, and material resources.

    I wish you mouth breathing ‘coaches’ would actually study a subject (beyond rereading the feel good email your mother sent you) before you spread spurious and plainly incorrect information.

    I am adding you to my lower intestinal feed reader.

  • http://www.lolafayemi.com Lola Fayemi / Nourishment for your spiritual awakening

    I love the line “Safety nets are good because they can protect you from pain and injury, but they can also keep you from really putting it on the line” so true!

    In love, light and abundance x x x

  • http://www.authenticselfdiscovery.com/ Authentic_AlexG

    Thanks Andrea, its hard to see the silver lining when we are deep in the woods, but that perspective we gain after an experience we have we are able to take more risks and leaps of faith.

  • http://www.authenticselfdiscovery.com/ Authentic_AlexG

    Hey Ali,
    Agree on not just doing rash big things for the sake of doing it. I have a friend who every 1-2 months gets a job and when everything is going great, he quits or gets fired. He finds reasons for himself to quit or he subotages himself. He does this everytime. It makes him feel great and powerful to quit like that yet he doesn’t have the inner puzzle solved yet. If he only knew that he needs to use the momentum of that to create opportunities for himself and not to just create alot of noise.

  • http://ourbestversion.com Ari Koinuma

    They say that when you have a plan B, then you’ll always end up falling back on it.

    We recently had an episode like that. We were planning a cross-country move, but we were waiting till I got a job first. But the long-distance job hunt proved to be difficult, so we just moved. It was a financial risk, sure. But in the end, I got a job right after the move. We didn’t lose any money in the transition.

    Sometimes, you just have to jump without looking where you’re going to land.

    ari

  • EMotivate

    Sometimes, you have to cut the safty line. This has been a theme in many text. Sun Tzu mentions deadly ground in the art of war. He mentions that is always best to leave an enemy one way out…because if they think it is win or die they will be 10 times harder to defeat. Napoleon hit it as well in his maxims on war.

    Napoleon Hill specifically mentions burning the boats in think and Grow Rich, too (btw…you can download that at E-Motivate.com for free).

  • http://www.purposepowercoaching.com Chris Edgar

    Thanks for this inspiring post. I’ll add that one thing I’ve found, both in my own experience and in working with clients, is that the consequences of “burning the boats” — of, in this case, making the career transition we want to make — aren’t nearly as severe as we often think they’ll be.

    I’ve worked with people who assumed, for instance, that once they started their own businesses they’d “never work” in their old industries again — one software developer who thought he’d be “banned” from doing development work when he started a company comes to mind. They quickly find, however, that they can get contract and temporary work to cover their expenses while they’re making their transition.

  • http://www.jungleoflife.com Lance

    I love this article. When we have something to fall back to, we sometimes let fear win. Over our heart. Or over our mind. Or over our desires. We could all do well to burn the boat a little more often.

  • http://www.varsityblah.com/about Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah)

    “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” – Arthur C. Clarke

  • http://www.intheorbit.com Ashutosh Didwania

    This is an awesome article. You are right, at times burning the boat can indeed fuel an inner fire which could lead to great achievements.

    Could you please give a few more examples as to where exactly in our day to day lives, could we follow this principle.

  • http://www.almostfit.com Metroknow

    Great Post Alex. I am new to Pick the Brain, and what a first article to read. I couldn’t agree more – burning the boats can be a terrifying concept, but such great motivation. Thanks for the inspiration.

  • Always see the good.

    Adament: I bet you got picked last for kickball in school.

  • http://www.somedaysyndrome.com Alex Fayle

    I love the fact that you highlighted the sentence about choice. Life is a choice and far too many people believe that they don’t have choices.

    (Even if the Greeks didn’t burn their boats, at least Cortes did: http://www.answers.com/topic/hern-n-cort-s )

  • http://delightfulwork.com/ Tom Volkar / Delightful Work

    Yes we do need to find the courage to put it all on the line every once in a while. I always enjoy these rally type posts. In fact I wrote one myself but I thought it was the Vikings not the Greeks who burned their boats.

    http://www.delightfulwork.com/2008/08/06/whatever-sucks-commitment-rocks/

  • http://www.melissathinksoutloud.com melissa

    Ashutosh, for me this concept comes into play in my daily life quite often. I’m in sales and sometimes I have to take a chance and walk away from a prospect when they want further discounting. Rather than lower my rates any further I tell them that this is as low as I can go and still maintain our standard of service. I have to be okay with them walking away from the deal when I do that. I lay it all on the line and there is no going back after I’ve done that. If I went back and lowered my rates after that kind of statement I would lose all credibility.

    Another example would be weight loss. If you throw out all of your fat pants it will really motivate you to fit back into those size 8′s, LOL.

    Cutting up your credit cards is another boat to burn. It will force you to live on cash alone without having that good old Visa to fall back on.

  • http://www.themasterssecretkey.com/ Candace

    Taking action is better than doing nothing at all. You just have to set a goal and throw your intentions out there to the universe and then it will all fall in place.

  • http://www.therealmikegriffin.com mike

    Life is a leap of faith, we are committed whether we want to be or not. We just don’t realize that it is a leap of faith that we are in the midst of. We pretend there are decisions that are safe and we tend to go for those.

  • Guest

    I’ve seen this on the internet many times, and though it sounds good, it’s a little historically inaccurate. There was no ‘Greek’ army, but rather separate armies representing Sparta, Athens, Thebes, and other poleis. The majority of the fighting they did was against the Persians and amongst themselves (Persian, Peloponnesian, and Corinthian wars). Triremes were utilized heavily during the Peloponnesian and Corinthian wars, but when they were used to transport soldiers over the Aegean sea, they were generally not burned (unless by opposing armies) because the troops could quickly raid other places afterwards and because the triremes were so badly needed in actual naval warfare. It is possible that this practice was in place before the Persian wars, but if so, there would not be a reliable source to document it because Herodotus had not really recorded much before that so I would take that with a grain of salt. Of course, this probably happened a few scattered times (and may well have been recorded), but it was not a common practice or regular occurrence.