Burn the Boats
In our pursuit of a dream, a former version of ourselves must die.
Accept the reality that discomfort is the by-product of a well-intentioned life. If we truly want to find out what we’re made of, or moreso, what we’re made for, we have to burn the boats.
Life will give you the choice. Play it safe, or bet on yourself. You can’t do both.
When we burn the boats, we place ourselves in a do or die position. A place that we can’t turn back from. You didn’t have to do it. No one forced you to make the hard decision; and from the outside looking in, it wasn’t necessary.
But you always knew. A life of purpose and fulfillment is out there for you, but it comes at a cost. A sacrifice of your past self must be made.
Burn it down.
“Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat”
Napoleon Hill
Shift the Mindset
As kids, we dream big. We hold our future selves to a high-standard; we’re limitless.
And then we mature. We become worn by the day-to-day stressors that plague us all, and we begin to scale our expectations.
We can choose the hard right, or the easy wrong. One way leads to possibility, the other to predictability.
Predictability is preferred 9 times out of 10, because it’s safe, comfortable, and more easily attained.
Don’t settle.
Embrace possibility. Set your standards high, become accountable to yourself, and force growth.
You can be happy with good enough, or you can be thrilled by the potentiality of greatness.
Those who tirelessly strive for greatness; a dream, vision, goal, whatever you want to call it; are in it for much more than themselves.
They want their lives to mean something for others, and whether they understand the full scope of the possibility or not, they’ve already made the commitment to figure it out - or die trying.
The switch is flipped. The mindset is shifted. Good will never again be good enough.
“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline”
Jim Collins
Bet on Yourself
Belief in the self is a requisite to achievement.
Doubt will surround many of the decisions that you make, and actions that you take. The choice that you have is whether or not the doubt will be an external pressure, or an internal one.
Your dreams will never make as much sense to others, as they do to you.
And in fact, dreams are quite senseless. They are counterintuitive to reason, reality, and consciousness. But that doesn’t make them any less achievable.
In the pursuit of your dreams, rely more heavily on feeling and intuition, than the societal logic that others will try to impose upon you.
Your intuition creates and sustains the unique energy of your being. What you feel is the right course of action, may not appear so from an outsider’s perspective.
But this is where you get to bet on yourself. Go all in on what you know is possible.
Your intuition is a force greater than the self. It is an inkling of your purpose and destiny.
The universe wishes for you to trust your instincts. Your dreams rely on your ability to create movement around the fleeting visions for what is possible.
“It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover”
Henri Poincare
Burn the Boat, not the Bridge
When we figuratively burn the boats, we commit fully to our unique potential.
It’s a trust fall, where the only person that can catch us is ourselves.
When this decision is made, it’s as if we’re the hero in an epic story. The cards are stacked against us; how will we react? We put our own actions under a microscope, and become fully invested in the results.
In these moments, it’s far too easy to believe that we are all that matters in the world.
We put everything into ourselves, until there’s nothing left for those around us.
The true purpose is far too easily lost amidst the noise.
We shouldn’t go all in on ourselves, but rather go all in on our purpose.
And that purpose, for each individual, has everything to do with an ability to leave the world better than we found it.
Your investment is not in the self, it’s in the world. Whatever you take for yourself, you should strive to give back, two-fold or greater.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish”
Proverbs 29:18
So, my encouragement to you is this…
Believe in yourself.
Create action around your dreams.
Take a chance and don’t allow yourself the option of going back to a life that is less than your fullest potential.
And along the journey, always keep in mind your true purpose: To positively influence the lives of others; allowing for the initial investment in yourself to compound into something much greater.
A lasting mark on the world.
