Burn the Boats
Burn the Boats
“Without commitment, nothing happens.” - T.D. Jakes
Welcome to The Vibe!
The blog that is already standing in line for the vaccine.
Each week we share ONE IDEA that can help you live a better life.
This week's topic is COMMITMENT.
And why sometimes we have to go ALL IN.
The Vibe: Burn the Boats
In 1519, the explorer Herman Cortes sailed from Cuba to Mexico.
Cortes was looking to get himself and his native Spain rich by looting the “new world”.
But Cortes had one little problem.
His crew was nowhere near COMMITTED to this mission as he was.
They were far from home.
The conditions were bad.
The natives were unfriendly.
The crew couldn’t even get into any of the good nightclubs in downtown Veracruz.
No sooner did they land in Mexico there was talk of a mutiny.
Some of the crew spoke openly of stealing the boats and sailing back to Cuba without Cortes.
Trouble was brewing.
Cortes faced an incredible test of his COMMITMENT to this mission.
How could he accomplish the most important mission of his life under these circumstances?
Did Cortes give a speech?
Did he round up the conspirators?
Or maybe take everyone to Cancun for a team building weekend?
Nada.
Cortes did one of the most legendary actions in history.
He BURNED THE BOATS.
All gone.
Now there would be no way home but through.
BURNING THE BOATS changed the game.
It left Cortes and his crew no other option.
Succeed or die trying.
Cortes showed everyone he was not just INTERESTED in this mission.
He was dangerously COMMITTED.
We may not be 16th century Spanish explorers.
And most of us are at least a vaccine away before we start EXPLORING foreign lands again.
But each of us has a MISSION in our lives that needs our full COMMITMENT.
Maybe you are trying to save your business.
Or you need to repair a broken relationship.
It could be that you are facing a health problem that has no easy answer.
Whatever challenging MISSION you are up against, it’s going to take everything you got.
We won’t succeed if we are just interested.
We have to prove that we are full on COMMITTED.
Our commitments test us to see what we are really made of.
Our commitments show the world who we really are.
What’s the ONE THING you need to dangerously commit to?
Seth Godin asks, “What would you still try even if you knew you would fail?”
That’s your MISSION.
An amazing journey will follow.
#BurnTheBoats
Joe Ciccarone