Burn the Boat and Shut the Back Door

Have you ever struggled with a decision. You know you should do something, but you aren’t all in. You’ve got some doubt, and you don’t feel like you must take action.

So you hem and haw. You keep chewing on it.

Maybe you create a plan B…and C. Or you tell yourself, “If I don’t like it, I can always go back to the old way.”

Here’s the truth: If you don’t get to the point of “I must do this,” you might never take action.

Even when you do, if you give yourself a way out…a chance to backtrack to the old life…you likely will take it.

Burn the Boat

Tony Robbins says that when you make a decision, you must “burn the fricking boat and storm the island.” In other words, don’t give yourself a way to turn or go back, and put all your focus and energy into what you have decided to do or accomplish.

What great advice…but hard to carry out if you aren’t yet at the point of I must do this.

Imagine: You take a boat to an island. The island represents the new life, job, relationship, health, or whatever you’ve decided to create. And when you put the oars in the boat, wade ashore, and pull the boat onto the sand, you—or someone else—sets fire to your only way off the island.

That’s a scary moment! There is no going back. No changing your mind.

At that point, you have only one choice. To explore the island and make a life for yourself there.

The problem is that most of us don’t do that. We store that boat in a safe place, check on it daily, and ensure it develops no leaks and remains stocked with provisions. Just in case.

Shut the Back Door

I’ve struggled with burning the boat and storming the island, too. For the last year or two, I’ve been going back and forth in my mind about an enormous decision. I know what I want or need to do. But I haven’t gotten to the place of “I must do this.”

A friend of mine said to me, “You’ve left the door open. It’s your escape route.”

“You have to decide to shut the door,” she recommended, which meant remain inside and make the situation work. Storm the house.

With the door open, that wasn’t possible.

Indeed, I keep looking through the doorway and wondering if “outside” is a better place for me. Maybe something amazing is waiting for me if I just walk out the door. (Or maybe not.)

I haven’t made a decision. I’m not all in. I am standing in the doorway with one foot in, one foot out.

Of course, from a different perspective, my friends advice could suggest that I walk out the door and shut it behind me. Even better, lock the door and throw away the key.

If I do that, it’s a decision to leave something behind and move on to something new. Like burning the boat, I’d have no option to go back.

Be All In

Here’s the point: If you want to succeed at anything, you have to be all in. You can’t be ready to run for the boat or walk through the doorway.

Not only that, your happiness depends on your ability to be all in.

• What will it take for you to be all in and make a change?
• What conditions do feel are necessary for you to move through the fear and push the burning boat along with the key out to sea?
• When will should become must?

I can’t answer those questions for you. I’m struggling with them myself.

I do know that when you make that decision, life changes. I’ve seen it over and over again in other people’s lives. When they jump into something new one hundred percent—and leave no way to go backward—their lives transform.

Think of people you know who have left abusive relationships with nothing but the shirts on their backs and the change in their wallet. And they blossomed into successful relationships, careers and lives. Remember people who have left unfulfilling jobs despite no money in the bank and families to support. They went on to create flourishing businesses and freedom that would have been impossible if they had remained in their old work situations.

If you are ready to transform your life, make a decision. Burn the boat and shut the back door. Then storm ahead.

Share your story of burning the boat and storming the island—and the good things that came out of your decision—below. Motivate others to do the same.

Photo courtesy of fill / Pixabay.com