Step 10: Burn the Ships

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”
Nelson Mandela

READ IT

Last week we spoke about the big FEAR FACTOR! Something that is holding us back from achieving the high levels of success we want to reach for. The saying goes, “It’s hard to swim out into the ocean with one foot on the beach!” We have to remove that fear to move forward. Another area we need to wash away and remove from our minds, hearts and spirit is that of holding a grudge!

We all have people and/or events in our lives that have affected us in a negative way. Maybe someone did something against you. Maybe someone said something against you. I have a great friend who still hears people from his younger years tell him over and over again that he wouldn’t amount to anything. They told him to go get a minimum wage job and be happy with that. He uses those words and in his description says, “I put those comments in a bottle and cap it. When a situation comes up that I wonder if I can achieve the goal or set, or be able to follow through, and those words in my youth come back to me, I SHAKE UP THE BOTTLE. It gets me moving in the right direction again. I know that I’ll give it my all and hold nothing back. I won’t ever give them the pleasure of saying I told you so”. He follows what I call the Cortez Principal.

The Cortez Principal

According to some reports in history, in 1519, explorer Hernando Cortez set off in his boats with his troops from Cuba to Mexico. His plan was really very simple. Go to Mexico, conquer and become successful. Similar to how we start out when we set our Performance Path. Set our goal, do the simple steps and be a success. How is that working for us?

The thing is with Cortez, as they arrived on the shores of Yucatan, he is said to have told his army to “Burn the Ships.” This meant that Cortez and his army would both conquer and achieve their goal or they would die trying. Now that is a commitment!

How many of us, even when we started our 52 PERFORMANCE STEP PROGRAM, might have held in the back of our head an “exit” strategy? How many of us thought, if I don’t succeed, what’s the worst thing that can happen. Last week we even did an exercise that had you list “the worst thing that can happen”. Doing that, hopefully, allowed you to realize that those bad things, in most cases wouldn’t happen. But if those odds of “bad things happening” were 99% sure to happen – would we still move forward with our desires, our dreams and our goals? Or would we think, I’m a 1% person – I CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN.

We want you to be a one percenter.

That being said, today’s lesson and the next 4 lessons will be what we can learn from Cortez and his principal of “Burning the Ships”.

#1 – ALL OR NOTHING

So many times when we start to chase a dream or go after a goal, we really aren’t committed to see it through and become successful. In the back of our minds, there is always that exit strategy. Unfortunately, this exit strategy doesn’t allow us to go all in.

I know Cortez’s exit strategy was quite radical – Do or Die!

Now I’m not saying that a person shouldn’t have a Plan B (and sometimes even a Plan C), but what I’m saying is that you need to be totally committed, completely bought in, to whatever it is that you’re doing. For example, when I started up my own business, owning a training facility, “getting a job” was always my exit strategy. I can remember several times I’d have the thought, “Well if this fails…I can always just get a job. I know a fast food place that is hiring.”

This thought held me back. It was like I didn’t believe in my ability to grow a business. I was saving a few ships on the bank of the shore, just in case. I was creating an excuse noose for potential failure.

My point here is; give your dream, give your goal, ALL OR NOTHING. Make a choice. You’re a few months into the program – NOW IS THE TIME TO GET BACK ON THE BOAT AND GO HOME if you’re going to. But remember – like the quote at beginning of this piece by Nelson Mandela, “I learned that courage was at fear”. I’m asking you today to burn those last few ships, remove that exit strategy from your thought process. Find your courage and take another step today. You’ll find amazing just a few strides ahead.

DO IT

1. This week your assignment will be short and sweet. Go back and look at last weeks FEAR FACTORS. Look at the worse case scenerios you wrote down. Along the side, write down either YES, or NO – based on if you could live with the outcome and if that situation actually happened.
2. If you answered YES, write up a Plan B, and how you would move forward to keep reaching your goals and dreams. Like we said, it’s not bad having another plan, the bad thing is giving up and not moving forward, but maybe on a different path.
3. If you answered NO, review if this goal, this dream is really that, or just a whim or a desire. The difference between a want and a need. We find that folks that look at their goals and dreams as a NEED, have a great chance to achieving what they put their sights on then those that have a WANT. Take the time this week and really review what it is that you NEED in your life to make you fulfilled, happy and content. If the path you have been on is still your calling, push past your fears. Write up 3 steps you and incorporate to make sure that worse case scenerio doesn’t happen.

Example: In my case with my business, I wrote up the number of members I needed to have coming into the training facility and a goal of how to get that many over a three month, six month and 12 month period. I then met with my staff and shared the process and what we needed to accomplish. I then laid out a marketing plan and a way to keep membership retention and keep bringing in the new members to hit those goals so I could stay away from being the “French Fry Guy!”