Burn the Ships

There is a story about the Spanish explorer Cortes that has always intrigued me. Cortes and his 700 men had a difficult crossing of the Atlantic to reach the new world. By the time they had arrived in Mexico his men were in a bad place and longing for home.

Cortes had other plans. He ordered the men to take all the supplies off the 11 ships and then he set them one fire. The men ran to Cortes looking for orders, they were sure they had been attacked. The men were beside themselves. Finally Cortes stands up and says, "I burned the ships, we are here to stay." He knew that the ships presented an option to go back and not go forward. Cortes also knew that the men would be more highly motivated to succeed in the mission if going forward was their only option.

Great story of challenge as we move forward in this economy, in our jobs, hunting for a job or bettering our skills through education. Burn the ships and make your success on your new adventure the only way through.