In 1519, a Spanish Captain led his men to the shores of a new world.
They were outnumbered, in unknown territory, and the temptation to turn back was strong.
So what did he do?
He ordered his men to burn the boats.
With no way to retreat, they had only one option: win or die trying.
This wasn’t just a battle tactic, it was a lesson in commitment that still holds true today.
Now, I’m not saying go out there and burn stuff and burn boats down.
But it’s an important story that I think all of us can reflect on.
I know for me, I was that person many years ago, juggling my e-commerce business, my insurance business, and my real estate business, and nothing was working.
I was barely able to scrape a few thousand dollars out of my businesses, just enough to pay my bills and live.
It wasn’t until I decided, you know what, I need to go all in.
And it was more than just “all in.”
Because I had gone all in before with previous businesses.
But this time was different.
This was burning the boats.
I decided to stop and cut all ties with my previous businesses and go all in on real estate.
This was in 2018, and it was the best decision of my life.
When I decided to burn the boats and fully commit to real estate, everything changed.
I went from struggling to closing over $100 million in business.
The difference was focus and commitment.
The truth is, when we’re only half committed, we’re not giving anything our best shot.
We’re hoping and praying that maybe this little side hustle will work out, or that this will work out, or maybe one day something will click.
It’s ridiculous because if we put all of that time and energy—rather than chasing these quick wins or side opportunities—into focusing on one thing, we would see success in whatever we were working on.
It’s like the power of a laser.
When it’s laser-focused, it can cut through the thickest steel in the world.
Now imagine having that level of focus in your life.
It could be learning a language.
I know we’ve all tried, and trust me, I’m just as guilty, especially with trying to learn German while living in Switzerland.
But if we just commit and go all in for 30 days, we could accomplish all of our goals, one at a time.
But no, what do we do?
We do a little bit here, a little bit there—Duolingo for 15 minutes a day, investing in this, working a job, running a side hustle, managing relationships.
All these different things are going on in our lives, so nothing actually gets done.
Why?
Because we haven’t burned the boats.
By burning the boats, we make a commitment to ourselves that we are going to accomplish what we set out to do, or we will die trying.
Now, I’m not saying you need to take it to that extreme—that you’ll die trying to learn a language (though it feels like that with German).
But the point is that we can learn from this story, whether it’s true or not.
We all could use a bit more focus in this world of constant distraction.
It’s hard to stay committed.
So let this be a message to my kids, or to my future self, to never make the mistake I made before—trying to juggle multiple businesses and investment opportunities with nothing really working.
It’s better to go all in and burn the boats.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Have you ever tried this?
Have you ever burned the boats and cut all ties with everything else?
What were the results?
Let me know in the comments below.