Burn Your Ships

Years ago I was stuck in a job that paid decently well, but in which I was miserable.  I hated going to work.  I jumped at any chance my employer gave me to work less hours.  I avoided voluntary overtime like the plague.  But I kept working because of the pay, and because I wasn't sure what else to do.  Though I was going to school at the same time, progress was slow and I wasn't doing well.  I felt like I was wasting my time.  Most frustrating of all, I knew I needed to change things but had yet to buck up and make the changes happen.


Then a life-changing event occurred: my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  To our dismay, the doctors estimated that he would have three years to live.  The events surrounding my father's illness are another story entirely, so I'll save that for another day.  But as it relates to this story, it had a tremendous impact on me in a number of ways, including providing me extra motivation in school.  Because my progress had been so slow up to that point, I still had a long way to graduation.  But after reviewing my status, I made it a private goal to graduate within three years so my father could see it happen.  I knew I would never make the goal if something didn't change.  So I quit my job.


It sounds like a small thing, but it was actually quite hard.  I had a high school diploma, and was performing a job that people with college degrees clamored for because of the pay.  I didn't have a lot of money saved, and wouldn't be able to rely on my parents for financial help given my father's condition.  And my family's situation was one more reason to keep the job - without my dad working, his business was struggling to stay afloat.  I wanted to be able to help financially if I could, and that wouldn't be possible if I quit my job.


There's a saying that drastic times call for drastic measures.  That's where I felt I was at.  I knew that if I wanted things to change, I would have to change the way I was doing things.  This decision point reminded me of the story of Cortez coming to the new world.  In order to motivate his men, when they arrived at the New World, he burned the ships that brought them there.  There would be no going back.  The only choice was to move forward.  By quitting my job, I forced myself to focus on school and do well, if for no other reason than to make sure that I didn't "burn my ships" for nothing.  


So if you're ever looking to make a big decision, but are hesitant to do so, create some extra self-motivation.  Burn your ships.