Do we "Burn the Boats" ?



There is much speculation on whether or not Hernando Cortes actually burned his ships when he landed in Mexico. Many believe as Hugh Thomas does in his book Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico. He states in his book that the “action was, as all who observed the thing agree, and as Cortés himself wrote, a grounding, not a burning”. Despite which is the true account of what transpired on that day we still have to give Cortes the credit for the present day expression "burn the boats" or any variation of it. The fact remains that either way there was no quick get-a-way plan for his conquistadors. His plan to motivate was to simply fight or die. We can see through historical accounts of the conquering of the Aztecs that this definitely motivated his men. Some say this is a very foolish way of motivation while others view it as brilliant. I doubt he knew how much impact this action would have hundreds of years later on society whether it be true or a misinterpretation of his account. There are countless ways it is used today as motivation.  Author and  motivational speaker Andy Andrews does an excellent job of telling the story of what Cortes might have said to his men to get them to travel across the ocean and do the unthinkable of burning the boats. He then goes on to make a personal application about how we use different things in our lives to "float" our excuses that hold us back instead of  "burning" our excuses and moving forward. I have posted his video and really encourage you to watch it. He does an excellent job of verbalizing what and how Cortes might have said, and the application is one we can all relate to. He even throws a little humor in to keep it interesting.

 

 

 I found another application that I believe hits home in our present day culture. On the website, www.burningships.com , I found some thoughts that I believe we all should consider. An unknown author states that, " Ladies and Gentlemen, we must Burn Our Ships for Marriage. What ship do we have to burn? The option of divorce!" This is a christian based website for using God and the Bible to deal with obstacles in our lives. Despite the fact that you may or may not be a religious person, I think this is applicable to all people today. Just look at the high divorce rates and we can see the lack of commitment and effort in marriages today. A favorite use of mine is the motivational use in sports. Coach of the New York Jets, Rex Ryan, has used this story with his team emphasizing "no turning back". After telling the story he told his team, “They burned their boats!” he shouted. “I’m only asking you to give me seven weeks!”  In 2011, the UCLA football team had shirts printed for the players to wear that said "BTB" (Burn the Boats).  Coach Rick Neuheisel had the entire story of Cortes read to the team and used this as a motto. Even after they had won he reminds his team, "the boats are still burned." The full story of UCLA's use is at http://www.bruinsnation.com/2011/10/30/2525763/about-burning-down-those-boats and http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/ucla/post/_/id/8363/upon-further-review-neuheisel-on-cal.

There are countless examples in our business and political world today of the positive and negative effects of this mentality. If you do not believe me there are many examples just by turning on the T.V. or surfing the Internet. I am sure someone or some party will be verbally praising or bashing a decision made by another without any remorse. On the positive side, our forefathers had this mentality when they wrote the Declaration of Independence but it was also an act of defiance to England. We have to make decisions and move forward with them like we have no other choice. As I stated earlier, I doubt Cortes knew the impact of his actions on the world throughout the decades. We clearly use this in our lives today whether we realize it or not. Maybe we do not use it enough in our society but on the other hand there are other times it has caused chaos and despair. It will lead to good for some and bad for others. If we do not have the courage to use this we could be left with a lot of "what-ifs" in life.  In the end we have Cortes to thank for a wonderful example of motivation, or was it?