You’ve certainly heard that you should burn the boats (or bridges). Others will tell you to get a
foothold on solid ground before abandoning ship. The former are undoubtedly right; you must play
to win if you want a fighting chance. Staying put or going back to square one cannot be an option.
The latter are also right; it’s hard to fight if you’re struggling to stay afloat. A solid foundation is a
great place to build something new upon.

Now, if they’re both right, you still don’t know what to do… You still don’t know if you abandon ship. One reason is obvious: No one else can tell you, it’s your ship and your battle. No one battle plan guarantees victory. Every battle is different. Those proffering advice don’t know the lay of the land.They don’t know the fight to be had, nor do they know how much fight there is in you.

‘It depends..’ is not the advice we seek. It’s not even advice. But, we can find our
answer if we pull things apart and ask what it depends upon. If we get to the heart of the matter, the
torch-happy advisers are saying that retreat cannot be an option. Fair enough, there may be no
more powerful force in one’s success than commitment. As the explorer William Hutchison Murray
says, once fully committed, it’s as if Providence aligns with you. The more prudent advice givers are
saying that the path forward should be one that you believe can lead you where you want to go if
you are to pour heart and soul into it. If we go back to origin of the phrase, Cortes’ army didn’t just
torch their ride home, they also knew what battle they were to wage. It’s not just that they knew that
there was no way back, they also knew the way forward. There are two conditions, and this is why
both pieces of advice are right and not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Before torching the past, it helps to be clear about where the future lies. This does not mean that
you shouldn’t set the ships ablaze without a clear path forward. Many do and we end-up celebrating their gumption. But this may be survivor bias: How many drown and are never heard of again? Moreover, even if we don’t play with matches, life does. We all find ourselves on sinking ships and must learn to swim before we are ready. Deciding if you start the fire is ultimately a choice between playing from a position of strength or not. If you are fueled by being the underdog then go ahead and burn.

What is clear is that there’s a war to be won out there and a battle inside of you. For the war
outside, it is always best to fire bullets to know where to fire your cannons. For the war within, only
you know when you are outgunned and if you need to build your reserves.
Remember that burning the boats is a tactic. Strategy is long-term vision and overall direction.
Tactics are merely the concrete actions and methods used to implement the strategy. They are
possible moves within the grand strategy. Tactics are protean; they change as the situation
does. Sun Tzu famously said: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics
without strategy is the noise before defeat.” First figure out the battle you want to wage in the world
and the victory you need inside of you. Ships are irrelevant; what you ultimately need is a burning
desire to win and the conviction that you can win.

K. Wilkins is the author of:

Stoic Virtues Journal: Your Guide to Becoming the Person You Aspire to Be

Rules for Living Journal: Life Advice Based On the Words and Wisdom of Jordan B. Peterson