Burn Your Boat

Hi, guys. My name is Donnie Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life. Burn your boats. You probably heard the saying, burn the boats and you'll take the island. And I'm going to go into that and kind of briefly explain that quote as well as an experience that reinforced this lesson in my own life. So this way you can learn from it. So I'm in Miami, Florida, currently, and one of my friends works in a lot of restaurants. And he came to me one day and was telling me about this restaurateur that he's doing work for. He said, yeah, you know, I have this restaurateur. He's. He's building three different places. It's one giant place, but he kind of segmented. He's doing a cafe, he's doing an Irish pub and a restaurant. So I was like, wow, that's pretty impressive. Wow. Well, you know, what kind of experience does this guy have? I was. I was thinking in my mind, you know, for someone to open a restaurant, pub, and a cafe, those are. While they're kind of the same thing in service, they're completely different, right? I mean, just coffee experience right there. There is a different skill set you need for coffee than you do for a Irish pub than you do for a restaurant. And he told me, none at all. None at all. I said, I was thinking to myself, like, whoa, what the heck? Is this guy nuts? I've worked in the restaurant industry for a good part of my adult life, and I know I've seen people, I've seen the restaurant, some restaurants thrive, and I've seen others crumble. So it struck me as bizarre, is that this guy would step into that space without ever having worked at a restaurant. The following day, I woke up early morning for a sunrise run. And as I was running on the beach, all of a sudden, hit me. I had this look of astonishment in my face, like, wow, he is taking decisive action. He knew exactly what he wanted, he knew what his outcome was, and he took the action, trusting that the way would appear before him. He trusted that he would make the decision. He would burn his boat, and the only way go forward would be to take the island. And coincidentally, when you act in that kind of faith, the right people come into your life because you've cut yourself off from all other possibilities. You can call it God, you can call it law of attraction, you can call it whatever you want, but the fact is. So my friend Fatih. Let me put it this way. My friend Fatih came up to me and he says, hey, he was telling me about this restaurant. And this is kind of like before he knew that I was. I specialize in coffee. And as he was saying this, I was thinking to myself, I was like, wow, this is kind of crazy, right? This guy doesn't know anything about coffee. And now he's telling you about, you know, about the cafe. And now you meet me, who is a specialist in coffee, espresso, sommelier, and trainer. And now I'm talking to the company. So I thought it was amazing how things just line up when you're willing to commit to the action and you're willing to cut yourself off from all other possibilities. And this is true with one rule that you're willing to learn. Well, maybe two rules. It's kind of like you're willing to learn and you're willing to get help. As long as you're willing to get help, as long as you're willing to look for answers, you'll find a way. But when you get in that state where, oh, I'll figure it out on my own, you'll crash and burn, especially in the restaurant space. I mean, it may not be that. That extreme in other areas of your life, but it could be. So if you want to get any kind of result, we must first have to take decisive action. We have to burn our boats. We have to take that island. I think I might have said bridge in the past, but what I meant was a boat. You got to burn your boat. So you leave yourself no other way to get off. This kind of goes hand in hand with the whole ready, fire, aim, the act of taking an action before you're 100% clear. We tend to get into this. These. This mindset that everything is permanent when it's not. By taking a decisive action. By taking a big decisive action. It does a couple things for us. First of all, it gives us clarity as to what we really want. Right? You take good action, it doesn't turn out right. What do you get? You might say, well, I. Failure. No, you don't fail. What you get is clarity to take another action. What you get is clarity on something you need to learn so that you make a better action. And what else do you get? You get experience by taking that action. By being willing to get back up, you get experience. And over time, that experience is what creates the belief. You create a new identity for yourself based on those experiences. Because now you have this whole library of experiences that you get to pull from. And you know more than other people now because you've been through it. So it's kind of like a, this is kind of like a two part thing. One is taking decisive action. Two, you don't necessarily have to go through all that pain of taking the action, looking at the action, then kind of building up that reference library or those experiences to change your identity or that belief. You could just find someone who's already doing it, bring them on and let them show you the way. It'll save you time, it'll save you frustration. And when in reality the only thing we're really concerned about is the outcome, right? Someone says, okay, here's a million dollars, you're not going to turn it away. Like, you know what, thank you. But you know, I really wanted to work. I was looking forward to working for the next 10 years. So hopefully I can make the 10 million. So. Or the. No, no, just not right now. It's not the right time. You wouldn't say that. You wouldn't say that in a million years. You're after the outcome. So whatever's gonna get you the outcome with the least resistance, the least frustration release, pro least amount of problems, that's the path you should take. So if someone has the answers, then you go for it. That is the, that is all I've got for you guys. So I guess if I'm going to leave you with some homework. What is a decision that you've been holding on to that you, you've never fully committed to? And what can you do? What action can you take that would commit you to taking the island, to burning your boats and taking the island? That, that decision could be, you know, having a friend holding you accountable, maybe posting on Facebook and telling the entire world that this is what I'm doing, hold me accountable. So now everyone's eyes are on you. Or maybe just signing up for that course, that trip, whatever it is, and making it non refundable. So then you have financial pain. You're like, well man, if I don't do this now, I just lost $13,000 or whatever the nominal amount is. What is the one thing that you can do to burn your boat and make you take the island? Said differently. What is the one thing that will commit you to following through, to getting that outcome, to taking that, taking that action where you can't turn back. And if we're gonna do this right, let's put a date in that by when are you gonna do it? Little pressure. When are you gonna take that action? That is all I've got for you guys. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with your friends via social media. If you have any questions, you can send me questions onnydonny R R A u s via Instagram Again, D o n n Y R A u S if you are interested in getting some clarity in your life, figuring out what is uncovered, you know those things that are holding you back as well as taking action, you can sign up for my Live your one life workshop. You can sign up at D o n n Y R a u s donnyrous.com and lastly, if you enjoy great coffee, I make the bomb coffee. Really, for me, coffee's all about that moment. It's about taking that moment for yourself at the beginning of your day to really think about the things that are important in life, to push out all those distractions that are trying to compete for your attention and time, and to say, well, what is it that I want? What is it that's going to make me feel fulfilled? Because it's really about really realizing that every moment in your life is a blessing. Every moment is beautiful. But in order to believe that, you have to choose to see it. If you go on there, you could use the discount code One life, all capitals to get a discount on your first order. And then life will be good. So guys, thank you so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a thumbs up. Share with your friends and family. God bless and I will see you again next week.