Burn The Boats

It's time to take the risk and chase your passions

In 1519, Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes landed in what is now Mexico with a simple but daunting goal: subjugate the powerful Aztec Empire. Unfortunately for Cortes, he only had about 600 men with him to accomplish the task. Victory looked to be impossible. If Cortes wanted to accomplish the impossible, he needed to motivate his men to overcome their lack of numbers. How did he do this? He burned the boats. Now, it was either success or death. I bet you can figure out what the result was.

Notwithstanding the fact that Cortes and his men slaughtered a bunch of Aztecs for no good reason, the story of Cortes and the burning of the boats is the stuff of legends. It is now commonplace for motivational speakers, career coaches, sport coaches, bosses, etc etc, to tell you that you need to burn the boats to become successful.

For a long time, it sounded so cliche to me. It sounded like a form of survivorship bias. Obviously you are telling me burning the boats worked for you motherfucker, look where you are. What about the person who didn’t make it? Who burned the boats only to not achieve their goals? I don’t hear that person telling everybody to burn the boats. Forget that, I’m going to play it safe instead.

And play it safe I did. I got good grades, got into a good school, and majored in a safe subject with a tried and true path to upper-middle class membership. Honestly, playing it safe was an understatement. I was playing it more conservatively than Ted Cruz.

Unfortunately, I discovered a hard truth about playing it safe: unless you are following a passion or have a high tolerance for misery, it’s an unsustainable path. For example, for a lot of my friends, playing it safe is going into investment banking. Pretentious as fuck, I know, but it’s the truth. A lot of them have ultimately gone this route. Some of them really do love the work, and are happy. Most hate the work, but stick around for the money/prestige/benefits.

More power to the people who can stomach working in a field that isn’t their passion, but I can’t. I have to do something that I am passionate about, or else I just can’t produce high quality work. More importantly, I just won’t be happy.

Thus, a few months ago, I decided to throw the safe path into the trash, and burn the boats to pursue my passion, which is crypto. If you are young, don’t have any real financial obligations, such as a family to support, and are able to, I’d recommend you to do the same. What do you have to lose? It’s not like the rat race is going anywhere.

Why listen to me? Because unlike the people usually shilling you motivational crap, all I’ve experienced since I’ve burnt the boats is failure, and yet I am happier then I have ever been. I’ve been rejected from multiple jobs, my writing doesn’t pull big viewership, gaining a twitter follower might as well be climbing Mt. Everest, and every time that I check the toxic cesspool which is LinkedIn I see my peers landing 6 figure jobs.

Is failing all the time easy to stomach? Hell no. Do I have any regrets about burning the boats? Hell no. I wouldn’t change a thing (besides more people reading my stuff ofc).

The truth is that the happiness that comes from chasing your passion is not purchasable. If you aren’t a sheep, which I know you people in crypto aren’t, you will never be content doing work that you aren’t passionate about. I don’t care how much it pays or how prestigious it is. There will always be a part of you that is itching for more.

I’m happy as hell doing research and writing for my 13 substack subscribers and 32 twitter followers. It doesn’t feel like work at all. Just another day of doing what I love. For the first time, I am working toward something that I actually want. For the first time, I am enjoying the process, not just the destination. For the first time, it feels like I am on the right path. None of that would be possible had I not burnt the boats.

Who knows where I’ll end up. Maybe I’ll fail and never reach the level of success as my peers who chose the safe route. What I do know is that I finally have a sense of purpose, and that alone has made burning the boats worth it.

I understand these are first world problems and reeks of privilege, but hey, it’s my substack so I’ll write about whatever the hell I want. If you enjoyed, please consider sharing the article, subscribing to the substack, and following me on twitter @TheHeathen22.

I should have another protocol deep dive out soon, so keep an eye out for that. Otherwise, I hope you have a wonderful day!