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20th December 2016
12:18am GMT
Burning bridges by definition is about making decisions that cannot be changed in the future. We've all been told growing up that burning bridges in life is a bad thing. Often this is confused with a negative perspective- that acting in an unpleasant manner in a situation will cause you to leave a bad taste in someone else's mouth to the point of no return. Now I'm not suggesting that people should act in malice at all. Success comes with having an end goal and motivation and burning bridges prevents you from going back to a place you should never have been to begin with. Here's why it can be a good thing:
If you have an end goal or mission, be it in life or business then its important to stick to your guns. You'll be far more productive if you become a bit more selfish. Focus on yourself, your team, your business whatever it is that drives you. Forget everything else.
If you spend too much time worrying about other people that aren't part of your end goal you'll be left chasing your tail. It's important to keep yourself surrounded with people who carry similar traits, work ethic and goals as yourself. Life is too short to stick around worrying.
We hear this over and over again from entrepreneurs. And its true- failure is key to success. We've all fallen out with people and jobs- don't let this effect your morale. If you don't know what the really, really bad feels like- you'll never ever appreciate the really, really good things life has to offer.
Know what you want. Imagine you're building an army on an island. Survival is key. What are your options, have you a Plan A or Plan B? Well you shouldn't have either. Drop your back-up plans. Options hold people back. Options are safety nets for people who are too scared to take risks. Bridges act as routes to 'safe zones'. And 'safe zones' become a temptation for us when we get scared that we're going to fail. Burn those bridges and pop on your blinkers. If you streamline your thought process- just like specialisation, you'll become better at reaching your end goal.
Not everyone will agree with your business plan or goals. In business especially you'll find there are three parallels- people that like your business model, people that are indifferent and people that fucking hate every decision you make. Within those three parallels you'll always find they'll have influencers and their army of sheep will cling onto their every word. Stop caring about their opinion, there is just no point in even trying to win them over. Here's why- they do not have your best interest at heart and they will never be there to help you. Fuck the people that don't like you and look after those that do. Let their hope that you fail be the one thing that drives you.
Once you've set fire to all your back-up plans and turned your back on negative people then make it your business to never look back. Don't dwell on the past. Setbacks are never bad experiences look to them as a learning curve.
