The ancient Greek warriors were a fearsome force to behold, earning a well-deserved reputation for their unshakable bravery and die hard commitment to victory. Few nations could stand against them at the height of their civilization. The key to their awesome success on the battle field lay not just in tactics and military strategem, but had more to do with how the Greek commanders motivated their troops.

"The Greeks were master motivators who understood how to use a "dramatic demonstration" to infuse a spirit of commitment into the heart of every warrior. Once the warriors had been offloaded from their boats onto their enemy's shore, the Greek commanders would shout out their first order…"burn the boats!" The sight of burning boats removed any notion of retreat from their hearts and any thoughts of surrender from their heads. Imagine the tremendous psychological impact on the soldiers as they watched their boats being set to the torch. As the boats turned to ash and slipped quietly out of sight into the water, each man understood there was no turning back and the only way home was through victory." (link)

What boats do you have to burn on your quest for success? What "backup plans" have you created to help you navigate the merky waters of "failure"? 

I would submit to you that you need to let go of your "backup plans"! Burn your boats man/woman!

You cannot achieve success by timidly venturing forward. You have to take bold action and decisive steps to go after your dreams! Burn your boats!

You have to be willing to sacrifice everything if you truly want to achieve everything you desire!

There is no retreat! There is no surrender! You either do or you don't! 

It's amazing what we can accomplish when we have to do it!

I know that many of us may not have achieved all the goals we've hoped to just yet. But maybe the reason we haven't reached the levels of success we aspire to just yet is because we're still "fighting our battles with one arm firmly holding onto our boats".

You need both hands and all of your commitment if you're going to win! 

So, today I challenge you to look at your life and really ask yourself, "Am I committed enough to my goals and dreams to put it all on the line?"

This is not a time to be timid. Or to be complacent. 

Burn your boats!

Jim Rohn, one of the world's greatest ever business philosophers shares his insights on "the day that turns your life around"! I promise you these insights will help you take your life to the next level in 2011! Happy New Year! 

"I went to my room and I closed the door and cried," Michael Jordan said. "For a while I couldn't stop. Even though there was no one else home at the time, I kept the door shut. It was important to me that no one else hear me or see me."

In a sense, Jordan owns the world. To me, though, perhaps the most remarkable part of the Jordan story is the fact that, as a sophomore in high school, he was cut from his school's basketball team. I kept wondering about how it affected him at the time it happened. He wanted to play with the others, and was told that he wasn't good enough. One evening, as we sat and talked before a Bulls game, he spoke about it. I wasn't surprised that Jordan remembered every detail.

"For about two weeks, every boy who had tried out for the basketball team knew what day the cut list was going to go up," Jordan said. "We knew that it was going to be posted in the gym in the morning. "So that morning we all went in there and the list was up. I had a friend, and we went in to look at the list together. "We stood there and looked for our names. If your name was on the list, you were still on the team. If your name wasn't on the list, you were cut. His name was on the list. He made it. Mine wasn't on the list.

There are 4 foundations to life. 

1. Faith
2. Family
3. Fitness
4. Finance

In that order. Ordering your priorities according to these 4 pillars will make ALL the difference.