BURN YOUR ESCAPE BOATS !

In his bestselling work ‘The Art Of War’, author Sun Tzu describes the story of a Chinese Military General. In a particular battle when the General realized that the enemy’s army was stronger than his…he advised all his boats (in which they had arrived) to be burnt up. And then turning towards his soldiers, he said , “The boats in which we arrived was our only hope of going back. Now I have burnt them…so there is no possible way of going back home. The only option we have is to win this war and capture the enemy’s fleet to go back. However, we are hugely outnumbered and so we will have to put up our best fight….”

To cut a long story short….
Realizing that they ‘HAD TO DEFEAT’ the enemy, the Chinese military fought with such agility and courage that the alien enemy was completely crushed !

On any other day, they would have put up an average performance. But having realized that this was a ‘must do’ situation they fought with extraordinary zeal and bravery.

By ‘burning the escape boats’, the general ensured that his small group of men was able to defeat a big army.

In general life, we have a tendency to create a ‘back up’ for everything. We convince ourselves that we will resort to a back up only if need arises. Their original plan is GAME A and we are using GAME B only as a back up. But if you observe carefully, more often than not we all end up playing GAME B.

‘The cushion of a back-up leads to lethargy and laziness”

If you observe human history, you will find that some civilizations flourished and ruled whist others just dragged themselves in poverty. Observe closely and you will realize that all civilizations that flourished with affluence did so after a post war period. Whenever war destroyed their resources, they bounced back with double strength.
Technically it sounds awkward…
War is supposed to destroy you…not bless you with abundance.
But the truth is exactly the opposite, ‘destruction leads to success’
Let me illustrate…

After the First World War, Germany and Italy were completely crushed. The Allied nations imposed the destructive ‘Treaty of Versailles’ to ensure that Germany and Italy never became powerful again. But they were completely mistaken. In just ten years both Germany and Italy achieved the highest level of military and technological development ! Germany became so powerful that it conquered half of Europe ! The world was shocked to see the growth they achieved !
After the Second World War, 8 countries of the world were completely destroyed. But in less than a decade these 8 countries rose up to become the most powerful in the world ! (UK, USA, Germany, France, Italy, USSR, Japan, Spain)
From the very bottom to the top of the world in just 10 years !
And other countries remained ‘staus quo’.

Japan, which suffered the ‘highest destruction’ became the world’s greatest technological and economic superpower !

Often, there seems to be some direct relationship at work. ‘Greater the destruction, higher the success !’

During the same time, the Jewish community was virtually annihilated by Nazi. Six million Jews were killed. But the remaining Jews achieved such marvelous success that till a few years back the Jews had won 40 % of the Nobel Prizes. Just a very small community…forming just 0.22 percent of the World population and still winning 40 % Nobel Prizes till a few years after the World War (the current figure is 25%)
Today, Jews are the richest people in the World and have the highest share in the success of USA.

Even in India if you observe, the communities which were totally bankrupt at one point of time have achieved the highest success today. The Marwaris (from the deserts of Marwar), The Sindhis (who had to leave Pakistan without any assets) and the Gujaratis/Kutchis (who came to Mumbai without any money or support) are the richest communities in India today.

Take a list of India’s 500 Richest people…you will find 150 Marwaris, 150 Gujaratis, and 50 Sindhi-Punjabis.

Years ago the Parsis were cornered in Iran by invaders and had to leave Persia. They came to India without any money or assets. But within a few years they achieved unbelievable success. At a point of time, 4 of the 8 richest families in India were Parsis (The Tatas, The Godrejs, The Wadias and Shaporji Pallonji Builders).
Just a very small population, not even 60,000 Parsis in India and yet 4 amidst the top 8.

This is the significance of being cornered….
When Man is cornered….his survival instinct takes over and in the process of combatting challenges is able to actualize his deepest potentials.

This is precisely the people who demand reservations and allocations do not understand. By creating ‘safety cushion’s they are hampering the financial and overall growth of their community.

When a certain American President was young, he used to loiter with his friends in the fields of Texas. Once whilst walking with a friend, he came across a tall brick wall. The young lads decided to climb the wall and go the other side. But the boys were too small and the wall too big. After a few attempts, the young President gave up. He was walking back when his friend suddenly removed the young president’s hat and tossed it on the other side of the wall. The young President was shocked and screamed at his friend. But the friend replied back, “It is now confirmed that somehow you will go to the other side of the wall. Now your HAT is at stake and so I am sure you will go there for it.”
And, to cut a long story short, the president somehow managed to climb the wall and get back his hat.
Years later, he wrote in his Autobiography that his young friend taught him an important lesson on Success :
'When something is at stake in the future, we are powerfully propelled to action in the present. So to be powerfully propelled to action in the present, put something at stake in the future !'