10,000 NOs

CHAPTER 5Risk

“If you want to take the island, you need to burn the boats.”

—Tony Robbins, Unleash the Power Within

In 2016, my wife and I were invited to Tony Robbins's Unleash the Power Within seminar in San Jose, California. There was much excitement throughout the weekend as we got to know, and fire-walk with, some impressive people sitting in our section. Actor Gerard Butler, World Champion Triathlete Siri Lindley, and physical therapist and strength coach Rory Cordial, who is so good at his job that Beyoncé and Jay-Z bring him with them on their world tours to keep them limber and healthy, were among the folks with whom we were fortunate enough to connect. I was inspired enough to jumpstart my then-nascent idea for the 10,000 NOs podcast, and many of those people have since been guests on the show. That weekend, the majority of topics that were covered resonated for me, but the one that really stood out was the idea behind burning the boats.

Conquer or Die

It was so appropriate for me at that time because we had just left our rent-stabilized apartment on the beach of Santa Monica earlier that week to move into a house in the neighborhood where our kids had been commuting to school. While this move doubled our monthly expenses, we knew the risk we were taking was an attempt to put our kids and our family in a neighborhood where we could thrive the most.

The idea behind “burning the boats” is simple: conquer or die. The literal burning of the boats refers to a historical ...