8/02/2006
Burn Those Bridges!
Napoleon Hill may have been on to something. As one of my freelance assignments, I had to provide a summary of his book Think and Grow Rich. It was originally published in 1937, and while it’s touted as a classic, sounds completely antiquated.Take the example Napoleon uses of Edwin C. Barnes. Barnes was a man determined to partner with Thomas Edison. Armed with a fierce determination, he also went in with tunnel vision. What I mean is, he left himself no way out. In the book, Napoleon calls Barnes “the man who burns bridges” because that’s exactly what he did to propel himself toward success.
Barnes’ idea was to burn all bridges so that you leave yourself no other option than to succeed. If you have nowhere to go but up, then up is where you go.
Just imagine if this was common practice today! If that were the case I’d have flipped off my former bosses on the way out the door as I wanted to. But noooooo, I didn’t do that because I was taught never to burn those bridges. No, instead I sent my exit interview to the president of the company.
I don’t plan on going back there any time soon. Burning bridges… sheesh… what will they think of next?
