Page 44 - Standard Workbook 8-27-18

TOPUCU Standard Workbook
LESSON 7: PART 1
BURN THE BRIDGE
Today’s lesson is titled “Burn the Bridge.”
This saying has been used in a number of
ways throughout time. Often, it’s used as
cautionary advice to encourage you not to
destroy relationships that could potentially
be beneficial to you at some point in the
future. Someone might say, “Don’t burn
that bridge,” as a way to explain why you
should have an amiable discussion with a
person that wronged you instead of
chewing them out.
But for the purposes of our discussion, we
WANT you to burn the bridge. Listen, if you
are going to be successful in changing that
bad habit or reaching that transformation
goal you’re working on through this program,
you will have to burn the bridge. Burn the
bridge that links you to the negativity in
your past. Burn the bridge that reminds you
of things that are holding you back from
reaching your full potential. Burn the bridge
to the excuses that have kept you from
taking that next step. Burn the Bridge!
Everything we have spoken about in
the previous six lessons is useless if you
try to hang on to the past. In order to
move forward you have to make a total
commitment to your future. And that’s
what burning the bridge is all about. Making
a commitment. In the first part of this lesson,
we’re going to stress the importance of
commitment and give you several examples
of people who have epitomized this principle.
In the second part of the lesson, we’re going
to present you with some tools and secrets
that successful people have been using to
keep themselves committed to the goals
they are striving for.
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There are numerous instances throughout
history where you can see this kind of
commitment. For example, there have been
times when an army would land in a foreign
country and the commander of that army
would order the soldiers to “Burn the ships!”
The idea here is pretty simple: conquer this
nation and have them build new ships to
get home or be driven back into the sea.
You can imagine that this motivated the army
to fight a little harder.
Maybe you’ve heard of Team Hoyt. Rick Hoyt
was born in 1962 and shortly thereafter was
diagnosed with cerebral palsy and confined
to a wheelchair. Furthermore, doctors
suggested he be institutionalized for the rest
of his life. But his parents thought otherwise
and decided to work with him to discover his
full potential – whatever that might be.
When he was 11, his parents had him fitted
with a computer that enabled him to
communicate and it became clear that
Rick was quite intelligent.
He began attending public school and went
on to graduate from Boston University in
1993 with a degree in special education.
Undoubtedly, an amazing accomplishment,
but let’s focus on what happened in 1977
when Rick asked his father if they could
run a race to benefit a schoolmate who had
become paralyzed. His father, Dick, was 36
years old and wasn’t a distance runner at
the time, but he decided to take his son out
and push him around the 5-mile course. Rick
told his dad that when he’s running it feels
like he isn’t handicapped. And that was the
beginning of Team Hoyt.
"There's no abiding success without commitment." — Tony Robbins
Dick Hoyt burnt the bridge to what his
life may have become and made a total
commitment to his son Rick. Let’s fast-
forward to today. Rick and Dick have
competed in over 1,000 endurance events;
including 72 marathons and six Ironman
Triathlons. And, in 2008, they were inducted
into the Ironman's Hall of Fame. The story
of Team Hoyt is the epitome of commitment
and a prime example of burning down
the bridges that can impede the process
of moving forward toward positive
transformation. Are you holding on to things
that are keeping you from achieving the
goal you set for yourself in Lesson One of
this Starter Program? You need to continue
making steps in your progress just like Team
Hoyt did. As the old saying goes, “It’s one
step at a time.”
If you look up the word “commitment” on
the Internet you’ll find it defined as, “an
obligation that restricts your freedom or your
actions; a promise to do something.” This
is why so many people are conflicted when
it comes to this area of the program. Total
commitment usually causes discomfort.
And as we’ve talked about many times in
previous lessons, people don’t like to be
uncomfortable. Most will do anything they
can to avoid discomfort. But as you learned
in Lesson Three, “pain is a must.” If you’re
not feeling pain or discomfort you’re not
growing. And as you know, this program is all
about change and growth.
Commitment is a dying art. We know that
there are exceptions to this, but if you look
back throughout history you’ll read stories
about when a handshake was all that was
needed when an agreement or commitment
was made. Do you remember the principle,
“What you accept you teach”? Most people
today accept that commitment isn’t really
Lesson 7: Part 1
commitment. If they say they’re committed
to doing something, but then something
else comes along that they’d rather do, the
commitment is broken. Sure, we understand
that there are emergencies that can bring
about a break in commitment, but that’s not
what we’re talking about. We’re talking about
an accepted idea that has been passed
down from generation to generation that
an individual’s commitment is dependent
on how that person feels at the time. The
acceptance of not finishing has become the
norm and not the exception. We continue
to keep the bridges to our past open just in
case the road we have chosen becomes too
difficult or challenging or uncomfortable. We
must change this way of thinking. We have
to build the word “commitment” back to its
true meaning. If you say you’re going to do
something, do it!
To conclude today’s lesson, let’s touch on
this interesting fable about a chicken and a
pig. One day the two of them were walking
down a path at the farm and the chicken
says to the pig, “The farmer has been pretty
nice to us. Let’s make him some ham and
eggs tomorrow morning.” The pig says to the
chicken, “That’s just a simple donation from
you but it’s a total life-changing commitment
from me.” Sure, this is an extreme way of
looking at it, but the point is clear: when you
make a commitment to change, the idea of
going backward cannot be an option.
Why don’t you be the one that changes the
definition of commitment? Be the one in your
family that looks forward and not backward.
Be the one among your friends that chooses
to be the finisher. Become the one that
others can rely upon. Be the one that burns
the bridges to the past and forges new paths
toward a better future.
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