The Road Not Taken

When he landed in Mexico in 1519 (against the direct orders of the Governor of Cuba), Hernan Cortes burned his ships to remove the possibility of return before accomplishing their mission.

Until last night I had no idea that, in addition to being the brutal conqueror of the Mayans, Cortes was also unoriginal. The first recorded instance of this motivational tactic was by Chinese General Xiang Yu in the 3rd century. To motivate his (invading) army, he burned his ships.

This style of motivation is something that has played a large role in my life lately. When making a decision, it is always tempting to keep the alternative choice open and available, in case you might want to double back and try the path you left behind.

Robert Frost captured the sense of indecision and sadness that results from thinking about losing one promising opportunity to pursue another:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
-Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, 1916

The New York Times has just published this article that discusses research conducted at MIT by Professor Dan Ariely on decision making that illustrates that people will irrationally hang on to unchosen opportunities as long as possible, even at the expense of exploiting both the unchosen and the chosen opportunities.

The lesson? Learn when it's important to burn the ships. Sometimes even looking down the other path sucks away valuable resources and time better spent on the opportunities at hand.
[link] [via lifehacker]