Burn the Boats
Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential
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Burn the Boats
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Narrated by:
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Matt Higgins
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Written by:
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Matt Higgins
About this listen
*A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER!*
Listen to the book that has inspired thousands of people around the world to pursue their Plan A—making bold career moves, launching dream businesses, fleeing toxic relationships, and silencing the naysayers.
Feel like you’re always settling for Plan B? Have big goals but something—or someone—is holding you back?
There is a counterintuitive but effective strategy used throughout recorded history to overcome impossible odds and achieve breakout success: Eliminate any thoughts of retreat.
In Burn the Boats, you’ll learn:
- How to break patterns that undermine total commitment (such as imposter syndrome, anxiety, and toxic leadership habits)
- How science proves that a perfectly crafted plan B saps motivation and diminishes successful outcomes
- How to achieve financial independence by leveraging the stream of data you consume in your daily life, known as ‘proprietary insights’
- How to harness the personal power of your pain and shame to turn flaws into your superpower
- How dozens of the people you admire first burned their own boats before becoming household names
In this gripping rags-to-riches instant classic, Matt Higgins provides the blueprint he used to go from a desperate sixteen-year-old high school dropout caring for his sick mother in Queens, New York, to a shark on Shark Tank. Now a serial entrepreneur with a billion-dollar portfolio of some of America’s most beloved brands, Higgins unpacks the burn-the-boats strategy with raw emotion and radical transparency.
Now translated into numerous languages worldwide, Burn the Boats is the definitive tome on the oldest life hack in history. From Sun Tzu to Tariq ibn Ziyad, the ancient Israelites to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—when leaders want to motivate their troops for success, they self-sabotage their own retreat so all energy is directed on a singular objective. They burn their metaphorical boats that sow doubt; it’s win or perish, and their unshakable resolve propels them to victory.
But the clarity of crisis decision-making can also be harnessed in our everyday lives. Higgins draws upon extensive research, historical precedent, and dozens of firsthand case studies—from actress-turned-entrepreneur Scarlett Johansson to NFL Coach Rex Ryan—that prove merely contemplating Plan B diminishes the probability of ever achieving Plan A.
Written in the reassuring tone of a mentor and drawing upon Higgins’s experience as a teacher at Harvard Business School, Burn the Boats will carry you through any rough seas on the most exciting journey of your life.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2023 Matthew Thomas Higgins (P)2023 HarperCollins PublishersYou may also enjoy...
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What listeners say about Burn the Boats
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John V
- 2023-03-04
Game Changer
Very inspiring - and also a unique take on achieving our full potential. I listened to the Audible version - which was great because you could be anywhere and doing anything, and hear Matt deliver his message with his own voice and passion - and now I'm re-reading it via Kindle. Two copies may sound over the top but I know a good thing when I've found one, and I like to go all-in in those instances. The Burn the Boats message is very real for me and I think it will have a direct impact on my life going forward.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2024-02-17
Find the courage to make life changing decisions
I ordered and listened to this book on audible roughly six months ago, after someone recommend it to me. At first I was a bit turned off by the first chapter, because it rung a bit too much of the classic "look how I started from nothing and made it great after all". I nearly stopped reading the book then but it would have been a mistake. Throughout the rest of the book, Matt Higgins shares a many difficult, more humbling, personal struggles as well as stories from people he encountered or work with to get his points across.
I was expecting a business book on how to properly bootstrap your own startup and such. Which it definitely applies to, but can be applied to a lot of other life decisions to take control of your lives. No, I did not become an entrepreneur after reading this book. It isn't something I strongly desire, at least at the moment. I would definitely revisit it if I did. But I was listening with a different optics and a different set of questions, and led to significant changes in my life. The text became the trigger that gave me both the courage to acting on decisions that I had been mulling over for months. More than the just the incentive to leave the relative security of the status quo, it gave me clarity that it was the correct thing to do, to seek to improve my life despite the pain and the difficulties involved in the path I was choosing.
Robin Williams in "Dead Poet Society" may have sold the idea of "carpe diem" to find one's own voice and path. For me, "Burn the Boats" provided me a roadmap to the confidence to take these decisions.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Melanie Galea
- 2023-02-23
Matt is an amazing storyteller
Are you thinking of starting that business you have always been thinking about? Then this is a must purchase.
Matt tells the best stories. I’m in the midst of venture of my side hustle becoming real. Some amazing advice here.
You can’t help but be moved by Matt’s authenticity from all the lessons from his Mother. It’s so moving to see what he’s been able to accomplish in her memory. I’m forever moved and calling my Mom.
Thank you for this. It’s so good.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gerry Diaz
- 2023-07-02
Truly inspiring and moving
Matt Higgins shares, along with his own story, a powerful set of tools and guidelines that, whether one is about to embark into entrepreneurship for the first time or looking to get back on track after steering to the sideline, will make the reader/listener integrate a mindset fitness to charge head-first towards chasing their goals, in truly inspiring and moving traction.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sumreen
- 2024-10-03
What an inspiring Narrative ❤️
Matt’s book is an inspiring read. The most powerful takeaway is that if Matt can achieve it, so can we. As an immigrant woman, the insights strongly resonate with my own journey. The lessons he shares are not only empowering but offer a clear roadmap for individuals like myself to carve out a successful future by following his golden advice. I’m truly grateful to have had the opportunity to read this.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Laurie Ditchfield
- 2023-05-22
An unexpected splendour
I heard the interview with Ed Mylett and really connected with what Matt had to say. I love the easily digestible content and I was so eager to listen I did two books this month instead of one! Well worth it!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brent
- 2023-07-30
Every listener will learn something valuable
This could be a course in an MBA program. The important lessons mixed with unique personal stories, makes this an educational and memorable audiobook. I've listened to hundreds of personal and professional development audiobooks, but I still learned a lot of new, very valuable material from this unique book.
This book made me feel not as crazy as people think I am.
100% reccomend.
Be Courageous.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Nick
- 2023-11-30
Success only comes with hard work, and sometimes luck!
You lost me at white privilege chapter 7 If people are only doing business with coloured people that also has an inverse effect, also racist!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- tony
- 2023-02-18
Great book
I really enjoyed this book, it was straight to the point and offered some good insight.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JLamoureux
- 2023-06-13
I’ll listen again
I work as bladesmith, a solo-preneur, in Winnipeg Canada. My hands-on work allows me to listen to a lot of audio books. I found this one touching at times and inspiring at others. I’ll be listening again.
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