Burn the Boats

*A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER!*

Read 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.