What It Means to Throw Your Hat Over the Wall
I heard a phrase a few years ago that I really liked. In reference to committing to something, you “throw your hat over the wall.” Imagine you’re walking across a wide open field and you reach a wall. You’d like to get to the other side, but the wall is pretty high. As you look up, you are daunted by the task of making it over and begin to turn back. Then, inspiration hits. You take off your favorite hat, the very one that has been shading your eyes from the bright sun, and throw it over the wall. Now you have to get over that wall to get your hat back. You forget about the possibility of returning home and begin to climb.
No Turning Back
A more popular version of this idiom is “burning the boats.” When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico in 1519, he ordered his ships to be burned, making it impossible for his men to return to Spain. This implies that someone is being forced to commit, which might be how it feels sometimes. Yet it is important to
remember that commitment is always our choice. If we recognize our choice, we take the power.
When Commitment Feels Hard
When we take on something difficult, it can feel tempting to give up, especially in the beginning. In martial arts, before we develop patience and perseverance, it can certainly seem like too much work to master technique. When we begin meditating, we may have a few wonderful experiences and make some great progress before we hit a plateau and it begins to feel like a chore.
In practice, as in many things in life, we must get good at throwing our hat over the wall. When we take away the option of quitting, it frees us from the confusion and stress of wondering if we should keep going. Commitment might feel like we are trapped, but with the right attitude it is freeing and empowering. We are fully able to act in accordance with our goals. We climb walls with a firm grip and a steady eye on the top.
Following Through With Intention
How exactly do we accomplish this? Certainly, the largest part is an agreement we make within ourselves. When we give our word to something, if our word is bond, the task is as good as completed. It can help to tell other people about what we mean to accomplish, giving them our word. It is a powerful thing to be surrounded by people who believe you will do what you set out to do.
When we practice commitment, it gets easier. If we practice giving up, that gets easier. So consider taking on things you know you will accomplish at first, then building up to more and more difficult ones. Start by throwing your hat over shorter walls. When we have established a habit of retrieving our hat every time we throw it over a wall, we can throw it over the highest one we can find and still find a way to get it.
