Hamilton vs. Burr
Rival Motivational Styles
The musical Hamilton follows the life of Alexander Hamilton, weaving throughout his friendship turned (eventually fatal) rivalry with Aaron Burr.
As Hamilton rises from humble beginnings, the cracks in their relationship begin to show as Burr laments Hamilton’s ability to act like he has nothing to lose. Burr feels paralyzed by the burden of a family legacy to protect, whereas Hamilton can seemingly only move up and take any and every risk necessary.
Time and again, this difference crops up - Hamilton wants to go to war; Burr wants to see where the chips fall. Hamilton advocates for his ideas in building a new country; Burr remains reserved. Hamilton marries someone “beyond” his station; Burr maintains a secret affair with the wife of a British soldier. Eventually, Hamilton endorses his own political rival over Burr in a presidential race, claiming Burr is too cautious and stands for nothing, pushing Burr to call for the fatal duel.
Burr, starting with privilege and status to his name, cannot keep up with the man who has “something to prove” and “nothing to lose,” turning Burr into a cautionary tale of leading our lives with fear.
Holding Back
When we hold our true selves back, we risk missing our greatest ambitions. Burr knows he comes from privilege but sees it as a handicap. If he had “nothing to lose,” he could take more considerable risks like Hamilton.
But how true is that? Is he held in place externally or within his mind? The brutal truth of life is that our minds have every ounce of power necessary to paralyze us if we do not challenge our perceived limitations.
Fear is inevitable, but letting it stop us is not.
Examining our lives, we are likely to find fear stopping us at many turns. Unfortunately, when fear surfaces, it wears the disguise of well-reasoned logic:
I can’t leave this job now; I might get a promotion in 6 months.
If I start a business, I won’t be able to pay my current bills.
I haven’t done any writing before; I’m probably bad at it.
If I suddenly did X, what would my family and friends say?
Often our doubts are served up without the shadow of a doubt from our subconscious. The human brain is relentlessly dedicated to survival, not happiness or personal growth. This design allows it to override our conscious mind swiftly in the name of protection. After all, the caveman who thought it would be cool to pet the saber-toothed tiger probably did not have as many children as the caveman whose brain said “RUN.”
Social Danger
Skipping ahead in human evolution by a few thousand years, we see Burr avoiding his authentic desires because the threat to his social status feels like an existential threat. Without his place in society, he feels he would have nothing. It may seem like an evolutionary misfire to regard this as an existential threat, but humans have always relied on one another. Social creatures need a community to survive, and it’s just as true now when we turn to neighbors in times of need as it was when we shared the spoils of our hunter-gatherer tribe to make it through each winter.
In our personal lives, this can present a challenge when we are looking to change something about our lives that doesn’t currently fit our friend or family systems. We will be disrupting the “natural” order of things, and it will be uncomfortable for all parties. However, knowing the instincts we are up against gives us a better perspective to face our fears.
Had Burr challenged his fears, he may have lived like Hamilton by choice rather than assuming he had to hang on to safety and growing resentful.
Challenging Fear
With continual practice, we improve our ability to find, name, and see our fears. Once we identify them, what can we do to move beyond them?
The character of Hamilton offers insights into another style of living - pushing as if there is nothing to lose. Growing up an orphan and an outsider, Hamilton essentially replaces the fear of not belonging with the fear of never becoming. His desire for greatness overshadows his doubts, allowing him to push the envelope.
It may seem like Hamilton has the advantage - he did start from nothing and could fight to move up, but is this mentality actually inaccessible for others?
It is never easy, but letting go and taking the leap is a necessary step in our growth.
There are a number of strategies we can employ to avoid our fear:
Identify our true desire and make it larger than the fear - replace the fear of chasing authenticity with the fear of not achieving it
Face “smaller” fears in life first to put the more significant fears in perspective - they are rarely as existential as they feel in our heads.
Reflect on times you have faced your fears in the past - what happened? Are you glad you did it? How did you push past then? What would you change about your approach now?
Envision yourself at 80 - would you regret taking the risk or not taking it when the consequences are in the past?
“Burn the ships.” This phrase has an unfortunate origin, referring to conquistadors coming to the “new” world and burning the ships they came on so there would be no option but to make the new continent their home. Borrowing only a sliver of this allegory, we can remove the safety nets in our lives to force us to forge the path forward. Thankfully, cutting off “safety” in the modern world is less threatening than destroying the only means of transport on a new continent hundreds of years ago (and our goal should not be the genocide of native populations).
Knowing there is no wrong answer, which path would you rather take - to live with fear or let it stop you?