No Plan B: Taking Bold Action
Without a Backup Plan

Over the last 6 months I have become an avid fan of Sam Jones’ podcast, Off Camera.

Sam interviews many Hollywood celebrities and as each of them open up about their personal stories of triumph and tragedy I can’t help but notice one common and powerful similarity – they never had a backup plan.

Photo Credit: SkydiveAndes

In fact, nearly every successful actor, director, or producer that Sam has brought onto his show started with nothing more than a fantasy to make it big in Hollywood.

That’s all they had. Many had very little money, zero connections, and nothing more than the determination to succeed without even considering what they would do if they failed.

Pushing forward without a Plan B is undeniably scary, and that’s the point.

This is What Fear Looks Like

I wish I could say that the picture above is from my first skydiving experience 2 years ago, but there’s no way I would have been able to smile that big.

In fact, this is how my face looked:

Here’s a closer look:

Notice anything different about my face compared with the guy in the picture above?

What you see on my face is the realization that I too had no Plan B. There was no turning back and no way I could talk my skydiving instructor out of jumping.

The insanity was going to happen whether I liked it or not.

How to Succeed With Only One Goal in Mind

The good news about my skydiving experience was that it worked. I jumped and didn’t die. In fact, by facing my fear without an option to escape at the last second I was able to accomplish my goal and prove to myself that it’s possible.

Forgoing a backup plan is not necessary to succeed in every scenario, but my guess is that we all need to embrace this methodology way more often than we’re comfortable with.

Here are a few tips to succeed when you are tempted to fall back on Plan B, but know in your gut that you’re only planning to fail.

1. Don’t Give Yourself the Chance to Bail

It might sound far fetched to pursue the stereotypical American dream of becoming a Hollywood celebrity, or an astronaut, or ___________ [fill in the blank with hopes and dreams that sound wonderful but have been squelched by years of doubt and ridicule].

How unrealistic are ambitious goals? As a guy who has a college degree in Theatre & Psychology I know what it’s like to be questioned about your future.

Are you planning to move to Los Angeles? Do you think you can make it as an actor? How long can you survive before you end up working as a waiter?

I never planned on becoming a professional actor, but these questions and others like them only filled my mind with doubt, fear, and skepticism about my own abilities.

In other words, I was already bailing on a dream that I didn’t even have. I was letting myself believe the crowd mentality that only a select few people are destined for greatness.

The thing is, they’re right! The problem is that the people destined for greatness are not selectively chosen or born into success, they are simply the ones who refused to believe Plan B was an option.

When given the chance to bail, you likely will.

Instead, act as though you are one of those destined for greatness by never realistically entertaining the possibility that a Plan B is even necessary.

2. Prepare Now for Trial and Error

I interviewed a phenomenal guy on my podcast earlier this year who has pushed the boundaries for what it means to tackle fears head on. Jia Jiang is the author of Rejection Proof and he intentionally put himself in awkward and challenging situations just to see what would happen.

In effect, he was rapidly whittling away his fears, teaching himself a great deal about his own perceived boundaries, and discovering how to push through the inevitable set backs that were coming his way.

You could say that Jia had a Plan A in mind and that if he was shot down he would resort to Plan B, which was simply to try again another way. Jia’s Plan B was not to give up on his goal but instead to try alternative strategies.

In order to prepare your mind and body for success with your Plan A you must embrace the reality that trial and error is a guaranteed part of the process.

3. Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Theoretically Chew

Though entertaining a Plan B could lead to failure of your initial goal, there is such a thing as barking up the wrong tree.

As an example, last week a powerful red cell thunderstorm blew through Nashville right around the time I had planned to lift weights in my garage. As the storm began pounding rain and wind down on my neighborhood I quickly changed plans, ditched the weights, and went for a run.

You will never hear anyone recommend that you run through a thunderstorm (and for the record, neither will I), but it was undoubtedly the best run I have had in years!

Running through wind, rain, lightning, and thunder that is swelling all around you is humbling, scary as you can imagine, and freakin’ awesome. However, I didn’t run through a hurricane.

I did not run through a tornado, typhoon, or hail storm. In other words, I picked a challenge that was within my grasp and optimized it without risking too much and putting myself in imminent danger.

If your goals both excite you and scare you
at the same time, you are on the right track.

– JEFF SANDERS

To put this story in context, your goals should align with your natural strengths and not fall into the category of absurdity. There is such a thing as too much, too far, or too crazy, though I honestly don’t know where to draw that line.

So, you must draw your own lines and determine how big you are willing to go. If your goals both excite you and scare you at the same time, you are on the right track.

If you don’t believe your own goal and think you have no chance, then you don’t. Move on and choose something that aligns to what your best self could accomplish.

Action Step

What big goal would you like to pursue that needs this level of intensity? What dream has been on the horizon of your life that needs to be propelled to your present moment?

Today, identify that goal and write it down. Clarify your target and begin to organize the action list that will make this fantasy your reality.

Next Week

On the blog next week I will be discussing a few critical life lessons I learned after spending two months outside of my natural strength zone.