Arnold Schwarzenegger says he never had a Plan B, and full commitment to one path beats hedging your bets. He applied this to bodybuilding, business, and politics. The episode argues you should burn your boats too, or at least practice until you can.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last plus one we talked about Arnold Schwarzenegger and the fact that he has a very strong opinion about Plan B. As per the spoiler alert, Arnold hates Plan B. And as promised, here's a link to the incredibly inspiring four minute micro speech he gave on why he hates Plan B. I'm tempted to copy and paste the entire transcript from Arnold here. I actually had the team do it for us. Thank you, Cal man. So we could share it, but I think you'd love to hear it in his voice, so if you feel so inspired, watch it. We've got the link again in the plus one. Now I will share this blurb with you. Arnold says, I'm telling you, I've never ever had a plan B. I say I made a full commitment that I'm going to go and be a bodybuilding champion. I made a full commitment that I'm going to be in America. I made a full commitment that I'm going to get into show business and I'm going to be a leading man. No matter what it takes, I will do the work. I will do the work over and over and over until I get it. The same goes in politics and everything like that. So to me, he says, it is very dangerous to have a plan B because you're cutting yourself off from the chance of really succeeding. Andy tells us that the reason most people have a Plan B is that they're afraid to fail. To which he says, in short, don't be afraid to fail, of course you will. Then you get back up, dust yourself off and carry on. So, spotlight on you. Are you spending way too much time and energy hedging your bets, or are you going all in on whatever it is you've said is most important to you and in your life? Know this. In burn your boats, Matt Higgins says, and I quote him again, if you are someone who is worried that you won't succeed, trust me, you've already failed. Now that might be more than a bit hyperbolic, as of course we want to make sure we create healthy space for whooping, obstacles, etc. And yikes. Higgins also tells us, I quote, I believe you dilute your doubt by cultivating your conviction. The degree to which you diversify should have an inverse relationship with how convinced you are of your success. It's counterproductive to spread your energy across a landscape of opportunities such that you can't actually invest your full self into any of them. Andy says you need to structure your big bets in life to give yourself time to be right. It's hard enough to be right. It's impossible to predict when you'll be right. I tell people it takes at least three years for a startup to stabilize, five to reap the harvest, and almost. Nevertheless, no matter the product, and that's today's plus one, is it time for you to throw Plan B overboard and burn the boats and go all in? If so, let's go. P.S. if you do truly go for it, buckle up and get ready to practice your philosophy. You're going to need to. And if you aren't quite ready to truly go for it, all good. Honor that and buckle up and get ready to practice your philosophy. You're going to need to if you want to get to a point where you are ready to go for it.
