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Success and The Upside of No Plan B

NoPLAN-B

Get That History Degree

Responsible people and organizations always have a plan B. This approach is instilled in us from an early age. You may want to go to Hollywood but just in case, have a backup plan and get that history degree.

While there are clear benefits to the safety net of a plan B, there is a significant downside. The safety net may end up being a noose. From a psychological standpoint, if you know you have a backup plan then you cannot be 100% committed to plan A.

Not having a plan B is an approach that many successful individuals have intuitively understood is a key to winning. Elite athletes are well known for putting all of ‘their eggs in one basket’.

“The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety.” Goethe

According to Research…

Recent research from Wharton has confirmed the downside to making a backup plan. The process of considering a backup plan may result in less effort being invested in the primary goal, inevitably reducing the chances of success.

Professors Shin and Milkman, detail their findings in “How Backup Plans Can Harm Goal Pursuit: The Unexpected Downside of Being Prepared for Failure”.

The researchers found that simply thinking about a plan B, without actually creating it, was enough to cause people to lose focus on their goal. According to Milkman

“When people were prompted to think about another way to achieve the same high-level outcome in case they failed in their primary goal, they worked less hard and did less well.”

To be or Not to Be Responsible?

So do we play it safe but lessen our chances of winning? To some extent this depends on your ability to tolerate risk and the consequences of losing, in addition to the importance of your goals. Milkman and Shin suggest delaying making a backup plan until after you have done everything you can to achieve your primary goal, however, the reality is that sometimes this will be too late.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain

How to Stop Being a Slave to Your Emotions and Change How Your Feel

 

Slaves to Emotion

There is a prevalent view in Western societies that it is ‘normal’ that our emotions and feelings influence and in many cases drive our actions. Excuses and justifications from ‘I didn’t feel like doing it’ or ‘I couldn’t help myself’ are the norm and often viewed as acceptable responses and justifications.

We believe that our emotional state is critical to whether we succeed or fail because, so the flawed reasoning continues, because our emotions influence or determine our actions.

Taking this reasoning to its logical conclusion, it is sometimes assumed that emotions ultimately determine our identity e.g. ‘I felt angry (emotion) and lashed out (action) and consequently I am an angry person (identity). We and others identify ourselves by our feelings and behavior.

The Prevalent But Flawed Model

flawed emotions 1

Acting As If

The above approach not only undermines our ability to influence or determine our future but it overlooks the fact that our actions change how we feel. Psychologists have known this for centuries. William James, regarded as the founder of American Psychology, believed that emotions arise from the physical actions we take in response to what is happening in our lives. In other words, behavior creates emotion.

In recent times psychiatrists have started encouraging patients suffering from depression to smile for a few minutes at a time. One recent study found that smiling can double the chances of recovering from depression. You don’t need to feel happy, just make smile irrespective of how you feel inside and your emotions will soon start to match your external representation. Similarly, it has also been repeatedly demonstrated that exercise or even movement changes our emotional state both for the short and long term.

The 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Professor Zimardo powerfully demonstrated when people took on certain roles and acted in a certain way they began to feel the way people in those roles felt and began to act consistently with those roles.

Over time, the more consistently you begin to act and consequently feel a certain way, the more you will take on that desired identity. To bring this point to life; if every morning you tackled your most important task first, worked through your priorities using the Pomodoro technique and blocked out distractions with noise canceling headphones and turning off all notifications you would be plainly be productive. If you were consistent in this behavior, over time your would begin to define and be defined as a productive person.

A Virtuous Cycle

None of the above should be taken as suggesting that emotions are irrelevant to our ability to succeed or fail. People often achieve greatness when they are fueled by emotion – both good and bad. By understanding and utilizing the power of action to influence emotion you can create a virtuous cycle where your actions determine your emotions and over time begin to shape your identity.

virtuous cyle

Martin Soorjoo works with individuals and teams to increase their Performance, Focus and Ability to Manage Pressure

In Defence of Winning

 

In recent times, competition and winning have got a bad rap. Some argue that competition is destructive and undermines cooperation and respect within society and organizations. It’s not the winning but the participation that matters, is a justification frequently advanced for not succeeding. In schools nowadays we see prizes being awarded for coming 10th.

While winning isn’t always everything and attempting to win at everything, aside from being an ego driven strategy, is a surefire way to achieve burnout, there can be little doubt that succeeding in what’s important to you, matters greatly.

Winning On your Terms

Whether it’s getting the job offer or promotion, raising venture capital or a family, winning in the boardroom or more importantly on the battlefield, winning can be the difference between depression and happiness, bankruptcy and solvency and in some cases life or death. The harsh reality is that there are rarely any meaningful second prizes for simply participating or practicing.

Remember Enron  and Armstrong

This is not to say that attempting to win by ‘any means necessary’ is acceptable.

Playing by the rules and respecting your competitors provides valuable learning and growth and helps maintain stability within societies and organizations. Cheating is nearly always ultimately destructive – just think of Enron and Lance Armstrong.

The ‘Win Win’ of Competition

Competition is the route to winning and of itself provides many benefits including being an engine of the global economy, raising standards and quality and spurring innovation. Studies have repeatedly shown that in a competitive environment, most people improve their effort and performance.

Attempting to win means we get better as we inevitably try harder and perhaps more importantly, we inspire others to seek to do better. We just need to remember how inspired we feel when we watch an Olympic athlete win the gold medal or our team win the Superbowl. We admire their mental toughness, resilience and determination.

When we have the courage to go for gold and be the best that we can, we and others win, even when we lose.

Martin Soorjoo works with individuals and teams to increase their Performance, Effectiveness and Resilience.