“I think I can do this,” I said to Mark Stabile in late 2009.
I’d known Mark for a few years at that point. He’d recently left the company he co-founded and was out working on some new projects. When I told him I might be launching a business, he offered to lend an ear and offer some advice.
“Have you put together a business plan?” he asked.
A business plan? That sounds complicated, I thought. And, after looking at some examples online, I saw it really was — especially for someone with no business training. Mark’s talk helped me clarify my thoughts about what I wanted to do and, more importantly, how the venture could create some revenue, but I never did get much done on the business plan.
So it should come as no surprise that someone who didn’t do a business plan never gave much thought to a backup plan — a “what am I going to do if this all goes up in flames” scenario. And I have always felt that knowing there was nothing awaiting failure but the abyss has helped me stay out of it.
I think Hernán Cortés must have been thinking the same thing when, after some of his men attempted to mutiny, he ordered the ships scuttled. “Oh yeah?” one can imagine him thinking. “Well now you’re not going anywhere!” And so with no alternatives, the expedition overcame all obstacles and conquered the Aztec Empire.
Since I’ve always felt a morbid type of inspiration from the abyss, the results of a recent study by Jihae Shin of the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Katherine Milkman of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania made sense to me. They carried out a series of studies to investigate how forming a backup plan effected people, and found that those who thought about what they’d do if things went south had a greater chance of winding up there.
“ … we propose that the mere act of thinking through a backup plan can reduce performance on your primary goal by decreasing your desire for goal achievement. In three experimental studies, we find that individuals randomly assigned to think through a backup plan subsequently performed worse on their primary goal (Studies 1–3). We further show that this effect is mediated by study participants’ decreased desire to attain their primary goal (Study 3),” they wrote.
Of course, there are lines of work and responsibilities where having a backup plan is simply part of the job (think business continuity), but in some endeavors, the time spent thinking about a worst-case scenario might be better spent making the most of the main chance, and thus obviating the need for those neglected contingency plans.
And then there’s the aforementioned unanticipated, unintended, but all too real motivating power of the abyss. It’s dark down there, it’s super scary and, thus, almost impossible to contemplate. When things are not going well, the abyss provides one hell of a motivation to get off your rear and get creative. You can put all the fancy language you want on it, but I think that’s essentially what Shin and Milkman found.
So in your endeavors, perhaps it’s best to work toward your goal without planning what you’ll do if you fall short. And, in that way, you’ll have given yourself the best chance never to find out.
brencklg says
Hi Anthony:
This rings so true, and I wanted to share with you my personal experience – not in relation to work, but with my recreational activities.
Last year I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail with my son. One of the hardest things to deal with was the not infrequent thought that I could quit at the next town or at the next road crossing. We made it all the way but there were some tough times.
At the start of our trip (we started in Maine and went south) our first hurdle was an area called the 100-mile wilderness. About 40 miles in, I sprained my ankle badly. I thought my only two choices were to hike back 40 miles or forward 60 miles. The other choice was the abyss. Somehow we made it all 100 miles and then continued on to finish in Georgia. Since then I’ve learned that there are ways to leave the 100-mile wilderness short of the two ends. If I had known that (had the back-up plan) I’m not sure I would have completed this first step and therefore not completed the whole trail. Once you “settle” it’s hard to push back to your goal.
Just last week, my son and I repeated the 100-mile wilderness trek. We wanted to see what it was like to hike when I had 2 healthy legs. Instead of 12 days, we completed it in 7 days. We walked 15 miles each day. Every day we had our stretch destination and a “back-up” (around 10 miles) in case we got too tired. It was amazing how much we would obsess over that “backup” even after only 15 minutes of hiking in the morning!
It’s very motivating to have the abyss!
Anthony Guerra says
Thanks so much for sharing that wonderful story, George!