Why You Should Burn All Your Bridges and Never Have a Backup Plan

A former Googler, turned entrepreneur’s biggest lesson in life and business.

Total Reading Time: 5 minutes

Take a look around.

All the most successful people in this world have a determination, definiteness of purpose, and plan that most people are too afraid to ever create and hold onto for themselves.

Have you ever met anyone who won in life by pursuing something important, something they would personally consider a massive achievement, by dropping back to a plan B? It just doesn’t work that way. Backup plans are not for winners. A person with a backup plan is likely to use that backup plan. This means they’ve settled for less than what they initially wanted.

If you want to become a solopreneuer, you become one by deciding once and for all that there is no other route or course of action for you. You decide to push past the bottom-feeders and live out your full potential. You decide to create something that not only adds value to the world, but is in line with your individual purpose.

No one ever wins in life with a backup plan.

Here’s the problem: Plan B is the sum of all your worries, fears, and disaster scenarios added up into one half-a*sed plan. A plan that you’re allowing yourself to be happy with. Why on earth are you compromising with your fears?

Shouldn’t we be focusing on the prize, not on the obstacles in the way?

This isn’t mumbo-jumbo. There’s no hocus-pocus to it all. Analyze any successful person you know, and you’ll see these common traits (whether they realize it or not).

Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is time. — Napoleon Hill

If you don’t take action on your goals and desires now, will you regret it when you’re on your deathbed?

Look around at the people you admire. Or think about your role models and heros. Do they negotiate with life? Do they back down when they’re met with defeat or criticism? Do they believe in failure?

We hear these hero stories and learn about people who finally “made it” every single day. There’s a constant theme every time: they had a relentless, borderline crazy belief in succeeding and achieving their dreams. Whether they ‘failed’ once or a thousand times, they kept going.

Also, isn’t there always an odd constant theme of them being in the worst possible state, in their most defeated times, when they finally pushed forward and achieved their goals?

Here’s a fact: if you want something, and you have a relentless desire to make it happen, backed by immediate action and a solid strategy—you will inevitably get it. Why? Because when you only have one possible outcome, the “failures” along the way can’t stop you.

But the best part is—there is no such thing as failure just happening to you. Failure is a choice. Failure is something we have to allow. Failure is the moment we choose to give up. For many, this may be hard to swallow. But there’s power in this realization.

In actuality, a failure along the way is nothing more than a temporary hiccup or side-step in your ultimate plan. If you have some big dream about becoming an entrepreneur, bestselling author, or world traveler—the only thing stopping you is…you.

Not the ‘you’ you normally identify with. This you is nothing more than a mass accumulation of fears that your mind has created and held onto for years.

Your desires, dreams, and goals are perfectly fine. Now if you feel the plan is not yet ready or complete, that’s okay. But what’s not okay is just floating around wondering why all your plans aren’t coming true. You must know clearly what it is you want. Combine that with massive amounts of desire/purpose and your goals will “miraculously” be met with brilliant plans to help bring them into reality.

The problem (and cycle) starts when you allow yourself to come up with alternate plans that distract from the mission. The alternate plan comes with an alternate end goal, which is never as worthy of your ultimate one. Burn the bridges, don’t look back, and march forward like there’s no tomorrow.

We’re all human. There will be struggles and moments of extreme doubt. But we can’t allow those thoughts of self-doubt, or the ideas of ‘Plan B’ to creep into our minds. Over time, I’ve developed a reflex to quickly shut those thoughts up the moment they occur. It’s like a game now. I monitor the chatter in the skull, rather than identify with it. The moment something outside of my grandiose visions creeps in, I snap it out of there like a rubber band slapping against my wrist.

In fact, I actually do that. I use a rubber band on my wrist to break old habits and develop new ones. This was one of them.

Let me be clear here: I didn’t create a site called “Why I Left Google” so I could dabble around like an amateur blogger. I created this site because I believe every single one of us deserves a life of freedom. I believe we all deserve to live the life we want, not the one others want for us.

I decided the only way I would ever commit to escaping the corporate world, building my dreams for myself, and living a Freedom Lifestyle was by burning the bridges to the ground!

There is no return to a life of mediocrity, being incentivized to produce like a monkey, and being told my daily actions and job are contributing to the development of mankind. I’m contributing to society now, by sharing with you the skills, knowledge, and confidence you need to create more freedom in your life.

And just to be clear, this is with no disrespect to the countless people who have incredibly important roles that push society forward. I just never felt I could achieve that by reporting to someone else.

If you don’t build your dream someone will hire you to help build theirs. — Tony Gaskins

With that said, what are you going to do?

Question: If there was one thing you could do for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Photo credit: Flickr

Note from the author: This post is almost one year in the making. I began drafting these ideas on a long transpacific plane ride, after a 97 day journey throughout Southeast Asia. At the time, I understood the lessons (in theory), but didn’t fully know how to live these values. Now I do, and I’ve seen a dramatic difference in my business and life.

Know someone who could use the inspiration and insight? Share this with them. And if you enjoyed this piece, please hit the ‘recommend’ button below.

Enjoyed this story?

For more goodness, get access to the Freedom Lifestyle Insider Newsletter, or download this free PDF Guide: 7 Tools To Create More Free Time & Maximize Productivity.

Arman Assadi is founder and Chief Solopreneur at WhyILeftGoogle.com(WILG). Arman helps solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and wantrepreneurs create more freedom and work more effectively.