WEBVTT - Should You Ditch Your Backup Plans?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren vog Obam here. Backup plans, we've always

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<v Speaker 1>been told are a good idea, like your mom used

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<v Speaker 1>to tell you about your dream of becoming a Hollywood

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<v Speaker 1>actor or getting together with that crush who just clearly

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't interested. Remember, hon, it's nice to have something to

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<v Speaker 1>fall back on just in case the problem is and

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<v Speaker 1>maybe we've known this all along. Backup plans can be

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<v Speaker 1>kind of lame in the case of people. You're not

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<v Speaker 1>doing yourself or your alternative partner justice if you're thinking

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<v Speaker 1>about someone else the whole time, But the mere idea

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<v Speaker 1>of a backup plan can set you up to lose.

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<v Speaker 1>At least that's what g. Hay Shin said back when

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<v Speaker 1>house Stuff Works spoke with her in for the article

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<v Speaker 1>that this episode is based on. She's currently a visiting

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<v Speaker 1>lecturer at the Yale School of Management. She said, people

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<v Speaker 1>fear failure and that makes them want to make a

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<v Speaker 1>backup plan, but making a backup plan can actually make

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<v Speaker 1>it more likely that failure comes to you. Shin and

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<v Speaker 1>her colleague Katherine L. Milkman of the University of Pennsylvania's

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<v Speaker 1>Wharton School figured that out by doing what all good

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<v Speaker 1>academics do, experimenting. They started off by surveying people at

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<v Speaker 1>a United States train station about backup plans. Almost half

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<v Speaker 1>of the surveyed population had one for an identified goal.

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<v Speaker 1>Then took it further with a test that promised undergraduates

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<v Speaker 1>and energy bar for performing well and unscrambling words into sentences.

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<v Speaker 1>The researchers asked half of the students to think about

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<v Speaker 1>alternate ways backup plans to get snacks. Sure Enough, the

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<v Speaker 1>group who had a fallback plan for scoring an energy

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<v Speaker 1>bar if they failed to do their task didn't perform

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<v Speaker 1>as well in constructing the sentences. Shin and Milkman published

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<v Speaker 1>the results of their study in a twenty sixteen journal

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<v Speaker 1>article titled how backup plans can harm goal pursuit The

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<v Speaker 1>unexpected downside of being prepared for failure A. Milkman and

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<v Speaker 1>Shin wrote in Scientific American, many of the goals we

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<v Speaker 1>pursue in life require a great deal of effort, and

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<v Speaker 1>we can't be certain of achieving them. The insurance of

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<v Speaker 1>having a backup plan is thus very attractive. However, this

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<v Speaker 1>psychological insurance, just like other insurances, may come with the

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<v Speaker 1>price Shin It drew from personal experience to come up

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<v Speaker 1>with the idea for the study. After earning her PhD

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<v Speaker 1>from Wharton, she wandered into the job market looking for

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<v Speaker 1>something in academia. Jobs like the ones she was after

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<v Speaker 1>aren't that easy to come by? Oh what if she

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<v Speaker 1>looked and looked and looked and didn't find anything. What then,

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<v Speaker 1>Shin said, it's really interesting and fascinating how we get

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<v Speaker 1>those ideas. I was thinking, somehow, if I do make

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<v Speaker 1>a backup plan, somehow I think it will make it

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<v Speaker 1>more likely that I might fail. It will kind of

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<v Speaker 1>hurt my chances of success. So what's the harm in

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<v Speaker 1>a backup plan? It's simple. Really, people are less motivated

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<v Speaker 1>and put in less effort to succeed when they know

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<v Speaker 1>the consequences of failure aren't terribly severe. If you have

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<v Speaker 1>that insurance, as Milkman called it, say a totally decent

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<v Speaker 1>job acting in a local theater in case Hollywood falls through.

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<v Speaker 1>You may not work as hard at Hollywood because even

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<v Speaker 1>if you fail, you'll be okay. The authors wrote, you

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<v Speaker 1>are effectively constructing an emotional safety net, which may dampen

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<v Speaker 1>your goal desire. Shin and Milkman found that even thinking

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<v Speaker 1>about a backup plan can impede your progress in achieving

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<v Speaker 1>that primary goal. Shin said, it's not about having a

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<v Speaker 1>backup option that we can take into the real world.

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<v Speaker 1>What we're studying here is more about planning what you're

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<v Speaker 1>doing in your mind. A commitment, or the desire and

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<v Speaker 1>effort needed to reach a goal, played a huge part

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<v Speaker 1>in the study. The authors wrote, primary goal commitment is

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<v Speaker 1>increased by having an additional means of attaining the primary goal,

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<v Speaker 1>but primary goal desire is decreased by making a backup plan.

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<v Speaker 1>Making plans isn't all bad, Shin said, In fact, it

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<v Speaker 1>can be quite good. Many studies point out that there's

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<v Speaker 1>a direct and positive correlation between making plans and success

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<v Speaker 1>in achieving those goals. The difference those studies examined plans

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<v Speaker 1>that are designed to help you reach your initial goal,

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps multiple plans that are all designed to help you

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<v Speaker 1>reach that goal, not backup plans in case you fail,

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<v Speaker 1>and Shin was quick to point out that the study

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<v Speaker 1>only looks at goals that can be achieved through effort.

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<v Speaker 1>Those are the ones affected negatively by thinking about or

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<v Speaker 1>having a plan b for other goals, like ones that

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<v Speaker 1>involved luck, say, a desire to get rich playing the

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<v Speaker 1>stock market, or to retire to Aruba once you hit

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<v Speaker 1>on one of those scratch off lottery tickets. For those,

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<v Speaker 1>it's probably best to have a backup plan. Yeah. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article gotta backup plan, think

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<v Speaker 1>about ditching it on how stuff works dot com, written

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<v Speaker 1>by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio and partnership with how stuff works dot com, and

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<v Speaker 1>it is produced by Tyler Clain. Or more podcasts from

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<v Speaker 1>my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.