Episode 1191: Life doesn’t always follow the plan — and that’s exactly why contingencies matter. In this episdoe of The BIGG Success Show, George and Mary-Lynn dive into Step 6 of the Life Map Course: Your Contingencies — How to Stay on Track When Life Happens.

They explain why even the best goals need flexibility, how contingencies help you adapt without losing momentum, and why planning for disruption is a sign of wisdom, not doubt. You’ll learn how to assess risks, create simple Plan Bs, so progress continues even during challenging circumstances.

Inspired by a memorable fable and grounded in entrepreneurial thinking, this episode shows how to stay resilient, adaptable, and focused when life throws surprises your way.

Be sure to get the free one-sheet that goes with this podcast episode to help you identify what might get in your way and create simple, realistic backup plans to stay on track when life gets unpredictable. Click here to get it.

Thanks for listening!

Here’s to your BIGG Success,

George & Mary-Lynn

BIGG Takeaways:

• In life, unexpected surprises are inevitable, so it's essential to have contingency plans in place.
• Contingency planning is not a sign of doubt; it's a wise way to prepare for real-life unpredictability.
• When faced with obstacles, remember to shake it off and take one step at a time toward your goals.
• Planning for failure means preparing for success; create backup plans that support your main objectives.
• A solid plan is good, but a flexible plan that accommodates life's surprises is even better.
• Identify three potential challenges to your goals and develop simple Plan Bs to keep moving forward.

BIGG Chapters:

[00:16] The Fable of the Farmer and His Donkey

[02:08] The Resilience of the Donkey

[03:10] Understanding Contingencies in Life Planning

[04:37] Responding to Life's Surprises

[08:16] Challenges in Contingency Planning

[10:33] Wrapping Up and Moving Forward

Links referenced in this episode:

• Episode 1186 – Your Baseline
• Episode 1187 – Your Vision
• Episode 1188 – Your Values
• Episode 1190 - Your Goals
• Mission statement podcast freebie
• Follow our podcast
• Join our newsletter

On this episode of the BIGG Success Show, Step 6 of the Life Map Course - Your Contingencies: How to Stay on Track When Life Happens.

BIGG Success with The Professor and Mary-Lynn.

Here's one of my favorite fables. Once upon a time, there lived a farmer and his donkey. Now, one day, that old donkey fell into a well.

He cried and he cried and he cried while the farmer tried and tried and tried to decide what to do. Finally, he had the answer. The donkey was too old to be of any use anyway.

What?

Yeah, that's what the farmer decided.

What a heartless farmer.

But it turns out good for the donkey. Stay tuned.

Alright.

Because besides the fact that the donkey was old, the well was dry. And so the farmer realized that it just needed to be sealed up so that nothing else could fall into it.

Okay, how is this good for the donkey?

We're not there yet, Mary-Lynn. Okay, the farmer recruited his neighbors to help him. They picked up their shovels, they started throwing dirt down in the well.

Okay, this is still not sounding good for the donkey!

Well, the donkey was sharp enough to see that the dirt was flying all over him.

Poor donkey.

Now he quickly grasped what was going on, and he wanted no part of it. He let out a cry that no one could ignore.

Yeah, I bet!

He cried again and again. And then the crying stopped.

Uh-oh.

And the farmer thought the worst. He leaned over the edge of the well, and he couldn't believe what he saw. What? The dirt was flying down there all over the donkey.

And the donkey would just shake. I can't shake like a donkey.

Okay, but you're trying.

But the donkey would shake. Yeah, and that dirt would fall down to his feet, and he'd step on the dirt, and then another shovel of dirt hit the bottom of the well.

The donkey shook it off, took a step and the next step and the next step until he was able to step out of the well and trot off.

Oh, yes!

Which brings us to the moral of the story. Even an ass can get out of a hole!

Oh, man. Well, that's a good one. At the start of the story, I was very, very concerned. But good one!

And keep in mind, you can cry all you want, but it probably won't get you anywhere, Right? Rather, whatever hole you find yourself in, just shake it off. And then take the next step. Repeat until you find a way to get free from the obstacle.

That's what we're going to talk about in this episode.

Well, that's one heck of a setup for sure. Welcome to the BIGG Success Show, where we help you create the life you want to. Hi, I'm Mary-Lynn.

And I'm George, The Professor.

Also in this series, we've covered Your Mission, Your Values, Your Vision, and Your Baseline, which was your starting point. And we have links to each of those episodes in your show notes.

And now in this episode, we shift to preparing for the real world. Because even with the best goals, the life is going to test your plan.

So let's start with this. What is a contingency?

A contingency is a surprise on your way to BIGG success. It's what actually happened, not what we expected to happen.

And so why do contingencies matter, Professor?

Well, a solid plan helps you move forward, but a flexible plan helps you keep moving forward. Contingencies are your alternate routes, the plans that allow you to adapt when life happens.

And life will definitely happen. Anything from a sudden illness, getting laid off, family responsibilities, getting stuck in a hole like that poor old donkey.

That's for sure. And now, keep in mind, we just hit you with three or four situations, but they were negative. Your contingencies are positive, too.

An unexpected job promotion, a new career opportunity, your dream home comes on the market. These are all examples of things that can be unexpected. Yes. And cry out for a contingency plan.

So without contingencies, one disruption can knock you off course, and it can take months to recover.

But when you build contingencies into your Life Map, surprise does not equal setback. It just means it's time to choose a different route. So instead of getting knocked offline, you stay in motion.

Now, we're going to give you three ways to respond to life's surprises. And the first way is to conduct a risk assessment.

In the Life Map course, we have you do risk assessments to help you set effective contingency plans. For example, some of your goals are material and some aren't.

The Life Map system helps you quickly identify those that aren't material, so you can focus your energy and effort on those that are material.

Okay, so how do you determine which is which? Which is material and which isn't material?

It's two things, Mary-Lynn. If the surprise is one, impactful and two, probable, then it's material. If it's not both, it's not material.

Okay. Now the second way to respond to life surprises is to create a plan B.

Yeah. Start by looking at your BIGG, meaningful goals. And that's BIGG with 2 Gs.

Oh, yeah.

Ask yourself what could realistically get in the way.

In our Life Map Course, we take a holistic approach. So think personal, professional, and financial goals.

Then create a Plan B that still moves you forward, even if it's at a slower pace. For example, if your personal goal requires an hour a day, your contingency might be 15 minutes a day.

If your professional goal depends on someone else's involvement, your contingency might be a solo version of the same action.

If your financial goal includes an investment, your contingency might be a scaled down starter version.

And the third way to respond to life's surprises is to deploy the Two-Route Rule.

For every important goal, create two ways to make progress - one for normal circumstances and one for challenging circumstances.

Now, I often hear people say, Professor, "Go big or go home", or 'It's all or nothing". And that having a sense of doubt, having a Plan B can actually bring failure. So are having contingencies having that Plan B, is that a sign of doubt?

No, I think actually just the opposite. They're a sign of wisdom. You're planning for real life, not a perfect life.

And that means...one of the things that we think about as we study entrepreneurial thinking is that the business world teaches us to predict the future. That's how we do our projects. Predict the future. Entrepreneurs know you can't predict the future in a world of chaos and volatility

And uncertainty.

Uncertainty, Absolutely. Chaos. If I haven't said that already.

You did.

Okay, well, it's worth two mentions.

Yeah, it is.

But entrepreneurs know that you can't predict the future, so they don't try. They go out and create the future. And that's what contingency planning helps you do.

You know, there's this old adage that you plan for failure and you prepare for success. A lot of people get it the opposite. But you want to plan for failure. That's what contingency planning does.

We're saying, we know it's not going to be perfect. We're just going to amend our plan.

Wait a minute.

Plan failure, Plan for failure.

But people will say, that's setting yourself up for failure. Put that in your mind.

Keep in mind the impactful and probable. If it's impactful and probable, then you want to think about that contingency.

Okay, so that's just being smart.

Yes, absolutely. All right.

And controlling what can be controlled, what we know that these things are, maybe they border on the edge of controllability until they become apparent. And when they become apparent. We need to have thought about what we were going to do in that situation before that situation arises.

Perfect. Spoken like a true Professor. So let's talk about some common challenges in contingency planning.

Now, one is assuming that everything will go according to plan, and that's generally not possible.

Yes, when you try to go according to plan, you usually end up destroying the plan. And the reality is, when you expect perfection, the first disruption, man does it sting. It hurts. It feels like failure.

But when you've prepared for it, then you're now in a position of strength rather than in a position of weakness.

Another challenge is creating contingencies that are too complicated.

Yeah, a good contingency should be simple, something that you could activate immediately without needing a whole new plan. Okay, the idea is adjustments. We want to make small adjustments.

And some people avoid contingencies because they think it means lowering their standards. What's up with that?

I think it's a misunderstanding. Contingencies don't replace your goals, they support them. Contingencies help you stay consistent even when the conditions aren't ideal.

Now, because being able to respond to surprises is so important, we have a free download to go with this episode. Identify what might get in your way and create simple, realistic backup plans to stay on track when life gets unpredictable.

Find the link to get it with your show notes.

And don't forget your BIGG assignment. Pick one of your BIGG, meaningful goals and identify three things that could get in the way.

Then write a simple Plan B for each one. A small, realistic alternative that keeps you moving toward your goal even when the unexpected shows up.

As the old donkey in the old story about the old farmer learned...small steps forward are always better than staying stuck.

So far in our Life Map Course podcast series, you've learned how to: Understand where you are, picture where you're going, stay grounded in what matters, connect to your why, turn intentions into action, and now with contingencies in place, you have a flexible plan which makes you ready for life's twists and turns.

And in our next episode, we'll bring it all together. Step 7 of the Life Map Course: Your Life Map - the complete picture of your personal, professional, and financial future.

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And we thank you so much for listening. Until next time...

Here's to your BIGG success!

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