On the Jay Shetty Podcast, Jay Shetty asks Arnold Schwarzenegger a direct question: did he ever have a Plan B? The answer is immediate. "I never believed in Plan B."
Clip: Viral Podcast Shorts YouTube Short from the full source linked below.
He ties that stance to a rule from his book. "One of the rules we have in the in my book," he says, "is never listen to the naysayers." An official On Purpose recap of the episode says they were talking about his 2023 book, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life. In the Short, he doesn't name the title. He just points to the rule.
This article sticks to what he says in the Short, in his own words.
"It was always impossible"
The way he tells it, the doubting started early, and it followed every goal. "Every single dream of mine," he says, was an outrageous one — "of course I have to say they were outrageous dreams" — and people treated them that way. They told him, "what is the matter with you," and that it "would never happen."
His dream of going to America got the same pushback. "What do you think they're waiting for you over there," he remembers people asking. The country already had "over 300 million population," the argument went, and "they don't need anymore." In his recounting, the message was that he would never get there, and that he wasn't needed even if he did.
Bodybuilding and movies were no different. Wanting to be a world champion in bodybuilding, he says, "was impossible." The next ambition landed the same way: "When I said I want to get into the movies that was impossible." In his telling, "it was always impossible."
Other people's verdicts, he says, were something "we can go and defend ourselves from." The answer, as he frames it, was to "just not listen to the naysayers."
The most dangerous naysayer
A Plan B, he says, changes the voice that matters most. The outside chorus was manageable. The problem was what happened if he started building an exit for himself. If he starts having a Plan B, he is suddenly the person telling himself, "maybe this isn't working out," and that "if it's not working out we should have a plan B."
That, to him, is worse than the noise from other people. "This is the most dangerous of all of the naysayers is me saying no and it's impossible maybe to myself."
So he refused the cushion. "The best way of handling that," he says, is "not to have a safety net and not to have a plan b." Without one, he is "at risk," and "I have to be at all times on the edge," so he doesn't end up in the place "where I would need a safety net."
He doesn't unpack the book rule any further in the Short. He also doesn't walk through how any one career actually unfolded, or what a safety net would have looked like in practice. The clip stays on the idea.
"Go all out with my plan"
"This is the way I dealt with that issue," he says. The habit is plain: "never have a plan B," "go all out with my plan," and "really put 100% of effort into it in order to really achieve it."
The Short ends on that line. It does not follow the conversation into later parts of his life, and it does not add a closing line about always believing in his goals.
In the clip, the point is the rule itself: no backup plan, no safety net, and no room for the voice in his own head to talk him out of the work.
Related reading
- Arnold Schwarzenegger's real name
- Arnold Schwarzenegger bio
- Real names of bodybuilders
- Arthur Brooks on pleasure, people, and memory, from a podcast conversation
FAQ
Did Arnold Schwarzenegger ever have a Plan B?
No, as he tells it on the Jay Shetty Podcast. He says he never believed in Plan B.
Why does he think a Plan B is dangerous?
He says it turns him into the naysayer. Having a backup means telling himself that maybe the main plan isn't working out.
Who does he say is the most dangerous naysayer?
Himself. In his words, the most dangerous of all the naysayers is him saying no, and that it's impossible, to himself.
What does he put in place of a safety net?
He says he goes all out with his plan and puts 100% of his effort into it.