Have a backup plan! Sounds like sensible advice that I would usually follow. Listening to a program on Radio 4 has made me think again about this mentality and to ask if it might be holding me back.

In the program, comedian Sara Pascoe meets the performance artist Bryony Kimmings. They are talking through their lives and routes into their professions. Sara Pascoe said:

“I was going to take a teacher training course to have a backup to my comedy. My Father, who is a jazz musician and who lives for his craft, said to me. Never, have a backup. Starve or make it work. If you want to have a life that you have always wanted, you have to force it against all the odds.”

How powerful is that? What amazing advice from her father. His belief in her, helps her to find the confidence and single-mindedness to make a total all-out commitment to her goal.

Are you making that same commitment to your goals? Or, are you guilty of developing a backup plan?

Backup plans are like life rafts. Yes, they can save you if things don’t work out. But their very existence may stop you from ever taking off and flying. Their weight drags you down, holding you back. Distracting you, making you look backwards rather than forward at the horizon.  Your goals are up ahead. Not behind.

Today’s message is a simple one. Take the time to understand what your goals are. Then make a personal commitment to go all out for them. You don’t need a backup plan. You have everything you need to become the person you have always wanted to be. Long before others believe, you must believe it’s possible. Remember, we climb the mountain, not in giant leaps but one small step at a time.