You cannot have a plan for success… without also planning for failure. It’s the secret sauce most people miss. They’re so focused on the win, they forget the game is full of unexpected turns. This is about building resilience, not just a roadmap.
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Meaning
It means that a real, robust plan for achieving your goals must include a strategy for when things go wrong. Success isn’t a straight line; it’s a path littered with obstacles, and your plan needs to account for that.
Explanation
Look, I’ve seen this play out so many times. People create these beautiful, perfect, airbrushed plans for their business or their life. They map out the ideal scenario. And then the first hiccup happens—a key employee quits, the market shifts, a product launch flops—and the whole plan falls apart because they didn’t have a contingency. They didn’t have a Plan B, C, and D.
What Robbins is really getting at is antifragility. It’s not just about being resilient and bouncing back; it’s about building a system that actually gets stronger from shocks and setbacks. When you plan for failure, you’re not being pessimistic. You’re being a realist. You’re stress-testing your strategy before life does it for you. You’re asking the tough questions: “What if our main supplier goes under? What if our top client leaves? What if we get a terrible review?” And then you have your answers ready. It completely changes your psychology. You stop fearing failure and start seeing it as just another variable you’ve already accounted for.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Category | Success (341) |
| Topics | failure (52), planning (22), resilience (106) |
| Literary Style | analytical (121), concise (408) |
| Emotion / Mood | realistic (354), strategic (66) |
| Overall Quote Score | 80 (256) |
Origin & Factcheck
This quote comes straight from Tony Robbins’s 1994 book, Giant Steps: Small Changes to Make a Big Difference. It was published in the United States. You sometimes see similar sentiments floating around, but this specific, powerful phrasing is Robbins’s.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Tony Robbins (102) |
| Source Type | Book (4032) |
| Source/Book Name | Giant Steps: Small Changes to Make a Big Difference (26) |
| Origin Timeperiod | Contemporary (1615) |
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
Author Bio
Born Anthony J. Mahavoric in 1960, Tony Robbins rose from a challenging childhood to become a leading voice in personal development. He started as Jim Rohn’s assistant, then built Robbins Research International and created globally attended seminars such as Unleash the Power Within and Date With Destiny. The Tony Robbins book list spans self-help, business, finance, and health, with several No. 1 bestsellers. He co-authored finance works with Peter Mallouk and a longevity guide with Peter H. Diamandis and Robert Hariri. Robbins’ foundation supports youth, prison, and hunger-relief programs.
| Official Website | Facebook | X| Instagram | YouTube
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | You cannot have a plan for success if you do not have a plan for failure |
| Book Details | Publication Year/Date: 1994; ISBN/Unique Identifier: 978-0-7432-2787-8; Last edition: Simon & Schuster, 2001; Number of pages: 416 |
| Where is it? | Day 57 Reflection: Planning with Perspective, Approximate page from 2001 edition |