ALL IN: The Three Major Reasons You Cannot Lose It All

A few of my poker buds – NOT the WSOP Main Event 🙂

ALL IN is a term associated with poker when all of a player’s chips are at risk on a single hand. ALL IN is also the choice to fully commit oneself to a project, goal or intention.

The 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event concluded early Sunday morning. Scott Blumstein, a Jersey boy, outlasted a field of 7,221 to claim the $8.15 million prize. What this means is that at some point 7,220 players went ALL IN…

and LOST.

In poker the ALL IN moment occurs when a player pushes all of their chips into the middle of the table or simply announces, “ALL IN.” At that moment the chips belong to the “pot” until the completion of the hand. There are two ways to win:

1. Everyone else folds.
2. One or more opponents call with a weaker hand.

Quite often someone has a better hand. If they call…

You lose it all.

For this reason the ALL IN experience is often accompanied by a four letter word starting with an “F” that kicks into the brain and body. That’s right, fear is the word we were looking for. The potential for gain is high, but the loss could be devastating. In the WSOP Main Event, this is a very real scenario. If someone calls you with a better hand, your tournament life is over and your $10,000 buy in is lost forever.

Life can appear to be similar. It can feel safer to watch from the sidelines, to play small, to protect yourself. We fear what may happen if we fully commit. What if it doesn’t work out? Why risk it? You might even lose it all…

Here’s my belief: if you truly go all in on a project, a business, an initiative, an idea, or an intention…

YOU CANNOT LOSE IT ALL

These are the three major reasons you cannot lose it all when you go ALL IN:

1. You will get results. Whether you get the intended outcome or not, one thing is certain: life changes when you go ALL IN. You will see specific, measurable results in the area of your commitments that you simply would never see otherwise.
2. You will learn something about yourself. We process information differently when we are committed. Strength, creativity, ingenuity and power are activated when you commit. You may unlock potential you never knew existed.
3. You will never have to wonder. Face it, there have been times in your life when you said you were going for it- in a business, a relationship, a personal development program… If you’re honest with yourself you know you weren’t fully committed. Have you ever wondered how life might be different if you had been ALL IN? When you fully commit you will never have to wonder.

Final thought: in poker when you push all in your work is done- you must passively await your fate of victory or defeat. When you go ALL IN in life the adventure begins. The game continues until you fold or win.

Is this your ALL IN moment?

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