Are You ALL IN?

You see it on the Sunday night poker challenge, you see it in Casino Royale. At the peak moment of the game, someone risks everything and goes “ALL IN!” They’re putting all the chips they have out in the pot and just, simply, going for it. This concept, thought by some to be admirable, is thought by as many or more, to be absolutely crazy. Then there is the small, few who believe that “all in” is not a poker choice (bet), it is a way of living.

To give it all you have, doing whatever you can to be your best is a choice. Each day, upon arising, we have the option to play this life thing anyway we want. We can play it close to the vest, we can play it straight, we can cheat or we can play “ALL IN.”
 

We, in 2012, are in the “all in” time of the decade, the Olympic year. Story after endless story will focus on how some hard working athlete put everything to the side in an attempt to take this one shot at the Gold. But what about us mere mortals? How do we go “ALL IN?” Can a Real Estate Professional or a Speaker guy go “ALL IN?” The answer, of course, is a resounding YES. We just won’t be featured on NBC (rats!).

“ALL IN” for the business professional revolves around several areas: business, yes, but also the rest of our lives. To be truly “ALL IN” in life means more than just work. It means with the family, your body, your mind, your soul. It’s about balance, yet a sort of imbalance. What I mean is keeping your life in balance by having more than just work, but creating an imbalance to the same old, usual stuff by pushing everything to the limit. When was the last time you just totally “got after it,” to steal a phrase from Carrie Tolefson? When was the last time you didn’t worry about “what if” or “if only” and was truly in the moment?

Not an easy task, you say. Why not, I wonder?

A smart man named Jim Loehr taught me that the moment is “right here, right now, loving every minute of it.” And if that is my effort and attention level whether it’s the class I’m teaching, the slide I’m tweaking or the run I’m on, then I am there. If I can honestly seek the moment in all areas of my life and become committed to that individual moment, my (and your) excellence will be a by-product. A natural by-product. I’m “ALL IN.”

Last month I mentioned that halftime was coming. The midpoint of the year was upon us and it was/is a great time to gear up for the second half. Here’s what I suggest for the second half…..let’s go ALL IN!