Are You All In?

In “Work Like You’re Showing Off” Joe Calloway uses the surge in popularity of high-stakes poker as a metaphor for going all-in with our lives and careers, much like a poker player would. It is about bringing your best to every situation.

He recounts a sermon his pastor recently gave about “Going All In”. “In poker when you go all in, you are putting it all on the line, every last chip goes into the pot. It is the most intense and exciting time of the game.”

The author asks whether he has gone all in with what he feels is important in his life. The topics he considers are the same that most of us would consider.

We can use the same metaphor and questions for our own lives. We can instantly get a clear picture our committment level in multiple areas of our life.

Try some of the questions he considers in the book.

Have I gone all in with my work? What I consider to be the most important parts of my work?
Am I all in with my relationships?
Am I all in with my dreams and goals?

“Have I put every chip in the pot in terms of my family? faith? community? friends? Am I all in?”

My take is that in some areas of life one is “all in” and not so much in other areas. This brings a whole slew of other questions.

What do you want to do about the things where you’re not “all in”?
Can you get to that level of committment, or do you want to drop it?
What about the next job, committee, volunteer opportunity, relationship, that comes your way?

Will you be “all in”? If not, do you really want to be in at all?