Going "All In"

[StevieB]

And here is a quote from MJ on the topic of the work portion of going "All In".

"I moved to AZ with $900 and a car that didn't have a functional transmission. I shacked up in a studio apartment. I was willing to wash dishes, flip burgers, and drive cabs. I didn't care."

So, "All In" does not necessarily mean shutting down your income stream.

I went completely in when my living expenses were being supported by my business. It took me 2 years from the time I started but it was a worthwhile wait in my circumstance. That was 18 years ago though and I have not had a job since.

Well, not completely true.... I worked for a commercial real estate company once as a part time leasing agent for retail properties. Only to learn the business though...

Agreed.

My definition of "going all in" doesn't mean you quit your job, kick out your girlfriend, get a divorce, sacrifice everything for a business.



Here is the simple definition of "going all in" -- even if you have kids, a marriage, are single, have a full-time job, whatever your circumstances are it's all the same. In fact doing some of those things are completely reckless -- so don't confuse "going all in" for chucking it all and selling everything and moving into a 500-sq ft apt. in the Philippines for "going all in".

What it means is having the discipline and laser focus on a goal. This one goal. This "one thing" is what you'll dedicate all of your time to outside of your current responsibilities. It means other than the basics of either taking care of your children (if you have them), your wife (if you have one), your dog (if you have one), your rent payment (if you have one), you water bill (if you have one), and someone ponying up the money for Ramen noodles.

Outside of that YOUR FOCUS is this ONE GOAL. The rest of your time is committed to that, not partying, not chasing tail, not going to dinner with your friends, not watching TV, not playing video games, anything outside of your basic responsibilities you use your time to focus on this goal.

That is going all in.

 

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[Silverhawk851]

Wow, I haven't came across a thread of such high intellectual level in a while.

Thank you all for sharing your perspectives.

For me,
my mind goes to a quote by Marcus Aurelius,

"Our actions may be impeded . . . but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions.
Because we can accommodate and adapt.
The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting."
-Meditations, Marcus Aurelius

All-in to me means, even though shit goes up, down or sideways,
the intention remains the same. It remains stoic.

And the ability to keep that same INTENSITY of doing what is in our control,
to making progress, no matter what. That, to me, is what I consider all in.

All-in can be after failing on 100 different campaigns,
spending another precious $100 on a new campaign, instead of spending it on a drink at a bar somewhere.

After having been rejected from 46 sales calls that day,
making one more.

After having lost all your money, friends and family doubt you,
you say F*ck it and plug forward.

Your actions and situations may be impeded, may go wrong,
but your intentions can not.
You simply adapt to the situation at hand with the same goal.

The word decision comes from the Latin word Decidere, which means to cut off.
Basically once you decide, you are all in.
You cut-off any other possible outcome.

You jump off the cliff.

Yes, you can get hurt if you jump too hard,
and it can actually cause lost time and set back,
but still you jumped.
Never apologize for taking a chance.
What doesn't kill you will make you stronger.
Life teaches you what you need to learn.
No pain, no growth. No evolution.
You come back stronger and jump again.

At the end of it all,
you only have 29,400 days to live in your entire life, that's IF you live to 80.
F*ck it.
No risk no reward.
Plus, you're really only 1 in 7,500,000,000 people.
Nobody really cares what you do, and it's really not that important in the big picture.
You might as well jump. Go for the big stuff.
No growth happens inside the comfort zone anyways.


....Fastlane philosophy class is epic

TL;DR
-All in is when shit goes wrong, and you still plug forward
-Say F*ck it and just do it
-What doesn't kill you will make you stronger
-Don't do permanent damage.
-Luckily very few things actually cause permanent damage

 

[The-J]

Luckily very few things actually cause permanent damage

So, what does cause permanent damage?

Death, obviously. Don't put yourself in a position that makes you more likely to die. This is kind of a given...

Bodily injury: same thing.

Reputational injury: this could shove you out of a business entirely. Jordan Belfort was able to turn it around. Other people have been able to successfully turn it around too. But you are very unlikely to be back into a business. Luckily, it takes a lot to suffer reputational injury, like committing a crime.

Relationships: Screw up a key relationship and it can hurt you emotionally and financially. Key relationships mainly being spouses and kids, as well as parents and mentors. These are probably the most easy to screw up.

For the young, single person with very little in assets and a relatively non-existent rolodex, going 'all in' makes perfect sense. However, a married parent of 3 with 20 years experience in the field needs to know who not to piss off and has to keep the spouse and kids happy, housed, and fed. Not only this, but if you have $10m in hard assets, it's a rare situation that you would NEED to bet it all, let alone being in a situations where betting it all is a wise thing to do. However, if you've got 2k in cash and a beat-up Geo Metro, spending that $2k on paid traffic might very well be an excellent risk.

tl;dr it's all relative

 

[vinylawesome]

It's interesting to see the different meanings that we all give to, "All In".

I thought this article was relevant to this discussion as it has good insight into the term, "All in" and how it's meaning has evolved over the years.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/going-all-in-on-all-in

"In American usage, the phrase “all in” began as a colloquial expression meaning to be in a
bad spot—exhausted, worn out, and spent. In the game of poker, it refers to the moment when a player—
whether out of bravado, recklessness, or desperation—bets all of his or her chips on a single hand.

Thanks to the Texas Hold’em craze of the nineteen-nineties and two thousands, and the public’s
appetite for new forms of dramatic hyperbole, the poker version of the phrase crossed over to
general use and, along the way, became denuded to the point of near meaninglessness.

Whereas “all in” once referred to a scenario in which someone either wins a
hand or loses everything in a flash, now it means that a person is simply generallyenthusiastic or fully committed.

It’s everywhere these days—business jargon, marketing catch phrases, sports mantras, and the idioms of religion and self-help.

"The all-in moment in poker is a thrilling win-or-lose-everything crisis of dramatic clarity: you’ve wagered all you’ve got, giving your fate over to the cards, and you can’t go back out again. Going all in is often a spectacularly bad idea. But in life, it seems, it is all good—the only way to live boldly is to be all in on many different things at once."

........

"Many of poker’s words and phrases are tinged with a kind of roguish romance and drama that we hope may rub off on the more mundane activities of normal life—upping the ante, stacking the deck, calling a bluff, putting your cards on the table. "
............................

In poker, being all in is a lonely place to be. But elsewhere, “all in” is used to evoke inclusiveness and community, as in, “we’re all in this together.” In 2006, when Alex Rodriguez wanted to assure Yankees fans that the team was serious about winning, he said, “To use a poker term, we’re all in..."
.............................................................................................

For me I have always thought "All in" meant to commit to something fully by executing a well thought out plan.

i.e. If your going to jump out of an airplane you better pack your own chute.

 

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[Kingmaker]

Hmm, working so hard that all you can do is sleep on your time off. Sounds like such a dream.

You don't buy the New York Jets by living a well-balanced life.

 

[blueoceanblues]

For me,
my mind goes to a quote by Marcus Aurelius

Not a bad place for the mind to go, for this month of April I was reading that book. Came across it from Ryan Holiday's blog.

Excellent post too.

 

[OVOvince]

You don't buy the New York Jets by living a well-balanced life.

The funny part is that even after puttin in all the work to be able to afford that... you still don't buy the New York Jets hahaha

 

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[StevieB]

You don't buy the New York Jets by living a well-balanced life.

You also don't kill yourself if you don't live a well balanced life despite inviting Kodak.

"
To my friends

My work is done

Why wait? -- http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/...ge-eastman-my-work-is-done-why-wait-1932.html

GE"

Inventor of Kodak.

http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/...ge-eastman-my-work-is-done-why-wait-1932.html

So yea -- go "all in" F#ck everything else.

 

[randomnumber314]

I hear (read into) a lot of fear in many of these arguments. There's a quote by Seneca that states something like "live for a week without that which you fear losing the most" (I'm sure I butchered it)

Going all in, usually, means having the willingness to swap the leased Audi for a cash Toyota, and not worrying about what Mom/Dad/Mr. Jones will think.

Going all in, usually, means sticking to a single idea to the end, not worrying that people will see you struggling, or you'll fail and they'll talk shit about you, or your inner demon was right and you do suck. Going all in, usually, means systematically pursuing a goal while being open minded to the fact that you're probably wrong about what you think you know, and you're going to let people with wallets tell you what they want to buy/value.

Going all in, always, means accepting responsibility for your decisions, preparing to takes risks by using whatever information you have available, and not "pushing it all in the pot" unless the table/tourney allows you to buy back into the game.

Watch the movie Joy. She went all in, and because she did she fought and fought to make her concept a reality. That's the mindset difference (I believe) 458 is speaking about.

Take this for example. A guy decides to go all in. He takes his retirement funds, and savings, and starts a business. Within a few months the company is doing between $20-40k a week in sales. After a few months the businesses is struggling to find employees to fulfill sales. The guy sells some personal assets to bolster the company's bank account. Eventually the guy realizes that the company can't fulfill the sales as "winter is coming" and he's down to two employees. He refunds the customers, sells the equipment, and moves on. Total timeline 9-10 months.

Did he go all in ?

I don't think so. I think he tried, really hard, for a bit, but in the end he gave up.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

"All in" for me means putting everything on the line, and I won't yet, because kids. But - I buy myself time. When I have to, I get some stupid a$$ job that pays between customers. Then I quit in disgust and hustle more.

I'm committed to building a lifestyle, including right freaking now. My time isn't going to be spent only working (whether for my own business or not). My goals are bigger than my business.

I have housemates, so my mortgage is down to -$19. I work from home, so I don't buy much gas. Why should I sell my house to get capital I don't really need? Sure, I could sink $100,000 into my business and 'get there faster'. But that takes all the fun out of the process. Ask any trust fund kid why they work when they don't have to.

It doesn't matter if 95% of businesses fail. They're not there to exist. They're there to promote the economy. This is why serial entrepreneurialism is a real career choice. My mission isn't to make $48 million. That's a goal. My mission is to change the way the world does business. My vehicles will change along the way, but that road won't.

 

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[Tom.V]

Eh, it's a mixed bag for me. I've gone all in before, funding my own project with my own capital, utilizing my own resources, with my own time. Ended up crashing and burning with some debt and no income. Failing hard can be debilitating for some time, particularly once that crippling depression starts putting that stranglehold on you. But, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?

Nowadays, I play my hand a bit differently. I can go all in, but it wouldn't make sense at this point in any scenario simply because the risks outweigh the rewards. In a few months? Maybe. But not right now. So really, it is situation dependent. I'm completely self-sufficient financially, so no need for unnecessary risk when I have almost 95% of my time to work with as I see fit. It really makes getting creative with resource allocation easier.

I'll be blunt, some people aren't built mentally for going all in and facing the harsh realities of failure. It can be damaging, but really to each their own. Enter at your own risk, you may not be the same after go down this path. Some for the better, some for the worse.

And I'm all in again. Difference? I took the time to gain new skills, eliminated all debt (shackles), figured out how to generate a lot of recurring income, and much more. Much better probabilities and it made total sense to go all in this time around.

Was it still an unnatural, scary feeling? Absolutely.

Every step of the way I was second guessing myself at each invisible plateau I approached. And I still do, and I will continue to. But looking back, I know they are just that. Just lines in the sand.

Is irrational fear controlling you, or are you biding your time and stacking the deck in your favor?