When betting in a no limits poker game, you often have the option to go all in. This indicates that you are betting everything you have on your particular hand of cards. Usually you only do this when you are pretty confident that your particular hand is not going to be beat. When going all in, your potential reward is often increased greatly, and your chances of success are also likely to increase since others may become intimidated by the risk and fore fit the round. On the other hand, if you loose… you loose everything that you have bet.

Applying it to life
This idea of Going all in can be applied to many situations in your everyday life. Instead of betting with chips though, you are betting with your own personal resources(energy, effort, etc). For any given thing you are doing, you have the ability to control the amount of resources you bet. You can give the situation only a small amount of your resources, or you might decide that the situation is worth giving your all and go all in.

Why Go all in?
One situation you may go all in is when you find something that really sparks your interest, such as when you find something that you are really passionate about. When this happens you don’t even really think of your resources as a bet or investment. You mostly just have fun giving your all in something you love. This is an ideal situation because if you end up being unsuccessful, you may loose the resources you have put in, but you still have fun along the way. In this way, its not as much of a loss. When you loose, you still win a little bit.

Not every situation is ideal though, and not everything you put a great amount of your resources in is something that you are truly passionate about. Often you might find yourself going all in out of necessity or desire for improvement. For example, you may not be passionate about getting a specific certification or degree, but you know that if you go all in and put fourth your best possible effort that the rewards for success can well worth the bet. Of course in this situation, the event of failure stings quite a bit more because you loose the resources invested, and often did not enjoy putting fourth all that effort.

Accepting the Consequences
Just like in cards, as you bet more your potential reward and chances of success are often increased. But you must keep in mind that should you be unsuccessful, you loose the resources you have invested. It is important to choose wisely when deciding to bet everything on a situation. Before deciding to give a situation either most of all of your resources, make sure that you will be able to accept whatever happens. It is important to be able to accept an unsuccessful situation, and face the reality of having lost what you have put in. If you cannot face this situation, than you have no business making such large bets with your personal resources.