All-In, One Moment at a Time

What I’ve come to see is that life doesn’t care about our long-term goals.

It doesn’t ask whether you have an exciting future vision or what your five-year plan is.

It asks something much simpler, and it asks it quietly, again and again.

Each moment, life asks a simple question:

Are you all-in, or are you holding back?

If the answer is yes, I’m all-in, life meets you with the next step.

Then it asks again.

Not in a grand way. Just with another moment that requires your presence.

This realisation shifted something fundamental for me. Because I used to think commitment was about deciding once and then hoping discipline would carry me the rest of the way. But life doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t respond to declarations. It responds to how you meet what’s right in front of you.

The Difference Between Being Half-In and Being All-In

There is a subtle but important difference between being half-in and being fully committed to something.

When you’re half-in, part of you is still watching from the sidelines. You show up, but conditionally. You keep your options open. You participate, but with a quiet escape route running in the background. This is how most people live their lives if they are honest.

They never fully go for it, always keeping one foot in and one foot out.

Commitment feels different.

When you’re all-in, you’re not constantly negotiating with yourself. You’re not asking, “Should I be doing this today?” or “What if this doesn’t work?” You meet the moment as it is, without needing guarantees.

And you feel it in your body. Less noise. Less split energy. Less second-guessing.

The moments in my life where things truly moved forward were not the ones where I felt most confident. They were the ones where there was no part of me left holding back.

Burning the Boats, Poker and Learning to Commit

The clearest example of this for me was in my poker career.

In 2015, I decided I was going to break into the $1k games. At the time, that decision came with real consequences. I lost over 75% of my bankroll over 8 months, battling the best players in the world at my format. There were moments where it would have been very easy, and very sensible, to step back.

But I didn’t.

I showed up every day. There was no plan B. No safety net. No quiet “get out of jail” card tucked away for later. I was willing to burn the boats to get in.

From the outside, some people might call that reckless. And maybe by conventional standards, it was. But only those who have fully committed to something in their life really understand what that level of engagement feels like.

When there is no exit, something in you sharpens. You stop hedging. You stop waiting for perfect conditions. You meet what’s in front of you fully, because there’s nothing else to do.

It’s not blind intensity, pushing as hard as you can for the sake of it.

It’s integrity. Your actions match your intention, moment after moment.

Showing Up Without Knowing How It Will Work

I felt the same thing again when I started my coaching business in 2017.

I was all-in then too, but in a different way. Ten-hour days, every day, trying to figure out how I could genuinely create value for poker players through mindset and performance coaching. I had no idea how it was going to work out. I didn’t have a polished roadmap or a guaranteed outcome.

I just knew I would make it work.

Once again, there was no plan B.

And life responded the way it always does when you meet it fully. It didn’t hand me certainty. It didn’t remove doubt. It gave me the next step, then waited to see if I would take it.

That pattern has repeated enough times now that I trust it.

When I show I’m all-in , life moves with me and presents me with the next step on the path.

When All-In Quietly Slips Away

If I’m honest, I haven’t been living this way in every area of my life recently.

My book is the clearest example. I’ve been working on it for two years now. Slowly. Steadily. Consistently enough to feel like I’m making progress, but not enough to call it all-in.

And I can feel the difference.

If I were truly all-in with it, it would be on the shelves by now. Not because it would be perfect, but because there would be no part of me delaying, polishing, or protecting myself from the vulnerability of finishing.

This is how all-in disappears. We stay busy. We stay “committed enough.” And we tell ourselves we’re being patient, when really we’re being fearful.

Half-commitment gives the ego an out.

If it works, great.
If it doesn’t, I wasn’t really trying.

But over time, that split creates noise. A low-level tension. A subtle erosion of trust in yourself, because you know when you’re not fully backing your own intentions.

One Moment Is Enough

What I’m reminding myself now is simple.

All-in does not mean all at once.
It means one moment at a time.

You don’t have to decide your entire future. You don’t have to recreate a past version of yourself or summon heroic discipline. You only have to notice what’s in front of you today and answer honestly.

Am I all-in, or am I holding back?

When the answer is “I’m all in”, something settles. Life doesn’t suddenly become easy, but you feel like you can handle it because you’ve stopped leaking your energy in different directions.

You’re no longer negotiating with yourself. You’re giving your best to the moment that’s in front of you.

That’s the version of all-in I want to return to.
Not reckless or forced. Just committed.

Meeting the moment fully.
And trusting that when I do, life will give me what it always has.

The next step.

Adam