Becoming All In

Susie wanted to be a runner. A lifelong exercise enthusiast, she saw running as the next step in her journey to be all in on fitness. But where to start?

Austin's CAP10K happens each April. People prepare for weeks and months leading up to it. But the first thing they do is enter the race. They declare their intent by signing up. Susie entered.

A runner's preparation for a race of any distance includes building base mileage by running a few times a week. They do a long run every week or ten days. They work on speed. And because it’s work, they plan rest and recover periods.

The experienced ones can do this alone, maybe. The others prepare in the company of others.

Susie followed a plan. She was all in. She was a runner.

Here’s the thing. She was all in on being a runner from the beginning even if the full evidence wouldn't be seen until race day. All in has a beginning, just like the decision to participate in a race. Because all in is not about place (e.g. the finish line). It’s about being.

She was being all in when she traded her exercise shoes for running shoes.

Susie was all in when she worked on distance;

when she change her diet to improve her readiness;

when she worked on her speed;

when she woke an hour earlier to get a run in;

when she put the race bib on her t-shirt;

as she waited at the starting line early morning race day;

when her legs cramped at the 3K sign, and when she grab refreshment at the water table.

She was being all in from signup and through the finish line, but she would only later admit that after getting her medal.

This translates to so many other things in life. But since we talk about work here, let's close with work.

When we set professional goals like changing a behavior, starting a new habit, becoming something new, we decide whether or not we're all in. We don't need to wait to the fulfillment of that goal or change, we can be that immediately.

When we decide that becoming that thing is merely part of the journey to being that thing. When we're all in, we are all. Maybe not the best version of it, but it.

I'm don't subscribe to "fake it til you make it", but I do believe in be it until you become it.

Not sure about the runner? Consider the rose. It's a rose (bush), a rose (bud), and a rose (in bloom), but always a rose.

Running, blooming, being. All in is in the becoming. Becoming is being (all in).