It's a phrase that is uttered constantly by people across the globe in various contexts. It's a foundational lie people tell themselves to abdicate their personal responsibility. It is as damaging a phrase as exists, because it discourages people from taking important first steps to improves their lives. The phrase?
"I'm the type of person who is all in or all out."
The reality is, anyone who utters this absurdity is looking to excuse their "all out." The reason this phrase irritates me to no end is that it just isn't true, for anyone. Not a single person on the planet is "all in" or "all out" on nearly anything, so to describe yourself as the type that is "all in or all out" is simply nonsense. The people who claim they are incapable of being anywhere between the alls are simply not thinking about how they do "good enough" in nearly every aspect of their lives: their jobs, the dinners they make, the way they take care of their lawn, their faith, and so many more places. The people who are truly "all in" can only do so in one area of their life, and they end up destroying just about everything else they come into contact with. We call these people sociopaths, and they are probably at the top of your favorite Fortune 500 corporation.
The phrase "I'm all in or all out" is supposed to abdicate responsibility from a person, as they are trying to make it obvious that they could do the work, but are too busy, too broke, too tall, too short, have too many kids, are married, are single, have too much money, etc. that will all get in the way at some point preventing a workout or a healthy meal. When written out this way, it's plainly obvious that we don't hold this standard in many areas of our lives, where we instead utter the phrase,
"it's better than nothing."
In regards to "all in or all out," what people are really afraid to say is that they fear the potential hard work towards their health as "all for nothing." They fear the idea of spending time and energy only to not get the six-pack abs, the bulging veiny biceps, or the 10k time they wanted. They view health as an outcome, not something to be consistently monitored and deposited into. Even worse, they view health as if it has an endpoint, like the "21 days to abs!" tabloids. However, leaning into "it's better than nothing" is critical for anyone trying to kickstart their health journey and develop the critical habits for creating and maintaining the body you desire.
Despite the cynical tone of this article, I hope this is your takeaway: It's worth it to get started. Every deposit into that account we call "Health" is valuable. It's valuable not because it'll put you on the cover of a magazine, make you the world's strongest man, or bring you any sort of glory. It's valuable because you're valuable; To God, to yourself, to someone, and it's worth making your life better, and for decades longer.
You may have seen on our various pages the tagline
"Health is not an accident."
The decisions you make daily impact your longterm outcomes. Doing something today will be doing better than doing nothing. You don't need to be "all in or all out". Just make one step at a time, and pair a few of those wins together until you have the small steps for health that push you forward in a meaningful way. The other tagline we use is
"Stronger Habits, Stronger You."
Go for a walk, or two. Go to the gym and test out the machines. Track your calories for the day and see where they come out. Replace the bad stuff you drink with water. If you need help, you can schedule a coaching call with me— free, and with no obligations— to give you some ideas of how to get started. (The button to call me is literally on the home page of this site!) As you get one thing down, then add another. Slowly you'll build enough strong habits that you'll drastically change your life, without ever really feeling it.
You are not "all or nothing" with anything, so stop lying to yourself that your health is any different. There are small, but meaningful steps you can take right now to improving your life.
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