❤️ ♠️ World Series of Poker Life Lessons
How to Optimize Your Attention & Energy
🥶 COLD EXPOSURE vs INFLAMMATION Podcast
Hello from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. I’m delighted to share how playing poker for many years has unexpectedly enhanced my life.
Poker like life is a game that forces us to make decisions with incomplete information. Poker also requires us to optimize our attention and energy in order to be successful.
Here are the top Life Lessons I’ve learned at the poker tables. The lessons are based on my “Surgical Poker Axioms.” This is a short guide to playing poker I developed to help me be successful at the tables.
EVERY BET SHOULD HAVE A PURPOSE
Be Intentional with Your Attention & Energy. Think of these two life parameters as poker chips. Deploy your attention and energy chips only when your why is crystal-clear. Here is an example. Before saying yes to any request, confirm it aligns with your life purpose. Politely decline if it does not connect with your long term goals and purpose.
Wharton Business School Professor Adam Grant is an expert at saying no when any activity fails to align with his purpose. This intentional practice allows him to save his attention and energy for only elite opportunities.
This concept applies perfectly to poker. Saving your chips when you need them for a big hand is critical. Spewing them off on weak opportunities is a terrible strategy.
LOSE LESS = WIN MORE
Stop your life leaks. This could endless social media scrolling, gossiping or complaining. These activities drain your precious energy. This is like hoping to connect with junky cards in poker and then getting upset later when you bust out of a tournament. It is a waste of your chips.
List your biggest daily “life chip leaks” and create a plug for each one.
Put a time limit for social media apps on your phone
Try NOT to gossip or complain for just one day. (It is WAY harder than you may think.)
Stop feeling sorry for yourself and make one proactive positive change today.
STAY FOCUSED
Poker demands we pay attention to everything at the table. It requires us to use all of our senses to make the best possible decisions. This applies directly to our life’s most difficult decisions. Stay focused on what matters most and your will level up your life.
Finally, poker has been a superstar for my social vitality. I’ve met interesting people from all walks of life and enjoyed learning from their life stories. Poker has also been a way for my family to connect during a home game or in Las Vegas once a year at the World Series of Poker.
Too often we fail to make time for hobbies we enjoy. Push pause on your endless to do list and spend some of your time, attention and energy on something you enjoy that is not related to your work. The payoff may be much better than you think in the long run.
Please share what you like to do either alone or with other people that has help enhance your vitality. Please also share this post with someone today to enhance their vitality.
Thank you for your continued thoughtful work.