go all in
“You can’t stop me from being who I am. I gotta go for it. Whatever I do I have to go 110%… This is life.”
That’s a quote from the wise guru Conan O'Brien.
And he said it while he was eating progressively hotter chicken wings, and completely losing his mind… Or was he?
Amidst the chaos and hilarity, Conan really does speak truth, and he does more than just walk the talk.
“You can’t stop me from being who I am.”
Conan has never shied away from being himself, and it’s honestly what has made him so iconic. He’s unabashedly ridiculous, acting out with no fear, and living out who he is.
Call it a shtick, a bit, a character, whatever you want. But he said it best.
“I gotta go for it.”
Our society has made it seem like we shouldn’t go all in on who we are, what we believe, what we love. I see it everyday with my students. Afraid to be fully themselves, to stand out and embrace their souls. And it’s not just teenagers.
There are countless mystics, preachers, gurus, writers, speakers, and philosophers who have pointed this out for generations.
To be cool, means to not try.
I have suffered from this belief all my life. I’ve noticed it in myself playing pick up sports, following through on my hobbies or projects, and shutting down in discussions. I’ve been afraid to embrace my nerdiness, my passions, my ridiculousness. But this year, going all in on a ridiculous idea of tying nature into a math classroom, I’ve noticed something that my coworker voiced so perfectly to me:
“The corniness just slips away.”
There’s that line where it all changes. Where it stops being just a thought, just a dream, just a goal… It becomes a lifestyle.
Conan did it.
Michael Jordan dominated it.
Even Ron Swanson got it: “Don’t half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.”
Go all in.
Not only will you believe it - Your students will too.
Oh, and seriously watch that video.