“There Ain’t No Umm in This Game!”

Uncle Allen said it clear, and meant it. His tone contains a background in law enforcement and passion for the real-work of the farm. It cut through the chatter of the family card table on a lively Saturday night. I was a spectator of the game last weekend and enjoyed my seat outside action, but inside a roomfull of family I love 🙂

Then he kinda laughs and grunts, and finishes by saying, “Either you want the card, or you don’t, their ain’t no umms!”

Whoever it was, that was in the midst of indecision during their turn in Shanghai Rummy, probably didn’t get the impact of this statement as clearly as I did.

Uncle Allen’s words stuck out, and rang true with me, and echoed a conversation I’d had the night before with another individual I highly respected.

This game, is more than cards, this game is what we do every day, and when we take a lesson from the wise men around us, we learn that there is one BIG declaration we need to put our effort into, above all others.

Commitment.

That’s the gist of Allen’s card game advice, and the main theme of a book I recently read called Straight Line Leadership. This book was sent to me, by my esteemed coach Steve Chandler as another important read, to my growth as a coach. Dusan Djukich, who authored the book, who is from the Piper area of Kansas, is a graduate of the same coaching school I’m attending, and a very highly acclaimed individual himself. In fact, his book is now recommended reading for all cadets at West Point Military Academy.

And in one high velocity, high energy hour on the phone last Friday evening, I was speaking personally with Mr. Djukich himself, and one topic was brought up over and over.

Commitment.

I felt honored and excited to be on the phone with the guy who’d penned such a powerful book, and I came to realize, how it really is time to ramp up my own level of Commitment, to my goals, and my game of life.

As I stammered and stuttered, I probably said “Umm” and “Umm, well” over and over in my conversation with Mr. Djukich about projects I’m working on. He would ask me flat out questions that weren’t difficult to answer, but on a scale and a scope of thinking that I hadn’t been considering, and truly wasn’t yet Committed to.

And boy howdy, did it open my eyes. Every point we crossed as we talked, all came back to one thing, my Commitment, the client’s Commitment, or understanding that without a high level of Commitment we can’t expect high level results.

Wow. Right in plain sight truth and yet deeply convicting discussion. Probably propelled me forward by years, just in one hour of brutally, energetically, encouragingly honest conversation. And when we were finishing up, his questions about how I planned on moving forward, were answered enthusiastically, “Absolutely, I am Committed!”

Again, “There ain’t no Umm in this Game, Either You Want it, Or You Don’t”

Take this concept, throw it up against any goal you have in your own life, I guarantee that it will help you see where your successes and failures have all come from. Our varying levels of Commitment, mirror our varying levels of achievement. But, please, don’t take my words for it. I’ll sign off for this week, and thank you for being here, and then post up a few powerful quotes by my friend Mr. Dusan Djukich below, you will want to check them out.

And we’ll see if Uncle Allen, comes up more great one-liners, or if someone he knows will post them here, I’m sure there are plenty!

Thanks! to all you weirdforgood family, who show up each week, I appreciate you! I am Committed to this blog, and to sharing this journey with you. Thank You. Stay tuned, as there are some really powerful movements taking place right now, that you will have a chance to be a part of, and benefit from… Yay! I’m excited!!

Sincerely,

Aaron Nichols

“What you are committed to reveals what you have produced or have failed to produce.”

“You can be committed to things that both empower and disempower you.”

“Why you don’t have what you say you want is normally due to your attachment to looking good, being right and playing it safe.”

 “Commitment occurs the moment you shut all of your back doors and devote your entire being to whatever it is that you have committed to.”

“Commitment is what closes the gap between you and your intended results.”

– Dusan Djukich

Straight Line Coaching

Straight Line Leadership

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