All the World’s a Poker Game: How to Become Resilient and Handle Life’s Risks with Mike Harris

Mike Harris is an adventurer, performance mastery coach, and host of the In This Moment podcast. Prior to becoming a coach, Mike was a high-stakes professional poker player, champion pool player, and corporate finance leader. Each of these experiences have allowed him to study the intersection of risk, resilience, peak performance, and spirituality—shaping how he supports top executives, founders, professional athletes, and performing artists to be at their highest level of performance.

His first book, Radical Freedom, will be released in 2022.

Mike joins me today to share the life lessons he learned from playing professional poker. He discusses how experiencing mastery himself inspired him to help others build their own mastery. He describes the nature of risk, pain, and self-judgment as well as the essence of risk and resilience in poker. He also discusses what it means to “die before going to battle” and underscores how wanting to be the best in anything we do sets us up with a powerful commitment to take risks.

“Don’t play like you have to win every hand; play like you have to play every single hand the best way you possibly can. Give it that attention—that kind of energy.” - Mike Harris

Today on Mastering Midlife:

Mike’s background and why he cares about helping others build mastery Human motivation and how Mike became a professional poker player The relationship between risk and resilience Learning not to live and die by each hand in poker “Dying before going to battle” and the essence of resilience in poker The importance of planning for failure and resilience in the face of failure The keys to freedom and what it means to be resilient Working with people to give you the support you need Reframing your goals for more impact, flexibility, and efficacy

Resources Mentioned:

Book: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown Book: Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown

Connect with Mike Harris:

Mike Harris Website Mike Harris on LinkedIn Mike Harris on Instagram Mike Harris on Facebook

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