Shut up and just play the cards in front of you.Have you ever gone to a casino? If so, what game do you like to play?I don't go often, but when I do, my go-to game is blackjack.It's a quick and simple game -- essentially you need to try to beat the dealer by getting cards and have the face values of them add up to as close to "21" as possible. If your cards add up to a higher amount than the dealer's cards without going over, you win. Of course there's a lot of luck, but there is a still a decent amount of strategy involved. You can play solo or in a group -- it doesn't matter because everyone is competing against the dealer and not each other. So it makes for a fairly low intensity, social game.The odds of winning in blackjack are some of the best in the casino, so if you literally play your cards right, you can end up playing for a long time -- and you can win some money in the process. For me, the goal of playing blackjack is just to have fun -- I personally like to see how long I can make a set amount of money last vs. aggressive betting. If I can find a table with some friends, play smart for a few hours and win some money along the way, I walk away satisfied. Blackjack is not poker -- which I also like to play but is a bit more involved with more cards and competition against other players. Poker requires more skill, particularly with betting and reading other players, and can be a lot more intense. Blackjack is not cut throat. There is no bluffing or deep strategy involved. If you are not good, you can lose a lot of money playing poker, and fast. Not everyone is cut out to play poker, but just about anyone can play blackjack if they want.Early on when I was learning to play blackjack, a friend of mine once gave me good advice: he said "Dave, no matter what, always remember with blackjack you have to 'be in it to win it.' Don't overplay your hand. Just play the cards in front of you and you will be fine." This advice has worked well for me over the years. I usually do pretty well when I play blackjack at a casino -- I don't always win the most money, but I can play for a long time and get enjoyment out of it in the process.Not surprisingly, I have found that this mantra can work well not just in blackjack, but in life as well.We tend to want to make everything into a poker game -- intense, complicated, high stakes. We can overthink things and scenarios as they unfold. In the process we then start to overplay the hands we are dealt. And when we do that is when we bet wrong and things get messy.In the end, when you think about it, most of us are usually playing blackjack, not poker. Things are a lot more straightforward than we make them out to be. Our jobs and lives are not as drama filled or complicated as they seem. When the hands we are dealt are not the most favorable, there is a chance we may lose.When we find ourselves in these situations, we need to remember to just play the cards in front us. Make the simple decisions and do the simple things that can keep us and our head in the game for the long haul. If we lose but play smart, we have to remember we can usually bounce back and play another hand. And one last thing: if you find yourself feeling like you are in a perpetual poker game that is making you stressed out, unhappy and/or afraid of losing, you can ALWAYS stop playing. As Kenny Rogers once said:You've got to know when to hold 'emKnow when to fold 'emKnow when to walk awayAnd know when to runIf this is you, get up from the table and find another game, Friends. Life is too short and you deserve to enjoy your trip to the casino....XOXODave