Rebe Reads: Start by Jon Acuff

 

I love to read and discovered a love for business/leadership books while I was in the Air Force and transitioning to a civilian career and life. Especially as I’ve been transitioning again from a corporate career in contract negotiation to work full-time for myself as a Life Coach – I’ve sought out books that will teach me about my new vocation, develop new (& improve old) skills and help me grow personally.

Being a new entrepreneur, there are so many things that I *could* do and feel like I *should* be doing in order to be successful. Blogging! Speaking! Facebook! Instagram! Advertising! What the hell is Snapchat and should I be there, too?!? Recorded videos! Live videos! Get organized! Teach fitness classes! AHHHHHHHH!

Dude. It’s overwhelming. And part of me was thinking, well if I can’t do it all and do it all well, what’s the point of doing any of it? The uncertainty was playing into my perfectionism and had locked my feet into cement blocks of fear.

Enter Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters by Jon Acuff.

This book truly opened my eyes to how I was allowing fear and doubt to stop me from working toward achieving my dreams. I took pages of notes in the back of the book, highlighted the crap out of the actual text and I’m currently working through the exercises the author provides at the end. This is the first non-fiction book I’ve finished and wanted to immediately read again (which is something I do routinely with fiction books). Jon’s writing style is goofy and informal but completely approachable and had me laughing and nodding my head in agreement. In a way, instead of making his points less credible, the informality gives the reader the feel of sitting across the table from a trusted peer or mentor getting solid personal advice, rather than sitting in a lecture hall being spoken at by a professor with limited real-world experience.

If you’re trying to start ANY new venture and have a desire to be awesome at it and help others follow in your footsteps one day, then this book is a solid addition to your library!

From the Amazon write up:

Wall Street Journal best-selling author Jon Acuff reveals the steps to getting unstuck and back onto the path of being awesome.

Over the last 100 years, the road to success for most everyone has been divided into predictable stages. But three things have changed the path to success:

Boomers are realizing that a lot of the things they were promised aren’t going to materialize, and they have started second and third careers.

Technology has given access to an unprecedented number of people who are building online empires and changing their lives in ways that would have been impossible years ago.

The days of “success first, significance later,” have ended.

While none of the stages can be skipped, they can be shortened and accelerated. There are only two paths in life: average and awesome. The average path is easy because all you have to do is nothing. The awesome path is more challenging, because things like fear only bother you when you do work that matters. The good news is Start gives readers practical, actionable insights to be more awesome, more often.

**This post is the first in a series of “Rebe Reads” articles where I share my favorite books with you! I am a voracious reader, so we will follow a 3 post rotation through non-fiction, fiction, and great books for kids (specifically little boys who are in between picture books and chapter books). All opinions are my own, and while NONE of these are sponsored posts, I have included affiliate links. I never recommend things I haven’t personally used – they are straight from my loyal heart! **