As part of my goal to be be more consistent in 2015, I've recently decided to make an effort to sit down and finish one of the books that I had downloaded on my Kindle back in 2014. Today, I want to share with you my thoughts on Start by Jon Acuff, a young and inspiring author who really has a natural gift for motivation. An alternate book title could have very well been, How to be Awesome! as it literally is a step-by-step guide, with heaps of very entertaining and helpful anecdotes thrown in there, teaching you how to stand up to the fear and voices of doubt in your mind. It teaches you how to recognize your deepest passions and turn them into what he calls, "your awesome". Jon teaches us how to take your life from average to awesome. I don't believe this quote was used in the book: Choose a job you love and you will never work a day in your life, but that is what the theme of this book reminded me of. While Jon Acuff staunchly admits it WILL in fact be a lot of work, his book is about finding that true passion for something, that thing that makes work not really feel like work to you.
A few of my favorite quotes:
"The only thing you have to do on the average path is not die."
"Be led. Be taught. Remain a learner."
"Most of us never get there. We never ask the question, 'What gives me the most joy?'... Joy is an incredible alarm clock. It will wake you up and keep you up and pick you up and gently pull you through a thousand rejections along the way."
"You're confusing awesome with a job title. Awesome is the core of who you are. It's your heart, your soul, and the fabric of what makes you. A job title is just a consequence of you living out of your awesome."
"What if you don't need the Grammys to validate your dream? What if the real definition of awesome is as simple as 'singing more today than I did yesterday'? With that definition, you get to succeed every time you sing...Awesome writes great books even if no one is going to read them. Awesome sweeps the parts of store floors that no foot will ever touch. Awesome can't help itself. Awesome has a huge heart. And that's what it always plays to. The size of the crowd doesn't matter. The applause of the audience doesn't matter. The money you make singing doesn't matter. Don't get me wrong; I hope you get all those things....But more than that, I hope if your definition of awesome is to sing, you do it often. And you realize along the way that singing often is what really matters."
"You've got today, and today is all you need to start. The rest will come into view as you go."
I loved Jon's humor and completely relate-able voice in this book, and I found myself laughing out loud almost every time I picked it up. I also found his summarized list of "steps" at the end of the book to be a great way to review and remind myself of what I'd learned throughout the text. I, personally, am in that exact spot in my life where this book was just what I needed to hear. Finding that passion and drive in my life is something I'm constantly thinking about these days, and it really spoke to me - and I don't think I'm alone. I believe so many of us have that longing for more in our lives when it comes to our careers. This was the perfect book to start off the new year {see what I did there?}. Love it and would recommend that anyone, of any age, pick this up as well. There is no age limit on finding your passion and your awesome in life.
A few of my favorite quotes:
"The only thing you have to do on the average path is not die."
"Be led. Be taught. Remain a learner."
"Most of us never get there. We never ask the question, 'What gives me the most joy?'... Joy is an incredible alarm clock. It will wake you up and keep you up and pick you up and gently pull you through a thousand rejections along the way."
"You're confusing awesome with a job title. Awesome is the core of who you are. It's your heart, your soul, and the fabric of what makes you. A job title is just a consequence of you living out of your awesome."
"What if you don't need the Grammys to validate your dream? What if the real definition of awesome is as simple as 'singing more today than I did yesterday'? With that definition, you get to succeed every time you sing...Awesome writes great books even if no one is going to read them. Awesome sweeps the parts of store floors that no foot will ever touch. Awesome can't help itself. Awesome has a huge heart. And that's what it always plays to. The size of the crowd doesn't matter. The applause of the audience doesn't matter. The money you make singing doesn't matter. Don't get me wrong; I hope you get all those things....But more than that, I hope if your definition of awesome is to sing, you do it often. And you realize along the way that singing often is what really matters."
"You've got today, and today is all you need to start. The rest will come into view as you go."
I loved Jon's humor and completely relate-able voice in this book, and I found myself laughing out loud almost every time I picked it up. I also found his summarized list of "steps" at the end of the book to be a great way to review and remind myself of what I'd learned throughout the text. I, personally, am in that exact spot in my life where this book was just what I needed to hear. Finding that passion and drive in my life is something I'm constantly thinking about these days, and it really spoke to me - and I don't think I'm alone. I believe so many of us have that longing for more in our lives when it comes to our careers. This was the perfect book to start off the new year {see what I did there?}. Love it and would recommend that anyone, of any age, pick this up as well. There is no age limit on finding your passion and your awesome in life.
*Find It*
very cool
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