Tuesday, March 5, 2013

START

Jon Acuff is a writer and blogger I follow. I've blogged about him before, most recently about breaking your year into 52 day chunks to help you accomplish your goals.

I've become a fan of Jon's book, Quitter. In fact, I've bought copies for two friends and talked my husband into getting a copy as well (I've written in my copy, which makes it hard to lend). In a sentence, it is about pursuing your dream the smart way.

Jon is releasing a new book called Start in April. He has started doing events around the book in various parts of the country. I was fortunate to catch a webcast of the Nashville event recently. I thought it was inspiring - and funny! (My husband said he was glad he didn't want to go to bed early that night because I was laughing so much.) I have pre-ordered the new book (actually, I ordered one for me and another for a friend) and signed up for a newsletter. The newsletter got me a copy of the first chapter of Start. There was a good bit of material from the webcast I watched, but it was just as inspiring (and funny) the second time around. Pre-ordering the book got me two small e-books - Three Stages of an Awesome Idea,  and The Hater Handbook.

Here are a couple of highlights from my notes on these three pieces:

  • Retirement is dead - and this is an opportunity. It used to be that life followed a liner path, but now that path works in a circle. You can get a fresh start at the cycle any time.
  • Be productive now so you can be awesome later. Take time to generate ideas - brainstorming without critique - so you can cultivate the most awesome ones later.
  • Make decisions that will create a story you will be proud of - decisions about your priorities, how you invest your time, etc.
  • Love your dreams too much to hate somebody else's. The more time and energy you invest in your dream, the less time you have for jealousy and pettiness about another person's dreams. 


You can go to Jon's site here. Take a look at his blog to get a feel for his writing style and humor. If it clicks for you like it did for me, check out Quitter and Start. Hope you find some inspiration for your dreams!

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