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Jon Acuff shared thisSuccessful people don’t want coffee. If you want a new mentor, never ask them to coffee. They are busy and have access to their own coffee. When you say, “I’d love to buy you a coffee and pick your brain,” you are telling them their time is worth $6 an hour. Want a secret trick that will blow them away? Email them and ask, “What book should I read?” When they tell you, do something crazy and actually read it. A week later, send them a very short email with your 3 favorite ideas from the book and ask for another one. You just sent a brilliant signal to that busy person that you are worth their time. What book would I recommend? Well duh, it’s got a turtle on it. The author is tall and his hair is grey, but it’s like a cool guy grey, you know what I mean? It starts with a P and ends in “rocrastination Proof.” (Link in comments, hint hint.) Send the email. Read the book. Build the relationship. Never start with coffee. Start with curiosity.
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Jon Acuff posted thisDear public speakers, how can I help you? For the last 18 years, I've been a keynote speaker. I started with small, free events with a handful of people in the room and slowly built an 8-figure business with some of the biggest clients in the world. Over the years, so many people provided guidance, advice, and shortcuts for the journey. I'd love to return the favor. I host an intensive two-day event in my office for 20 speakers and writers called “Stage & Page.” (Link in comments) The questions I get from speakers learning how to climb the fee ladder from $0 to $50,000 per gig and writers discovering how to build sustainable careers are AMAZING. I thought it would be fun to answer some questions here today. What public speaking question can I answer for you? From crafting a speech to getting booked by bureaus to anything in between, let me know in the comments. Public speaking is the greatest career in the world and if anything I've learned can help you just let me know!
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Jon Acuff shared thisI didn’t know Dolly Parton well. I did an event with her in 2020 and met her backstage briefly. She spent hours taking photos before she put on her show. The line out of her dressing room was massive but she made sure every single person got a picture. I wasn’t expecting one. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. (I can be pretty pessimistic sometimes.) I stood in the hall getting ready for my speech and overhearing her dote on each person that met her. Two hours later, when the line was gone, my friend said, “Do you want to meet Dolly?” I have to imagine she was exhausted. Even introverts get tired from so many micro conversations with so many strangers. She was 75, about to do a long concert (for charity) and probably ready to be done with that part of her night. Instead, she took one more photo and I got a memory that made me look like a cool dad to my kids. She even complimented my kin, Roy Acuff, who she knew through the Grand Ole Opry. God bless Dolly Parton and the impact she made on millions. She was 1 of 1.
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Jon Acuff posted thisWhy is change so hard? I’m writing a new book and would love your opinion! One of the topics I’m researching is change. I interviewed more than 300 leaders at 100 of the top companies in the world over the last four years and change was one of the biggest issues they faced. People are afraid of change, confused by change or overwhelmed by change. Why do you think that is? I’ve found it challenging in my own life, but what about you? Why do you think change is so hard?
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Jon Acuff shared thisWhat do you do? That’s such a simple question, but most people don’t have a good answer. My friend Wes Young is a pro at answering that question. As he likes to say, “It’s the most common, impromptu meeting an entrepreneur will ever have but no one knows how to do it.” I had lunch today with him after I spoke at a New York Life event in Denver and he told me what he teaches new agents and advisors. New York Life has more than 12,000 agents and advisors. Wes is the #2 of all of them. How did he do that? Wes would tell you it’s a million little things, but there’s one big thing I saw him do that makes a massive difference. Last week Wes attended my Stage & Page event for public speakers and writers. I told someone that this morning and they said, “But Wes is already a great communicator.” They were right of course, he is a fantastic communicator. But here’s what you learn about the great ones, they don’t stop being great. They never really stop learning. They never really stop growing. They never really stop adding new tools to their toolbox. Why did Wes attend Stage & Page? Because he’s on stages and has ideas that need to be shared with the world via books. Here’s to doing the little things that add up to long term excellence. Wes, Dede, Sonali and the team at New York Life showed me what that’s all about this morning.
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Jon Acuff shared thisNinth grade me wouldn’t believe what I’m doing tomorrow. I’m at the airport right now headed to Dallas to speak to the amazing team at Tricentis and freshman me wouldn’t believe it. Matter of fact, 37-year-old me would have a bit of disbelief, too. He was buying a loaf of bread and a package of sandwich meat in a small town all by himself. He’d flown in for a weeklong event and didn’t have the money to eat out. He’s checking into a tired hotel where the carpet is crunchy and the alarm clock has long been stolen. He can’t see what’s to come, none of us really can, but all of us can do the reps. I taught a two-day intensive for speakers and writers last week at my office called “Stage & Page.” (Link to the next one in the comments.) I shared the million-dollar outline I use for all my keynotes, the seven questions I ask every client in order to super serve the audience and how to climb the fee ladder from free events to $50,000 gigs. But above all, I told them to do the reps. Do the lonely event where only 10 people attend. Go to the town no one has ever heard of and knock some socks off at the Ramada Inn Plus. Show up at every event that will have you and get better and better every time. Treat each speech like an act of service not performance and serve every person you meet. One day you’ll look up and realize it worked. It won’t be fast. It won’t be easy. But it is always worth it. You might never step on a stage but I hope if you’re in the building years of your thing that you know I am cheering for you. There’s no such thing as a small opportunity when you’re building a big life.
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Jon Acuff shared this“I thought last year we agreed to bring less stuff to college? - Jon Acuff “This is less stuff.” - McRae Acuff How can one small girl, moving into one small sorority house at Samford University (Hootie Hoo!) generate this much stuff? Please tell me I’m not the only one.
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Jon Acuff posted thisMe: I like apples! Internet: Your silence about oranges is deafening. Me: What? No, I just meant that I love a good apple in the fall. Internet: Not everyone grew up with apples. Me: Who is talking about everyone? I just said I like apples. Me, my mouth, big fan of apples. Internet: It’s interesting that you haven’t mentioned the drought that is impacting fig harvests in Romania. Me: I hadn’t heard of the Romanian fig issue. Internet: Must be nice to live in a world where you don’t have to think about fig harvests. And so on … but here’s the real question: Did the Internet make us all a little meaner, did it turn us into jerks? No. My theory is that there’s always been jerks in the world but now you just have access to them. In 1987, you only had access to the jerks in your town, school or company. You knew about 8 jerks. But now, thanks to social media, you have access to all the jerks in every city. You have acess to jerks in Spokane,Tokyo, even Iceland. (Not Bjork, she’s great.) What do you do? Well, each day you get a choice Peace or offense. Protect my peace or trade it for that delicious feeling of being offended. I’ve made that trade before and it feels awesome at first. The best part about being offended is that you don’t have to do anything but complain. You don’t have to do the gnarly work of changing your own life, own family or own city. In the short term, it’s a pretty good deal. In the long term you just get mad at people who like apples and nothing about your life actually changes. Overlooking an offense is the best way to protect your peace. Demanding the world behave according to your personal preferences is the fastest way to lose it. Peace or offense? What’s it going to be today?
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Jon Acuff shared thisThe person you’re jealous of online has a husband who wishes she wouldn’t film every part of their lives. The person you’re jealous of online rented that Lamborghini, doesn’t own that watch and is just a scared kid trying to prove himself to his dad. The person you’re jealous of online has a kid who is starting to feel like a prop for content but won’t have the vocabulary to express that until he goes to counseling in his 20s. The person you’re jealous of online is tired of dancing for the desperately hungry algorithm and its demand for more, more, more. How do I know? Because I’ve been those types of people. For 12 years I couldn’t have a thought, eat a meal or see an above average-sized bird without posting about it. It was exhausting. We’ve always believed the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, only now we have access to 10 million backyards. Enjoy your own life. It’s real. It’s now and it’s plenty.
Experience & Education
Publications
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Procrastination Proof
Baker Books
See publicationProcrastination is the most expensive fear because the price tag is your life. Every day you wait to begin, you're stealing from your future self. The worst part? You know you're doing it, but you don't know how to stop.
The solution may surprise you. It's not willpower--it's permission. Everything you're waiting for has been waiting for you. Give yourself permission. Permission is what changed New York Times bestselling author Jon Acuff's life from one of discontent, floating aimlessly…Procrastination is the most expensive fear because the price tag is your life. Every day you wait to begin, you're stealing from your future self. The worst part? You know you're doing it, but you don't know how to stop.
The solution may surprise you. It's not willpower--it's permission. Everything you're waiting for has been waiting for you. Give yourself permission. Permission is what changed New York Times bestselling author Jon Acuff's life from one of discontent, floating aimlessly from job to unsatisfying job, to one that anyone would say is remarkable. Remarkable is when your actions match your intentions, when there is no gap between who you want to be and who you are. When you trade procrastination for permission, the result is a remarkable life.
In Procrastination Proof, Jon gives you permission--to dream, to plan, to do, to review. It's an easy, effective, and enjoyable four-step system that can be applied to your entire life, from your most mundane tasks to your most audacious dreams, so that you stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress.
The person with the greatest opportunity to change your life is you. You're not too old. It's not too late. Don't buy into the lie of later. Start now. You have permission to try, to risk, and to win. -
How Teens Win
Baker Books
See publicationDo you have your life figured out yet? If not, congrats--you're normal.
That said, how do you figure it out? The good news is, your life is already leaving you clues--about what matters to you, what you're good at, what's worth your time. When you ignore those clues, you start drifting or, worse yet, you set your course for the wrong destination entirely.
How Teens Win is your map to the very best treasure you'll ever discover--yourself. Your potential. Your possibility. Your…Do you have your life figured out yet? If not, congrats--you're normal.
That said, how do you figure it out? The good news is, your life is already leaving you clues--about what matters to you, what you're good at, what's worth your time. When you ignore those clues, you start drifting or, worse yet, you set your course for the wrong destination entirely.
How Teens Win is your map to the very best treasure you'll ever discover--yourself. Your potential. Your possibility. Your future. In this book we'll share a fun, simple process for better understanding your potential so you can start to set goals and make plans that matter to you.
You've got your whole life ahead of you. Who will you become? How will you win? You're about to find out. -
All It Takes Is A Goal
Baker Books
See publication"This is my new favorite book about goals!"--Mel Robbins, podcaster and New York Times bestselling author
What if you could have a fulfilling career, a thriving marriage, strong friendships, and rewarding hobbies, all while being in the best shape of your life? What if every day you lived was better than the one before? What if tapping into your potential wasn't as hard as you think?
According to New York Times bestselling author Jon Acuff, it might not be. In fact, all it takes…"This is my new favorite book about goals!"--Mel Robbins, podcaster and New York Times bestselling author
What if you could have a fulfilling career, a thriving marriage, strong friendships, and rewarding hobbies, all while being in the best shape of your life? What if every day you lived was better than the one before? What if tapping into your potential wasn't as hard as you think?
According to New York Times bestselling author Jon Acuff, it might not be. In fact, all it takes is a goal.
In this book, Jon shows you how to plan goals that you're guaranteed to reach by
● focusing on your best moments
● navigating the three zones of performance
● finding ways to fuel your passions
● enjoying the ride
Sound too good to be true? Jon thought so too. Until it happened--again and again--for him and the hundreds of real people in his research project.
Whether your goals are personal, relational, or career-driven, the key to a better future is closer than you think. -
Your New Playlist
Baker Books
See publicationWhen it comes to the life you want, mindset is everything.
When you're young, your entire world is made of new. You're a movie that's barely started, a notebook with blank pages to fill, a song that hasn't hit the chorus. You have your whole life ahead of you. The crazy thing? Your future life is directly impacted by your mindset.
Positive or negative, your thoughts matter. They can work for you or against you. In fact, a single repetitive thought believed when you're a teen can…When it comes to the life you want, mindset is everything.
When you're young, your entire world is made of new. You're a movie that's barely started, a notebook with blank pages to fill, a song that hasn't hit the chorus. You have your whole life ahead of you. The crazy thing? Your future life is directly impacted by your mindset.
Positive or negative, your thoughts matter. They can work for you or against you. In fact, a single repetitive thought believed when you're a teen can change the course of your entire life.
But the good news is you get a choice when it comes to those internal soundtracks. Inside this book, learn how to
● retire your broken soundtracks
● replace them with new ones
● repeat them until they're as automatic as the old ones
When you learn to create new thoughts, those thoughts lead to new actions, and those actions lead to new results.
Ready to design your new playlist and tap into the superpower of mindset? Just hit play. -
Soundtracks
Baker Books
See publicationOverthinking steals time, creativity, and goals. It's the most expensive, least productive thing companies invest in without even knowing it. And it's an epidemic. When New York Times bestselling author Jon Acuff changed his life by transforming his overthinking, he wondered if other people might benefit from what he discovered. He commissioned a research study to ask 10,000 people if they struggle with overthinking too, and 99.5 percent said, "Yes!"
The good news is that in…Overthinking steals time, creativity, and goals. It's the most expensive, least productive thing companies invest in without even knowing it. And it's an epidemic. When New York Times bestselling author Jon Acuff changed his life by transforming his overthinking, he wondered if other people might benefit from what he discovered. He commissioned a research study to ask 10,000 people if they struggle with overthinking too, and 99.5 percent said, "Yes!"
The good news is that in Soundtracks, Acuff offers a proven plan to change overthinking from a super problem into a superpower. -
Finish
Penguing Publishing Group
See publication#1 Wall Street Journal bestseller! Jon Acuff, New York Times best-selling author of Do Over, Quitter, and Start, offers strategies for anyone who's ever wondered, "Why can't I finish what I started?"
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Do Over
Portfolio
See publicationRescue Monday, reinvent your work and never get stuck, with this insightful guide to launching your next Do Over.
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Start
Ramsey Press
See publicationPunch fear in the face, escape average and do work that matters with this New York Times Bestselling look at the five lands every awesome career goes through.
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Quitter
Thomas Nelson
See publicationClose the gap between your day job and your dream job with this Wall Street Journal Bestselling approach to blowing up your career without blowing up your life.
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Stuff Christians Like
Zondervan
See publicationA hilarious look at the funny things we do in the name of faith and church.
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