Jon Acuff
By Suzanne O'Keeffe
CBN.com –START
There is always a point of origin, a place where we all must begin. Jon Acuff has titled his new book Start which is all about living an awesome life wherever you are at this moment in your life. Jon writes that the average person just launches out, moving forward doing the same thing day in and day out; never asking the question, "Where am I?" Instead of just "coasting" through life and waking up in the latter years wondering what it was all for, Jon has written a book to help everyone live to their potential and live the awesome life.
STAGES
Jon found that there are five stages that have been around a long time, and have been repeated over and over.
* Learning- Your 20's - The land of learning with many relationships.
* Editing - Your 30's - Editing relationships realizing you can't have that many friends.
* Mastering - Your 40's - You've done your best job and have deepened the relationships you have.
* Harvest - Your 50's - You now reap from decision made along the way.
* Guiding - Your 60's - Now you are reaching back to help others.
In the past, these stages was the path everyone took, and by the time you reached your early 60's it was the "gold watch" retirement age. Jon now shares there is another route. It may be a bit tougher, but it is the one leading to "awesome" while the other is just average and comfortable. Today, you don't have to wait until your latter years to see your accomplishments, it can be now. The age of retirement has changed, many in their 50's are starting over and looking for a different end result.
RE-INVENT YOURSELF
Jon lists five ways to re-invent yourself in order to go from being ordinary/average, to becoming "awesome."
1. Get social - Today, changing the world happens now, not down the road; it is the hope of today. Kids are launching sites to start a business, stay-at-home moms are writing blogs that launch them into writing careers, and it is a wide open door to whoever will go through it.
Jon started a blog in 2008; on the 8th day of a satire he had written he had 4,000 views. It was then that he recognized that getting to be above average could be accomplished before the elder years. Social media definitely paved the way to access of unlimited viewers. Jon suggests figure out the reason you are using social media. Is it for fun? Is it to create a service? Is it to create a platform for idea? He adds to use your strengths. If you are a great photographer and not a writer, then don't waste time trying to be a writer. Show your best photography work. Know you content, and stand out by being honest.
2. Make action payments - Move from dreaming to doing. Jon says we all dream about what we would like to do, but no all will move on those dreams. He says to write down your ideas, whether simple or detailed. That's your "jump start" place.
3. Punch fear in the face - Fear is a looming character that always says, "...don't do it at all or that you have to do it all at once." You cannot see to predict what the end will be, but you can step out and begin. Once you begin, keep going. Write down your fears; every time you have a fear thought. Take those thoughts and combat them with truth direction. He also suggests taking the fear thought to the extreme to see how ridiculous it is. Share your fears and thoughts with sound friends who you can trust to give good feedback. Finally, do not engage fear with conversation; begin to believe the opposite of what it says.
4. Start before you are ready - The answer is to take one step forward-start. It does not have to be big but it is the one place you do have control. Don't look at the finish line; it is a long way off. There are going to be people you meet, experiences, travels, etc. all along the way that will have impacted what your end looks like. It's probably going to change shape several times before you reach the finish line. You are "the boss" of your start!
5. Ignore the haters - There will always be someone who will hate what you are doing. How that continues is up to you as well as your response to them. Hate wounds, hurts, and acts as a heavy weight to stop you. Jon says you should ask yourself who said it and why? Asking these questions will prevent the negative results from permeating your mind. He cites a time that he received a "hate" e-mail and had an immediate emotional response. If he had paid attention to the fact that it was from a complete stranger, he would never have allowed those words to have such power over his life. Ask why are they writing? Was it to help correct and protect you? Are they just pointing out what they don't like out of their own anger? If you stop and ask yourself these questions before reacting to them, you save yourself unnecessary pain and stress. Jon points out that if you ask the right questions you may even find the reason behind their pain is not what you thought, and quite possibly, you can end up helping and befriending them.
Jon closes the book writing, "I hope you punched fear in the face. I hope you escaped average. I hope you figured out what your diamonds are, and started doing work that matters. I hope you realized the door to purpose has been unlocked this whole time.....I hope you'll do what I'm going to do once I finish writing this sentence. Start again."