Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work That Matters

While Acuff claims this advice applies to everyone, most of the examples centered around being an entrepreneur -- something I have no desire doing. I'm a mom and my own version of "awesome" is a much more anonymous work. I can't get on the Internet without coming across reminders like "don't forget to be awesome" or "when I'm sad, I stop being sad and start being awesome instead. I get that it's trendy, but my ninth-grade English teacher would tell me to pick another adjective!

• Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters by Jon Acuff.
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This is directed more to the Internet as a whole, not the author. All that said, there are a few things that stuck with me: It's okay to not be perfect right away! Acuff advocates for 5am. I have a five-month-old that I nurse in the night, so it's not practical for me to go write at 5am, but I do get what he's saying. I thought the study about willpower in the morning was interesting, and now I understand why I find it infinitely easier to tidy the kitchen in the morning rather than at night!

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Move forward toward good things and you'll discover it as you go. If you're looking for a kick in the pants to get going on a project or on life in general , this is a good book to help you get motivated! Apr 29, Paula rated it it was amazing. Have you ever read something and felt the author's enthusiasm jump off the page?

That's what I got from Jon Acuff. He wants to help people not just start, but succeed. He wants to help them go from average to awesome. I think he does it really well. That's the big question. I think we all know we need to start if we want to get where we want to go. We just don't know how. Or for that matter Wow,wow,wow.

Or for that matter, where to start. In our desire to do something we either do everything or nothing. Then, we end up wiped out in the same spot where we began. Jon wants to help. Think of him as the cheerleader you always wanted, minus the skirt. In this case, he's a tough cheerleader who pulls back the curtain of "HOW" and exposes the wizard of fear. Then, our favorite cheerleader punches him in the face. That's how we get on the road to awesome. Our cheerleader becomes the busdriver of our own roadtrip to awesome helping us address the hurdles we'll face.

Our new cheerleading busdriver takes us through various lands like a tourguide. We travel from the land of learning to the land of editing, and no we aren't in Disneyland. From learning, we move to editing and harvesting. Finally, our bus takes us to the land of guiding. These are the places we will need to travel on our own trip if we want to move from average to awesome.

Many writers have done similar trips without the wit and wisdom of Jon Acuff. What makes this book truly special is the next step. Our busdriver, after having let us view these lands returns us to where we started because technically we haven't started yet. And that is the point of this book.

The next leg of this trip is when we take the driver's seat. Jon give us the tools to cruise through and face each land. As he says, "action always beast intention. Jon returns to each land and gives us questions designed to not only get us starting, like every average citizen. He want to enable us to be awesome. And if we take the time, we will. He even helps us to stand on his own shoulders and save some time by coaching us through social media and facing unemployment. As a previously serial quitter, Jon's been through those experiences and want to lift us up to help us succeed.

I know many people who have taken his words and applied them. From what I can tell, they are awesome. And so are you. Apr 18, Julie rated it it was amazing. I find myself going around saying "Jon Acuff says Of course he's still funny too: It helped shape how I spent the next year. Now his newest book "Start: The good news is Start gives readers practical, actionable insights to be more awesome, more often.

I was excited to get an early copy and I devoured it and highlighted the heck out of it. Now that I'm done I'm going to turn back around and read it again. These steps are the same no matter what dream you're working on and want to be awesome at - writing, starting your own business, being a mom, saving the world. As Jon says "The starting line is the only line you completely control.

If you had told me 15 years ago that I'd get to travel around and speak, I would have checked your forehead for a fever. I never could have predicted this. The book also includes a whole section at the end titled "What Now? Action Always Beats Intention" that gives very practical, tactical steps you can take.

It's so great and I've started working through them already. Oct 11, Antoinette Perez added it.

Book Review: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work That Matters - The Economic Times

Jon Acuff has a super-casual writing style, which implies that he has a super-casual speaking style. It worked for me, generally. You can feel energy coming off the page at times, which is fun and unexpected. From a content perspective, he makes a reasonable argument for 5 stages of life: Learning, Editing, Mastering, Harvesting, and Guiding.

At the end of the book, there is a section on how to earn your spouse's support amidst an abundance of enthusiastic ideas many of which may never come to Jon Acuff has a super-casual writing style, which implies that he has a super-casual speaking style. At the end of the book, there is a section on how to earn your spouse's support amidst an abundance of enthusiastic ideas many of which may never come to fruition , and it is golden. I had a lot of challenges with the rest of the book. The casual writing voice, combined with sparse and not always relevant anecdotes, and no research makes for an extended rah-rah speech.

It is monotony on the higher end of the energy scale. The proposed structure of the book feels difficult for Acuff himself to stick to. In a couple of the later chapters -- on Mastering, Harvesting and Guiding, for instance -- it just feels like he is rambling. Maybe that's fun for a speech or keynote presentation, but it was difficult for me to stay with as a reader. In the chapter on Mastery, he doesn't talk at all about the importance of tiny seemingly inconsequential incremental progress, or that the investment of time and effort will seem completely out of proportion to the small improvements we will earn at this level, or that it can feel like a slog to be committed to mastery.

He talks in the Mastering chapter about how to get to mastery, and then immediately talks about harvesting. I clearly missed something in between, or he did. I couldn't help shaking the feeling that he is not at these stages of Mastering, Harvesting, and Guiding yet, although he claims to be. And because he is not yet mastering, harvesting, and guiding, he doesn't have the depth of personal experience to draw from.

Aug 29, Emma Sea marked it as dnf Shelves: View all 3 comments. May 18, Kevin Goldsmith rated it liked it. Let me start by saying Jon Acuff is very well qualified to write this book per his success and accumulated knowledge in the process. Having been said, this book was good. I feel like it could have been a whole lot better. First off, I am a 21 year old undergraduate and while reading this, I felt that his youthful writing style betrays his true talent. I felt like it could have been written more seriously, and this is coming from a 21 year old! I fail to see how this style of writing woul Let me start by saying Jon Acuff is very well qualified to write this book per his success and accumulated knowledge in the process.

I fail to see how this style of writing would have appealed to a 58 year old business owner who is having to close up shop. If the rest of the book could have been written like pages it would have been great. These pages were serious, concise, and to the point. The rest of the book could have been much better off written like that. Overall, however, I found good advice within the covers of this book. It's effect could have been multiplied had the author been more serious and appealed to all age groups and not youth.

Apr 05, Joseph Iliff rated it it was amazing Shelves: I would put this book into the hands of anyone who is wanting to be more and do more. Far from just being about positive affirmations or pie in the sky thinking, Jon will make you appreciate your stumbles and setbacks, and let you know you are not alone on the road to awesome. Apr 21, Kristin rated it really liked it. Through his witty but wise words, Acuff challenges readers to make their life awesome. Starting is our choice.

We have dreams and ideas. This book will make you want to get them from your head, onto paper, and into your life. At least it did me. It's a practical approach to a topic that is hard to wrap words around. Jon Acuff tells some his own failures that led to successes and the people who helped him along the way. Of course, not everybody you meet will want to help you, but that's to be exp Through his witty but wise words, Acuff challenges readers to make their life awesome. Of course, not everybody you meet will want to help you, but that's to be expected. Not everyone will get it.

I appreciated his point that I shouldn't be living this life — my life — for anyone by me. But Acuff doesn't preach the faith element, which, really, is OK because it doesn't aim to be that kind of book. Throughout the book, there is advice on what to do through each phase: Realize you can't do it all.

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Try the things you think you want to do. It's about your heart, not the size of your audience. You may finish ahead of the pack. You may come in last. Either way, you'll have to start again and again in life. Apr 23, Jeff rated it it was amazing Shelves: Really enjoyed this book.

You have to be brutally realistic about your present circumstances and wildly unrealistic about your future circumstances. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end -- which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your Really enjoyed this book.

You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end -- which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be. May 14, Benjamin Spurlock rated it it was amazing Shelves: Jon Acuff has an amazing book in Start.

Not just a self-help book for those who feel 'stuck' and want to start a new chapter in their lives, this book offers both practical advice and an honest discussion of the barriers that everyone faces when trying to become greater than what they are now. More than that, however, Jon clearly wants to impart a new vision for the lives of everyone- that of escaping the average and embarking on a journey to awesome.

It is his passion for this goal, for the reca Jon Acuff has an amazing book in Start. It is his passion for this goal, for the recapturing of a spirit that seems on the decline in the modern era, that moves this book, itself, from average to awesome. Jun 04, Tony rated it liked it. He's hecka funny and a great speaker.

This book, however, felt like a light snack and not a serious meal. Too many cliches or hallmarky-type phrases that would be more at home on a coffee cup than in a life changing book. I would have preferred more reference to facts and proven trends than Acuff's personal experience. He's lived a remarkable upswing and uses his fortune as the foundational approach we should all follow. Not all of us can be selected by a national radio host to hel I like Acuff.

Not all of us can be selected by a national radio host to help launch our dreams. I will still follow Acuff and enjoy his humor and insight to Christian cultures. Easy read with lots of good humor. Mar 01, Jessica McCann rated it really liked it. This is a motivational book packed with great insights, presented with a light, easy-to-read writing style. Acuff shares his ideas in an upbeat, modern, often funny way that breathes new life into all the old truths we know to be true and tend to forget in the day-to-day grind or, maybe, even truths you never knew to be true. My copy is seriously dog-earred and highlighted, and I plan to buy a handful of ne I won an advance copy of Start from author Robin O'Bryant's blog, and I'm so glad I did.

My copy is seriously dog-earred and highlighted, and I plan to buy a handful of new clean copies to share with others so they can do the same. May 27, Nick rated it did not like it Shelves: I really didn't like this book. I feel like he took Dave Ramsey's work and just put it into his own words and experiences.

Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters

I felt like he talked a lot about himself…. Apr 25, Caroline rated it it was amazing Shelves: We also can be in multiple lands at once, and often and should travel between these lands. Jon explains this better in the book, I promise. No matter where we are in our journey toward awesome, as Jon says, action always beats intention. We keep moving, we keep dreaming, we keep working hard. Somehow Jon manages to logically explain the road to awesome while also telling you that you might have to ignore instances of logic in favor of unrelenting hustle to pursue awesome.

Much of what Jon writes is motivational, but he also includes very practical, applicable tips to start using today. Jon is not just a humorous writer, but a good one, too. Jon writes from a foundation of faith, and you can tell his intention and action stem from knowing God as Creator. The awesome path is more challenging as it requires you face up to your fears and challenges that come up when you are doing something of consequence. Start provides a road map to navigate this route through actionable and practical advice and insights. The underlying thought is how life is less about how old you are and more about when you decide to live.

It provides a compelling reason to stop going with the flow and doing things just because you must to taking charge of your life and taking the road less travelled. It is packed with practical advice, like knowing where you want to end up, accepting and dealing with tensions along the way and the importance of giving up on having a purpose in life to living with purpose. The book shows how it's easy to step out of your comfort zone and do something that you are truly passionate about.

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