Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, Do Work That Matters by Jon Acuff
If you want to start anything, this book is a must read.
Don’t let the “escape average” in the title turn you off. This isn’t a book promising extraordinary brilliance. It’s also not a workaholic book. We can’t all be world-renowned authors, speakers, entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, thinkers, chess players, fill in the blank. But we can learn to do some things well over the course of our lifetimes.
The book outlines 5 stages that you must go through to be successful (however you define it):
Learning--This is somewhat self-explanatory. The learning stage involves gathering sources and learning from books, courses, training, people, etc. This is an important step but can sometimes be overlooked. Learning can be exciting and overwhelming and intimidating sometimes all at once. While it can be fun, it’s important not to procrastinate here. There’s always more to learn; at some point you have to do. Don’t let a long learning process scare you either. The people who have mastered the skill you want to master have all been there.
Editing--Ah, the messy middle. Editing involves taking all that learning, applying it, and parsing out what works and doesn't work for you. Through your learning you may have picked up some habits that won’t serve you as you advance. You may find that things are more complicated than when you first began. Lots of learning going on here, too.
Mastering--This is where you really get good. Mastering involves finding opportunities to apply your skills. You can volunteer, work part time, or carve out space in your calendar to practice your new skill. Mastering is also a clarifying step. Do you really like this skill? If you have multiple passions, this is where you pick one to start. You can come back to the others. In order to clarify, it is important to take breaks.
Harvesting--Harvesting is where all your hard work pays off. You’re pretty good. This can be a time to ease up a little. However, you must not mismanage this step. It’s easy to rest on your laurels here and get the big head. Don’t do this.
Guiding--Guiding is where you help others along the journey. Guiding is also the stage where you can choose another project to start. This will keep you from abusing the harvesting stage.
Even though they are discussed sequentially in the book, the process is more cyclical. Success is rarely linear.
I chose this book review as my first blog entry, as I’m sure you have guessed, to start. One of my favorite quotes from the book is fairly early. “The starting line is the only line you completely control...The start, though. You own that, son!” As any movie that has any kind of prophecy in it, the end is never written. Our end will be more exciting than we could ever imagine. So here we go on this awesome journey!
Have you read this book or something similar? Did you like it? What were your takeaways?
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