Start.: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, and Do Work That Matters By Jon Acuff

10 January 202210 January 2022by journeytoleadershipblogLeave a Comment

In life, we must always take a step back and ask ourselves the following question: “Where am I?“.

Everybody successful person who has accomplished something in life went through the following 5 stages in life: Learning, Editing, Mastering, Harvesting and Guiding.

Most people don’t follow these 5 stages and instead choose the Average Path. Why?

Because the Average Path is comfortable and effortless. People who go down the average path are just existing and don’t make decisions.

How to get away from the Average Path?

To get away from the Average Path, you just need to Start no matter how old you are.

In reality, the way you Start your journey in 100% in your control. You are sure of your Start but you will not know how it will end.

To have a good Start, you must first be realistic about your current situation and your goals in life.

You have to be focused and work hard on your Start.

You must also recover a childlike perception of yourself all while using the tools you have gained as an adult.

Do I Need To Know My Purpose To Start?

You don’t need to figure out your purpose to Start.

You don’t need to determine the end results before taking your first step because doing so puts too much pressure on you.

Furthermore, you will not want to do anything and will not want to fix your life before finding it.

The truth is you don’t need to find your purpose but just do everything with purpose. You can start anything you want without a purpose.

What Happens When I Start?

When you start going after the things you want, fear will show its ugly face.

It will make you question your self-worth and make your journey more torturous.

It will make you think that it’s too late and that you are behind in schedule.

It will tell you that everything needs to be perfect.

You honestly have to find a way to deal with your fears.

You have to live your life without regrets.

The Learning Stage

At this stage, you are in your 20’s.

You are still testing the waters and trying to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life.

The Editing Stage

In your 30’s, you start looking back at your 20’s.

You select what matters most to you and going after what worked for you in the past.

You start focusing on your career and relationships.

To edit your life, value what you have, search for your passions, find out what brings you the most joy and what activities align most with who you are at your core.

You don’t have to wait for outside to live the life you really want to live.

You don’t have to stay places where you grow as a person or where you have no passion for.

The Mastering Stage

In your 40’s, you mastered every thing that is important to you.

You are more self-assured and are certain about where you are going.

To master your life, you have to put in the hours and hone your craft by volunteering, taking up part time jobs and participating in hobbies that bring you closer to your goals.

In mastering your life, you will face many obstacles and challenges.

The Harvesting Stage

In your 50’s, you reap what you have sowed in your 30’s and 40’s.

In this stage, it is wise to:

Treat people right
Not get complacent or lazy
Treat your accomplishments as rewards and not reasons for what you do.

The Guiding Stage

At this stage, your are in your 60’s.

You are retired and enjoying the fruits of your labor.

You start mentoring, helping people on their journey and start giving back to your community.

But once you are in this stage, you have to return to the Learning Stage and start all over again. To guide people, you must ask people questions and listen to their stories.

Then, you can tie your guiding experiences to something you were always interested in.

Review

Start.: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, and Do Work That Matters by Jon Acuff is a funny book with great life lessons.

The principles behind the Start.: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, and Do Work That Matters are very similar to those in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.

Jon Acuff‘s examples and introspective comments are hilarious but also liberating. He shares his strengths, his weaknesses and doesn’t take himself too seriously.

I truly recommend this book because it provides comfort and encouragement. In addition, at the end of the book, Jon Acuff shares a practical step by step guide for you to overcome fear and escape average.

Let me know below what you think about this book!

Favorite quote(s)

the surprises life gives are always better than the things you think you see coming.

Average is so popular because average is familiar. We all know how to do average. Ninetynine percent of the people on the planet do average. The road is well worn, the decisions are obvious, and the next steps are crystal clear.

Every journey has a first step. Every dream has a first destination.

No matter what fear and doubt tell you, your identity is not at stake with the decisions you make and the actions you take as you learn.

Don’t buy the lie that changing the world has to be a chore or make you miserable. Be brave enough to have fun with whatever you whittle down in your life.

Ratings 4/5

Author

Jon Acuff

Book Reviews

The 10X Rule By Grant Cardone

22 November 202122 November 2021by journeytoleadershipblogLeave a Comment

The 10X Rule By Grant Cardone is a guide to set goals, reach and retain success in any area of your life.

The 10X Rule will help you to define your version of success and to repetitively create extraordinary levels of success.

What is the 10X Rule?

The 10X Rule is achieving success by putting in 10 times the effort and the action that the average person would.

The 10X Rule means acting towards your goals with 10 times the right mindset.

Why is the 10X Rule vital?

Estimating the right amount of effort and time to invest in your goals will help you reach your target without moving the finish line.

Furthermore, multiplying your effort by 10 will allow you to predict issues and to be prepared.

By using the 10X Rule, you will be able to:

Stick to your guns and not be distracted.
Define your own version of success.
Make a plan for your life.
Filter out goals that have been imposed on you.
Set your own limits and aim for the impossible.
Set a positive and sustainable mindset.
Implement your own system of belief.
Properly estimate your abilities.
Tap into your full potential.
Work without it feeling like work.

How to achieve higher levels of success?

Success is having a purposeful life and its realization is your responsibility.

In addition, success is important for your personal growth, for your sense of self and for your well-being.

Success depends on your stage in life and shouldn’t be minimized.

Success is not a popularity contest. - Grant Cardone, in The 10X Rule Click To Tweet

To achieve higher levels of success:

1. Do not play the victim or make excuses

It is detrimental to take responsibility for your actions, to find solutions, take action and gain more control of your life.

2. Relinquish control

In life and at work, you will not control everything. However, you can control how you respond to everything.

3. Be the solution

Understand that you can be the solution and the problem to your situation, at the same time.

4. Do not try to be average

Being average and facing average difficulties will not lead you to success.

People who operate on the average level tend to try to overestimate results, underestimate difficulties, steal success from those who operate at the 10X level.

5. Do not rest on your laurels

Resting on your laurels is the surest way to get overpowered and to lose sight of your goals.

6. Set your goals

Goal-setting plays an important part in your success.

Set your goals high enough so you do not fail, so you resist adversity and maintain your enthusiasm.
Speak your goals into reality on a daily basis.
Align your goals with your purpose.
Clearly define your goals.
Verify that your goals are equal to your potential.
Understand that your goals are personal.

7. Avoid competing with others

When you compete with others, you spend more time watching what someone else is doing rather than creating and setting the pace.

It becomes critical to find your niche, dominate your field and do what others are not willing to do.

8. Be mindful of the company you keep

The people you associate with determine your level of success.

Before joining a group, analyze the pros and the cons of belonging to this group.

9. Get obsessed over success

Obsession is not all negative. Obsession can be converted into action and can be conveyed.

Being obsessed will push you to make things work.

Get obsessed over success.

Get obsessed over every possibilities and every action that will take you towards your goals.

10. Go all in

Going all in means fully committing to your goals and possibly over-delivering.

No matter what, understand that:

It is OK put all your eggs in one basket and to over-commit.
You can and will fail as many times as you will and can succeed.

11. Embrace fear

Take fear as a sign to keep doing what you actually fear and to keep applying the 10X rule because:

Fear means that you are growing.
Fear means you are doing something uncomfortable.
Your moment is now. There isn’t a good time to take action.

12. Value your time

Time is of the essence. To achieve success: manage your time effectively, maximize your time, set your priorities, create a healthy work-life balance.

13. Do not be afraid of criticism

Criticism means that you are on your way to success when you start taking action.

The most valuable chips you have are your mind-set, actions, persistence, and creativity. - Grant Cardone, in The 10X Rule Click To Tweet

Review

The 10X Rule By Grant Cardone is an inspirational and motivational book, written for leaders, entrepreneurs and anyone who wishes to be successful.

It forces you to reevaluate your goals, your purpose and your definition of success.

It encourages you to take risks, “act, produce and create in massive quantities regardless of the situation or circumstances.”

It demonstrates how to be and stay the leader in any field. The 10X Rule focuses on your character, your mindset and your goal-setting skills.

Most of the time, we struggle to reach our goals and don’t understand why. But, Grant Cardone makes it very clear that:

You must be self-aware and self-assured.
You are the only one that stands in front of your goals.
Success depends integrally on the effort, time and energy that you put in.
Most of what society claims to be wrong is an inherent part of success.

To Grant Cardone success is a mindset and is determined by your purpose.

The 10X Rule is not a get rich quick trick. Remember:

All goals are difficult to achieve.
You will always face some type of adversity.
You must assess your abilities and your resources.
Your goals must be extraordinary, appropriate and require motivation.
Success must be constantly maintained.
You current state doesn’t matter.
The way you are perceived doesn’t matter.

Let me know below what you think about this book!

Favorite quote(s)

When you have underestimated the time, energy, and effort necessary to do something, you will have “quit” in your mind, voice, posture, face, and presentation. You won’t develop the persistence necessary to get your mission accomplished.

Never take the position that things just happen to you; rather, they happen because of something you did or did not do.

Until a person is done being a victim, he or she is unable to create solutions and success. That person only has problems.

The most valuable chips you have are your mind-set, actions, persistence, and creativity.

If you are not creating new problems for yourself, then you aren’t taking enough action.

Success is not a popularity contest.

Ratings 4/5

Author

Grant Cardone

Book Reviews

Best Self: Be You, Only Better By Mike Bayer

3 May 202128 March 2021by journeytoleadershipblogLeave a Comment

What is your Best Self?

Your Best Self is unique, positive, evolved and aligned with your truth.

When you are being your best self, you are being your most authentic and at your core.

1. How to connect with your Best Self?

Connecting with your Best Self takes time and requires patience. To get in touch with your Best Self:

Express gratitude frequently to get out of a negative space. Make a gratitude list of everything that puts you in a good mood or elevates you in any kind of way.
Embrace change. Everybody can change if they want to, they just have to apply the right motivations.
Identify your fears. Once you have identified your fears, put them to the test to see if your assumptions are true, if they are rational, if they help you succeed, or if they serve your best interests.
Recognize any signs of egotistical behavior. Once you have acknowledge your behavior, assess the origins of it and get your ego in check.

2. Assessing your Best Self

“SPHERES stands for Social life, Personal life, Health, Education, Relationships, Employment, and Spiritual life”.

The SPHERES tool, create by Mike Bayer, is a screening tool used to assess your Best Self in all areas of your life.

Your social life

In the SPHERES tool, your social situation determines how well you project your Best Self to the world.

It then becomes imperative to analyze how you interact with people. You can also assess your ability to send clear messages, to listen to others, to embrace human emotions, to handle highly charged situations, to give and receive feedback.

Your personal life

Your personal life contains your self-image, your self-talk, the level of compassion and respect you have for yourself.

To create the personal life that you want, you will have to:

Rewire your brain to think positively by challenging your internal dialogue.
Get familiar with what you are constantly telling yourself.
Identify the messages you tell yourself when you are under pressure.
Log your thoughts and your self-talk, identify the common themes and tones.
Be compassionate with yourself. Take care of yourself and monitor your stress levels before they snowball. If you take care of yourself, you will definitely be able to take care of others.
Connect with your passions. Your passions will vary throughout your life. Your passions will allow you to express yourself, to strengthen your bond with your Best Self and vibrate at a higher frequency. To find your passions, explore new things, challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone.

Your health

Prioritizing your well-being allows you to be present, keep a clear mind and achieve your Best Self.

Your education

Remaining in a “lifetime learning mode” will help you evolve into your Best Self and become more self-aware.

Once you find your passions, you will take pleasure in acquiring knowledge in that field.

Your relationships

Your relationships reflect who you are as a person.

Your Best Self will gauge who you want to be around, judge the health of a relationship and help you make the tough decisions.

In order to stay connected to your Best Self in all relationships, you must define your core values, exercise them and identify the people who live up to them.

Your employment

We spend most of our days at work.

So, when we are not able to fully be ourselves, our work life tends to become draining.

It somehow becomes important to nurture our Best Selves at work or create a career path that allows us to maximize our potential at work.

Review

In Best Self: Be You, Only Better, Mike Bayer encourages people to be their Best Self.

In addition, Mike Bayer shares tips and tools to help you achieve your Best Self. He helps you make a diagnostic of all the aspects of your life and provides practical solutions to your problems.

Furthermore, Best Self: Be You, Only Better is a workbook that teaches you how to fix what’s inside to fix outside. It is on point when it comes to assessing people’s behavior and can conveniently be revisited several time in your life.

Best Self: Be You, Only Better is ideal for leaders who want to improve their leadership skills and bring their best selves at work. It becomes clear that if you are your best self, you can create the best teams, take care of others and create the best organization.

With this workbook:

Get in touch with your Best Self.
Reach your highest potential.
Find more balance in your life.
Evolve, change, reinvent yourself and improve your life.
Learn to handle adversity and crisis.
Discover your truth and your purpose.

Let me know below what you think about this book!

Favorite quote(s)

Many of society’s “rules” simply don’t apply to us as individuals, and if we spend all our energy on trying to be, do, say, and act like society wants us to, we are simply wasting time we could be spending on discovering and connecting with our Best Self.

Self-care is foundational to living your ideal life.

Ratings 4/5

Author

Mike Bayer

Quotes

Quote Of The Week #182

8 March 20217 February 2021by journeytoleadershipblogLeave a Comment

Journey To Leadership

4 Proven Strategies Leaders Use To Overcome Fear

18 January 202110 January 2021by journeytoleadershipblogLeave a Comment

Leaders often have to make tough calls, take huge risks and face their deepest fears on a daily basis.

Fear has been infused into us since childhood, is often employed as an employee management tool, and guarantees a unique and universal experience at the same time.

Indeed, the same fear can manifest itself differently, can be based on different experiences and interpretations of events.

The truth is fear can be a friend or an enemy, can have a positive or negative impact, can be a motivator or an hindrance. It all depends on your understanding of your emotions, of fear itself and your level of self-control.

Wondering what are the best strategies to overcome your fears?

Most of the time, fear is standing right in front of our personal goals.

Hopefully, to every problem there is a solution.

Below are 4 proven strategies leaders use to overcome their fears.

1. Leaders identify their fears

Before overcoming your fears, you first have to identify them.

When you do identify them, it is time to write them down.

If you are unable to identify them, try journaling and describing on paper the situation that is bringing you fear to see if you can uncover a pattern or try asking the people closest to you.

Furthermore, journaling is a great way to acknowledge experiences, detach yourself from the fearful situation, log your thoughts during challenges, and to label your emotions.

2. Leaders get in touch with their inner self

Most people spend their entire life being completely disconnected with their inner self, without getting to know who they truly are and without achieving their life’s purpose.

That is how some many fears remain hidden and and it becomes necessary to get in touch with your inner self to overcome them.

Through exercise, meditation, visualization and deep breathing techniques, you can unclutter your mind and access your intuition.

3. Leaders upgrade their mindset

During difficult and fear inducing situations, it becomes detrimental to analyze your thoughts and feelings.

When you catch yourself thinking negatively, it helps to stop that thought, rewire your brain and replace that thought with a positive one.

After a while, you will come to understand yourself, fear and all its intricacies.

4. Leaders directly confront their fears

The best way to overcome your fears is to face them head on. Avoiding them might only increase your anxieties and your fears.

Once you face them, you will realize that there wasn’t really much to be afraid of.

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You… Click To Tweet

Last Words Of Advice!

Once you have identified your fears and the triggers associated to them, you will have more control over yourself, see the situation clearly and understand that these feelings often times don’t make sense.

Control your fears before they control you!

Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!

Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.

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Book Reviews

Best Self: Be You, Only Better By Mike Bayer

21 December 202013 December 2020by journeytoleadershipblog5 Comments

In Best Self: Be You, Only Better, Mike Bayer encourages people to be their Best Self.

What is your Best Self?

Your Best Self is unique, positive, evolved and aligned with your truth.

When you are being your best self, you are being your most authentic and at your core.

1. How to connect with your Best Self?

Connecting with your Best Self takes time and requires patience. To get in touch with your Best Self:

Express gratitude frequently to get out of a negative space. Make a gratitude list of everything that puts you in a good mood or elevates you in any kind of way.
Embrace change. Everybody can change if they want to, they just have to apply the right motivations.
Identify your fears. Once you have identified your fears, put them to the test to see if your assumptions are true, if they are rational, if they help you succeed, or if they serve your best interests.
Recognize any signs of egotistical behavior. Once you have acknowledge your behavior, assess the origins of it and get your ego in check.