Jon Acuff's Blog, page 21

Brendan Leonard is a writer, illustrator, speaker, and ultrarunner. In 2019, he completed 52 marathon-distance runs in 52 weeks, and survived, while having fun part of the time. Leonard is a columnist at Outside, and his writing has appeared in Runner’s World, National Geographic Adventure, Climbing, and Alpinist and on CNN.com and in dozens of other publications, including his website, Semi-Rad.com. He also lived in a van for several years, loves pizza, and is easily one of the coolest people I’ve ever gotten the chance to talk to. He’s passionate about people doing what they love not because they’re the best at it, but just because they enjoy it. He joins me for a conversation all about how to accomplish your goals without taking yourself too seriously.

The post It’s great to be average: Accomplishing goals just because you love them with Brendan Leonard appeared first on Jon Acuff.

Do you ever feel like you’re the only person that didn’t get the manual on how to be an adult? Or like you still have no idea what you really want to spend your life doing? Let me introduce you to my guest, Victoria Labalme. Victoria is a Performing Artist and Performance Coach, so it probably goes without saying she’s a creative genius. She’s the founder of Rock the Room, and recently released a brand new book called Risk Forward. Victoria’s on a mission to help you embrace the unknown, express your hidden genius, and have a lot of fun while you figure out life. Listen to our conversation for some inspiring advice about dealing with uncertainty and being authentically you in the process.

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I don’t video record my podcasts because I’m so new at this that I’m pretty sure I’m making weird faces while I read the questions I’ve written before hand for these interviews. Plus, I apparently have a furious focus face, the old “triple F” as they say in Latin. I look so mad when I’m really listening. But if you could see the video of this conversation, in this episode you’d see me start leaning in, start clapping and start taking notes. Cathy Heller’s story of losing her record deal, reinventing her life and building a massive business is wildly inspiring. She stepped on my toes a lot in this episode, challenging me to do some things in my own life that I’ve been afraid to try. If you listen to this episode while on a treadmill, you’re probably going to fall off. That’s a safety warning, right there.

The post How to make $10 million when your dream falls apart. My bonkers conversation with Cathy Heller appeared first on Jon Acuff.

Creativity is all about revision. Not many of us are capable of launching ideas already formed and perfectly successful, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t creative. I had my friend, Josh Linkner, join me for a conversation about creativity and innovation. Josh is the number one most booked innovation keynote speaker. And he also loves Legos. We discussed Josh’s recent book, Big Little Breakthroughs, which is all about how small creative acts can unlock massive creative rewards over time. Whether you consider yourself in the “creative field” or not, you absolutely have the potential to unlock innovation.

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What you do says a lot about you, but why you do what you do says a lot more. That’s why I asked Ian Morgan Cron to join me for a conversation all about the Enneagram. Ian Morgan Cron is a bestselling author, psychotherapist, Enneagram teacher, and host of the popular podcast, Typology. He uses the Enneagram personality-typing system as a tool to help leaders cultivate self-awareness and emotional wisdom. Whether you’ve never heard of the Enneagram or you have some experience with it already, this conversation will help you discover more about yourself and how you can use that knowledge to accomplish your goals.

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Everybody knows that January is a big month for goals, but there’s another secret month hidden in the calendar that’s a powerful time to start a new goal. I call these months “slingshot months” because they fall during times of the year where there’s already momentum building so they can launch your goals toward success. It took me 25 years to discover the hidden power of the second, less famous slingshot month, but you’re about to learn all about it and how to make the most of it in 25 minutes.

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Life always moves fast, but what happens when the pace of life becomes totally unsustainable? My friend and mentor, Carey Nieuwhof, rebuilt his entire life after a whirlwind career left him burned out and exhausted for years. A former lawyer, Carey is now a bestselling leadership author, speaker, and podcaster. He speaks to leaders around the world about leadership, change and personal growth. He joins me in this episode to tell you how to make time work for you so you can live more of the life you love.

The post At your best: How to get time, energy, and priorities working in your favor with Carey Nieuwhof appeared first on Jon Acuff.

74% of Americans agree that they’re more likely to trust someone who has an established personal brand, so what does your personal brand say about you? Do you have a personal brand? Have you ever thought about building one? New York Times best-selling author, professional speaker Hall of Famer, eight-figure company entrepreneur, and my long-time friend, Rory Vaden, knows that personal brands are the future no matter what industry you’re in. He joins me in this episode to tell you how to develop and sustain a killer personal brand so that you can master your message and use it to reach your goals.

 

The post Stop Performing and Start Serving: How to Build a Brand That Matters with Rory Vaden appeared first on Jon Acuff.

When’s the last time you were really bored? If you’re like me, it’s probably the last time you were in the shower. That seems to be the only time when I’m not trying to maximize productivity by multi-tasking or listening to an audiobook or podcast. Most of us have packed our lives so full of activities that we don’t have a lot of room left for the quiet, often necessary groundswell of creativity. Creativity needs boredom, but there’s a way to be strategic about it. Listen to the episode for four ways you can refill your creative tank by tapping into the power of strategic boredom.

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You’re completely alone in the wilderness. You only have 10 pieces of gear. If you can tough it out longer than nine other people, you win $500,000. Also, there are bears. And maybe a wolverine here and there. How long do you think you would last? This is the actual premise of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Alone. One of the show’s producers, Ryan Pender, joins me this week to tell me the surprising lessons people learn about life and themselves when they’re completely isolated and solely focused on their survival. Even if you haven’t seen a single episode, you’ll love this conversation and how lessons from the wilderness can apply to your life.

The post Grizzly Bears and Gill Nets: Discovering what matters most in life with “Alone” Producer Ryan Pender appeared first on Jon Acuff.