Start – Jon Acuff: Review

Today Jon Acuff’s new book Start launches, and I wanted to draw it to your attention {Because waiting for release dates to get books is too mainstream I got an advance copy from Jon a few weeks ago so I’ve already been reading it #ChristianHipster…}. If you don’t know who Jon Acuff is, he is the writer behind the fantastic StuffChristiansLike website (which I have written a couple of guest posts for, and which has been a huge influence and inspiration in my life). In his new book Start he address those of us who aspire to something more than just an average life, and shares advice as to how we can experience an awesome life.
Probably Start will be classified in the “Self-help” section of bookstores, but this is not your standard “10 easy steps” self-help book. In Start Jon makes it clear that to become awesome, to be a master in your field (whatever that may be, he keeps the principles vague enough to be helpful without being limited to one specific career) will require hard work and effort. There are now short cuts. Instead Start is full of mental exercises to help you figure out what it is you really want to be awesome at, and what you can do to work on that without sabotaging your relationships with family/friends/significant others. Jon guides us through five stages on the road to awesome – learning, editing, mastering, harvesting and guiding, and while he offers no shortcuts he does suggest ways in which through focusing on what it is you want to be awesome at you can progress faster.
Start is about moving beyond dreaming and on to living intentionally with purpose, and is a fantastic book for anyone who aspires to more, but struggles with the motivation to actually do something about those aspirations.
If you are familiar with StuffChristiansLike you will know Jon is an incredibly funny writer. And while this is a much more serious book, addressing serious material, Jon does so with his characteristic humour and wit, making this not only a very helpful book, but a very enjoyable book to read, and probably one of the few books about how to become a master of your trade that will regularly have you laughing out loud.
Start is packed with lessons Jon has learnt from his experience of going from a guy who quit 8 jobs in as many years and starting a small blog in his kitchen to being one of the leading Christian satire writers and a prolific public speaker working for Dave Ramsey in just a few years, and if you are keen to live a more awesome life I would highly recommend it. In particular, if you are finishing school/university and about to start out in the world of full-time employment this is an invaluable resource that will help you start off in the right direction towards your dream job.

(NB Disclaimer: I got a free advance copy in return for helping raise awareness of Start as part of a lunch street team. I applied to be on it and Jon chose to give me a copy – probably because he thinks I am some sort of awesome influential voice in the Christian blogging scene… I did not have to post a positive review)