Jon Acuff's Blog, page 15

The 7 best books I read in 2022

I love lists, especially “best of” lists at the end of the year. if you share your best moments list, best restaurants for queso list, or best trails for a run list, and I’m so there. In this episode, I’m sharing the seven best books I read in 2022. They range from biographies to mysteries and cover topics from money to creativity to the life of King David. No matter the genre, each of these books taught me something that made 2022 a little better. Tune into the episode, and make sure to add these books to your 2023 reading list. For more book recommendations, find me on GoodReads!

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This is what your kids actually think about you: My eye-opening conversation with Dr. Meg Meeker

Being a parent means a lot of things. It can be joyful, fun, and one of life’s greatest blessings. It can also be challenging, overwhelming, and just plain hard. No matter what season of parenting you’re in, my guest Dr. Meg Meeker has some awesome encouragement for you. Dr. Meg Meeker is a pediatrician who has practiced child and adolescent medicine for 33 years and is the author of six best-selling books. She is also a nationally acclaimed speaker on parenting issues and serves on the Advisory Board of the Medical Institute. Listen to our conversation for a discussion about what matters most in parenting relationships, managing your kid’s screen time, and so much more!

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How to *literally* make the world a brighter place: My conversation with Becca Stevens.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve probably seen that around this time of year, I always talk about an amazing organization called Thistle Farms, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving women survivors of abuse, trafficking, and addiction. I’m thrilled to have their founder and President, Becca Stevens, join me for this special episode. Becca is a speaker, justice entrepreneur, author, and priest. She has been named a CNN Hero, a White House Champion of Change, and holds five honorary doctorates. Listen to our conversation to hear stories of healing and redemption and learn about how you can make the world a little brighter this holiday season.

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5 Soundtracks to Make You Feel Brave

Happy 100th episode of All it Takes is a Goal! In this very special episode, we’re wrapping up a three-part series about how to practice bravery. So far we’ve discussed the 3 Keys to Mastering Bravery, 4 Tools for Your Bravery Toolbox, and today we’ll be covering 5 Soundtracks to Make You Feel Brave. A soundtrack is my phrase for a repetitive thought, and they have the power to hold you back or slingshot you toward your goals. Fear is especially good at keeping you stuck, so I’m sharing the 5 soundtracks that will replace fear with courage so you can keep moving toward the goals that are most important to you!

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4 Tools You Need in Your Bravery Toolbox!

Welcome to Week 2 of a three-part series on bravery! Last week, we covered the three keys you need to master bravery. This week we’re talking about four tools that will help you along the way. Why? Because trying to do anything without the right tools is overwhelming, frustrating, and sometimes impossible (imagine trying to build an IKEA bookshelf without screws – that could wreck even the most loving of marriages). Tune in for the tools that will make practicing bravery so much easier it just might feel like cheating.

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3 Simple Ways to Be Braver in the Next 7 Days

In this episode, I’m kicking off a three-part series about bravery. Why bravery? Why not creativity, character, wisdom, or hustle? I chose bravery because every goal you want to achieve is on the other side of a brave decision. Luckily, bravery is as learnable as tying your shoes. Tune in to learn why bravery is so crucial to accomplishing what matters to you and ways you can implement it in your life immediately!

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Emotional Intelligence – The #1 Way to Boost Your Leadership Skills with Leadership and Relationship Expert Dr. Karyn Gordon

There are so many ways to develop leadership skills, but according to Dr. Karyn Gordon, there’s one strength that consistently outperforms all others: emotional intelligence. Dr. Karyn Gordon was told she probably wouldn’t graduate high school due to a learning disability. Now she’s a leadership and relationship expert, TED Talk speaker, entrepreneur, bestselling author, and CEO of DK Leadership, a global leadership coaching company whose purpose is developing great leaders at work and at home (take that naysayers!). She joins me for a crash course in leadership, developing your emotional intelligence, solution-focused therapy, working in harmony with people of other generations, and so much more.

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How to spark creativity when you feel like there’s none left – my interview with innovation expert Jeremy Utley

Creativity and innovation are commonly viewed as fleeting moments of inspiration that must be grand, life-altering, and totally new. No wonder they can feel so intimidating. But what if they were actually muscles that could be stretched and grown slowly over time with practice?

In this episode Director of Executive Education at Stanford’s acclaimed Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (aka the d.school), Jeremy Utley is here to teach you how to do that. Jeremy is a self-proclaimed “recovering MBA, spreadsheet junkie, and management consultant,” who now studies innovation in large enterprises and startups. In this episode, he’ll teach you how to tap into your Idea Flow, reframe problems, and provoke your imagination so that creativity becomes as natural as learning any other skill.

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Finite Schedules, Infinite Possibilities: The Time-Management Episode with Laura Vanderkam

We all have a finite number of hours in the week (168 to be exact), and oftentimes it doesn’t feel like enough for everything we want to do. But what if there was a way to fit all the most important things into your schedule? What if you could actually pursue all the personal and professional goals you have and have them live in harmony? Laura Vanderkam is a time-management expert and author of the new book, Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters. She’s also a mom of five and knows how challenging it can be to make time work for you not against you. She joins me for an incredible conversation about prioritizing what matters, finding time for the work and people you love, and so much more!

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Get Disciplined About Your Discipline – my conversation with Ryan Holiday

The people that struggle most with discipline aren’t always Netflix-obsessed couch lovers. A lot of times, it’s very successful, high-achieving individuals that have a hard time with it…but why? Ryan Holiday would explain that it’s those people who have a tendency to be overly-disciplined causing them to risk things like health, happiness, and relationships. Ryan is the bestselling author of many books including Trust Me, I’m Lying, The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, and his latest book, Discipline is Destiny. He joins me for a conversation about striking the right balance of discipline, using “pullback” methods, and so much more!

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