Tag: Reading Challenge

Punch Fear in the Face and Escape Average! [Reading Challenge 2016]

Do you have a dream? Do you want to do work that matters? Do you want to escape average and live in the world of awesome?

To do it, you need to do one thing: just START!

Last night my Reading Challenge group met to discuss the March book: Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, Do Work That Matters by Jon Acuff (Brentwood, Tennessee: Lampo Press, 2013).

This book fit perfectly into our group’s theme for the year: Courage.

It’s easy to think about a dream, to plan it, to talk it to death. But it takes great courage to just start.

And many times starting is not about doing something incredible, like performing on stage for the first time at a huge concert venue. But it’s something small and mundane, like scheduling 30 minutes a day to practice guitar.

Want to be paid for speaking in front of thousands? Maybe it starts with speaking in front of ten, or joining a speech club. Want to get ripped? Maybe it starts by joining a gym and getting up earlier. Want to be an expert on Guatemalan tree frogs? Maybe it starts by checking some books out of the library.

Do not despise the day of small beginnings (Zechariah 4:10).

Maybe your first step is to read Start. Practically everyone in the group said that this was not the type of book they would have picked up on their own. But they all got a lot out of this book and were encouraged to not let their dreams be dreams.

I highly recommend this book, whether you are looking to start something new, or just want to be better at what you do. You will be encouraged and challenged by it.

By the way, our group’s next book for the month of April is Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown. We will meet on April 27 at NorthStar Church to discuss the book. Let me know if you want to join us! Email me at randy dot elster at northstarchurch dot org.

March 2016 Reading Challenge book: START by Jon Acuff

Our new group the 2016 Reading Challenge is off to a great start! Last week we met to discuss our February book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear by Max Lucado. And this week we’re starting our March book, Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, Do Work That Matters by Jon Acuff.

This book ties into our theme for the year, Courage, as a guide to not just settle for average in life but to have the courage to go for awesome.

In Start, Acuff talks about the five stages of a successful life, which used to be tied to your age during a time when people tended to stick with one career their entire working life:

  1. Learning (20s)
  2. Editing (30s)
  3. Mastering (40s)
  4. Harvesting (50s)
  5. Guiding (60s)

But now, according to Acuff, the stages are no longer tied to when you were born, but to when you decide to live. You just have to Start!

This week we’re reading chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 1, “You Are Here,” introduces the concept of the five stages of life and shows how things are different now. In chapter 2, “The Start,” he talks about the importance of not only being wildly enthusiastic about your future, but also being extremely realistic about your present—where you are now. He also says that the Start is the only part you truly control and you can’t really predict the finish.

We’ll meet at the end of the month—on Wednesday, March 30, at 7:00pm at NorthStar Church—to discuss the book together. Email me at randy dot elster at northstarchurch dot org for more information.