Jon Acuff's Blog

Two weeks ago, my friend Santiago told me something shocking.

He said, “In June of 2011, people spent more time using their mobile apps than they did their desktop browsers.”

This was the first time that had ever happened, but it’s not that surprising. That same month, combined sales of smartphones and tablets were greater than the sales of desktops and notebooks for the first time ever.

That’s not really shocking information. The idea that people use apps a lot won’t knock you over. Small surprise. Thousands of articles have predicted this. What is shocking, though, is how many people missed the arrival of the next Internet.

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A few weeks ago I tweeted a link to a New York Times article and wrote this, “Why didn’t Leica, Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Olympus build Instagram? A critical question every business has to answer.”

The article raised a challenging idea that keeping up with innovation can become “a cyclical problem all successful companies eventually face as the technology around them changes, but they cannot change.” The success of the past essentially makes it hard to recognize the necessary innovations of the future. (Read the article here.)

In response to my question about why didn’t Nikon build Instagram, someone tweeted, “Maybe because they’re imaging hardware companies, not social media companies?”

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This video is 20 minutes long, or roughly 14 years long in Youtube video terms. But, I assure you, it is worth it.

Lately, I’ve felt the invitation to be vulnerable extended to me in a number of different ways. Frankly, I find the term “vulnerability” a bit terrifying. In this clip from the TED conference, Brene Brown unpacks what it means to live with vulnerability and why it’s so important. If you don’t have time to watch it, here are some highlights:

1. The original definition of courage was “to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.” The courage to be imperfect.

2. Based on intense research, Brown found that people who live with their whole heart possess three things:

Compassion – to be kind to themselves first and then to others because as it turns out we can’t practice compassion with other people if we can’t treat ourselves kindly.

Connection – they were willing to let go of who they thought they should be.

Vulnerability – they believed that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful.

3. My favorite quote was “I know that vulnerability is kind of the core of shame and fear and our struggle for worthiness, but it appears that it’s also the birthplace of joy of creativity of belonging of love.”

Question:
What was your greatest takeaway from this clip?

The next time you get hated on, I want you to ask two quick questions. You have to ask them immediately before the hate has time to settle in your head and confuse you into thinking it’s criticism. (Hate and criticism are completely different. One leads to wounds, one leads to growth.)

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We all have audiences.

Whether you speak on a stage, on a blog, or in a meeting at work, you have an audience.

And fear is in the business of making your audience look massive.

Why?

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Want to hear a secret? I have a ridiculously easy way to double your productivity at work.

Here it is:

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If you complimented me in the last 36 years, I’d like to apologize to you.

Chances are, when you said something kind to me, I immediately deflected your words.

If you said, “Great job on that speech, book, or helping an old lady across the street,” here is how I responded:

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One of the strangest things that happens when you start hustling on your dream is the reaction you often get from friends.

People who you’ve known for years.

People who love you.

People who you were certain would support you, suddenly do just the opposite.

They criticize you, they attack you, they chip away at the progress you’ve made and discourage you at every step. This is not surprising to some of you.

For years, we’ve all heard the cliché, “the greatest insult a crab can commit against the other crabs in the bucket is to try to climb out.” Every crab immediately pulls their hopeful compatriot back into the bucket. But that’s “what” happens. Let’s talk about “why” it happens.

Why do friends attack your dreams?

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A few weeks ago, I saw an Apple commercial for the new “Siri” feature. Siri is essentially a voice activated digital assistant. You say, “Where can I get Thai food near here?” And Siri responds almost instantly with an answer.

I thought that was an awesome feature until I saw the new commercial and got terrified.

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I have a prediction for 2012. Ready?

“Things are going to change.”

Profound, right?

Jobs are going to change. Relationships are going to change. Companies are going to change. People are going to change.

Change is inevitable. The question is will it happen to you or through you?

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