Jon Acuff's Blog

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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I don’t know anyone who absolutely loves meetings.

I’ve never heard anyone ever say the phrase, “I don’t have enough meetings each week.”

I’ve never met anyone who felt more productive because they attended more meetings.

If anything, I’ve heard countless people say, “I was in meetings all day and didn’t get any ‘real’ work done.”

So what’s the solution to this meeting dilemma? It isn’t to stop having meetings. Some of them can be critical to the success of a project.

The answer is to have shorter meetings.

Or, rather, to meet like a sea captain.

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A few years ago, I learned a parenting trick that changed my life. It wasn’t complicated. I didn’t find it buried in one of those 400-page-long, zero-pictures parenting books that you often assume everyone has read but you. It’s not even that long. You can master this trick in 4 seconds. What is it?

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Two videos in one day! Unbelievable. I normally don’t post twice in the same day, but when my friend Chris told me about a video musician Dave Barnes tweeted, I had to share it.

This made my head hurt I was laughing so hard. Please enjoy 2 minutes and 16 seconds of comic brilliance.

A few weeks ago, I opened for a rapper at a an outdoor music festival. I joked on Twitter that people would finally get to see my breakdancing skills. The rapper, a guy named Lecrae, responded to me on Twitter and said, “Go for it. I’ll give you a 5 minute set!”

I panicked and quickly confessed that my greatest breakdancing skill was talking about breakdancing, not actually doing it. But that’s not the case in this breakdancing/pop n lock/dubstep video. This guys is unbelievable and I think my favorite moment happens at 1:30.

Take a look and enjoy a little Tuesday random video.

A few years ago, I learned a parenting trick that changed my life. It wasn’t complicated. I didn’t find it buried in one of those 400-page-long, zero-pictures parenting books that you often assume everyone has read but you. It’s not even that long. You can master this trick in 4 seconds. What is it?

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Public speaking isn’t easy, but it is simple.

We often try to complicate it as a way to prevent ourselves from actually doing it, but the truth is, writing a speech is ridiculously simple.

Each speech only has to answer two questions.

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I will never be invited on The Biggest Loser. If you met me you might not say, “That guy is fat.” But there have been times in life when my weight has fluctuated in some less than healthy ways.

The biggest gain I ever had was going from 138 to 168. Thirty pounds might not seem like a lot, but getting 25% heavier isn’t great unless you’re also getting taller. Believe me, I thought about that. When I looked at the height/weight charts, I thought it would be great if I ate copious amounts of Gordo’s Queso & Chips and grew a few inches taller.

Weighing 168 is perfectly fine if you’re 6’4” but here’s the thing, that wasn’t my experience. I stayed 5’7” during this experience and added 30 pounds.

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My friend Melissa sent me this video. A motion graphics company named To-Fu designed it. It’s short, powerful and a lot of fun. I think way #25 is fantastic. Check it out and let me know which number is your favorite.

A few months ago, I was speaking in Michigan. When I was signing books after the event, a guy came up and said, “Hey, I’m a musician. I go to Nashville a lot.”

I live in Nashville and said to him, “That’s great, let me know when you’re in town next time and we’ll grab coffee.”

Without missing a beat he said, “I’ll be in Nashville tomorrow!”

Busted.

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