Doubt always makes you feel like maybe you’re the only one who feels it.

We assume everyone else is full of courage. We read a post about courage online, maybe even on this blog, and think everyone has it.

They are confident they will succeed. They knew it all along!

That is a lie.

In fact, most people who are successful experience some degree of surprise when they don’t fail or fall flat on their faces.

Don’t believe me? Here’s an example from The Sopranos.

Edie Falco, who played Carmine Soprano, told Vanity Fair this about the show:

“After the pilot, David (the creator of the show) said, ‘Well, that was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, no one will ever watch this show, but you guys have been great.’ And that was the end. Or so we thought.”

You know how the story ends.

The show blows up. It wins a billion Emmys and reshapes modern television.

And the creator…was he full of confidence? No, he doubted anyone would ever watch it.

If you’re going to chase a dream, you’re going to doubt.

That’s OK, as long as you don’t let it stop you from making a second show and a third show.

There are a million different ways to tell jokes, but the one I use the most in my writing and my speaking is the layer technique.

I did not invent this. Comedians and communicators have been doing it for years.

It’s very basic.

Essentially, you just layer a joke on top of a joke on top of a joke.

Here’s an example of how I do it.

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FAKE GRIMLOCK is a robot dinosaur who specializes in start-up businesses. Makes sense, right?

I actually got introduced to this brilliant web character by two friends who started a business a few years ago that is now worth $100 million. When they recommend people, I listen.

And this is the poster they had on their wall, which contains 7 words I wish I wrote:

Someone once asked me, “How do you come up with all these ideas about fear?”

I replied, “I’m afraid a lot, and then I write them down.”

That’s the simple truth. I tend to worry a lot. Not as much perhaps as before I started writing my last book, but more than I’d like. Recently I heard someone say something really powerful about worry in an interview.

Thriller author Steve Hamilton was interviewing Michael Koryta about his new book The Ridge. Here is the excerpt I loved:

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I found the quote at the bottom of this post on the back of a Dr. Seuss book.

I think it is perfect.

It succinctly summarizes everything Dr. Seuss was amazing at.

And it made me think: What would the back cover of my life say?

If someone wrote a paragraph about my life, how would it read?

What about your life?

What would they say?

Let’s find out today.

In the comments, write a short back cover statement someone might make about you. I’ll go first:

“If you weren’t so busy laughing, you might realize you were actually learning, but that’s just the type of slight-of-hand Jon Acuff is all about. Ten years in a cubicle honed his message into an honest plea aimed at getting you unstuck. Why? Because Acuff believes the unstuck are unstoppable.”

That’s mine. What would yours say? (And if you want help writing it, sign up for the Start Conference and find 1,000 friends who can help you get your back cover awesome!)

(I met her in Texas. She spoke quietly to me at a book store for fear that speaking her dream too loudly might make the craziness of the whole situation fall apart. And her story is amazing. Stories like this are why I write. This is why I am inviting you to the Start Conference in September. This is why it’s time for you to dream. Here’s Misty’s story.)

This was not what I had planned.  In fact, had you told me 7 months ago I was going to move to Spain to go back to school at one of the most famous music institutions in the world, I would’ve thought you had hit your head.  Really hard.

I’ve been working in full time ministry for over thirteen years, and in the past five I’ve been honing my skills as a remixer.  I had been thinking about going back to school and getting a master’s degree, and had a nice safe plan: go to school online (or really close by) and get a Master’s in Music Education, the same as my Bachelor’s degree.  And then I read Quitter and one sentence changed everything: “finding out what you love doing most is about recovering an old love.”  I kept thinking about all of those hours spent programming Depeche Mode songs in high school and realized that dream was still alive in my remixing. 

So what if I got my Master’s degree in music technology?  I had no idea if that even existed, and after some searching, an ad popped up in a sidebar.  It was the perfect school and the perfect degree, with a couple of insane challenges – it was none other than Berklee College of Music, and the grad school was located in Valencia, Spain.  I laughed and thought “there is NO way that is even possible.”

I tried to push the idea away, and one night my friend said “what if you applied just to see what would happen?”   What if?  I couldn’t shake the thought of it, and I kept getting drawn back to the website. I stopped wrestling with doubt, and got busy.  I had huge whiteboards in my apartment outlining every step, and another “Hustle Board” counting every single hour I spent either working on the application process or teaching guitar lessons to pay off the last of my debt.  

I got the huge application together along with my remix portfolio, and sent it off to Berklee on March 1st.  I continued to give 200% at work like normal, and I waited.  And waited.  And prayed, “God if you don’t want this then shut the door.  But if you DO want this to happen, if I get accepted, I have to believe You will get me there.”  

I got an email early April saying “Congratulations, you are a finalist..”  I kept reading that subject heading over and over again in disbelief, plus I didn’t know there was a “final” round in the first place!  I had no idea where the bar was set, and no idea who my competition was, because this was the first time this degree had been offered.  I had been scheduled for an Skype interview with a Grammy winning producer I recognized from a documentary, and at that moment I’m pretty sure I was no longer forming complete sentences.  The interview couldn’t have gone any better, it felt more like a conversation with a colleague than an interview.  This just got real.

And so I waited for the decision. Also around this time my copy of Start arrived, and I studied up to be able to punch fear in the face knowing that it was going to come at me like a heat seeking missile.  I continued to work hard, continued to teach lessons, and watched just about every documentary on Netflix to get through nervous insomnia (after watching 2 seasons of “The Colony” in 2 days, I am also now fully equipped to survive the zombie apocalypse).  I was ready for whatever answer God had in store for me.  And on May 15th, I received an email which was a blur in my mind except for the words “you have been admitted.”   

I got in.   Holy cow.   

Did I just get accepted into Berklee??  

Did I also mention the fact that I am 41 years old?   

Is this real life, or is this one of those movies about the arts school kid who overcame all odds while underscored by a hip hop version of the song “Fame?”

The next few hours were a blurry celebration with a few close friends and family.  I was able to let work know I would be leaving in August, and they have been nothing but supportive.  I wouldn’t be the musician I am today without my time there.  And now I am here, beyond the start line and running hard.  I am still giving work 200% to finish well, still working to pay off debt, and now happily working what feels like a third job to plan my move to Spain.  

And when I am finally breathing in the air off the coast of the Mediterranean on a beach in Valencia somewhere, studying producers while listening to crashing waves, I will know that the hard work, the 278 hours of hustle, the years of rocking a Casio as a little kid in my bedroom when no one was listening – it was all worth it.

I don’t know what your dream is, but I know sometimes even a single sentence in a book can kick start it. Ready to begin? Ready to dream bigger than just the safe idea? Join me and a thousand other hustlers at the Start Conference in Nashville.