23 | Misconceptions around productivity & goal setting with Jon Acuff

New York Times Best-selling author, Jon Acuff has written five books including his most recent, FINISH which focuses on goal setting and follow-through . Jon has helped some of the biggest brands in the world tell their story, including The Home Depot, Bose, Staples, and the Dave Ramsey Team. He’s spoken to hundreds of thousands of people at companies such as Microsoft, Nissan and Comedy Central.

On today’s episode we’re talking about misconceptions around productivity and goal setting, how to set yourself up for success and why it’s ok to let yourself be bad at certain things!

ON TODAY’S EPISODE:

The biggest misconception that people have about productivity and goal setting
Jon’s career path and how he wrote five books & made the New York Times best-seller list
How his life has shaped what he writes about in his books
Why he wrote Finish
Why Jon thinks that perfectionism kills productivity
The benefits of being bad at certain things
The role data and measurement play in reaching goals
Jon’s thoughts on whether utilizing past data is helpful
The social media platform that Jon thinks is most effective in growing your business
Mapping out action steps to get to his bigger goals
When do you need to plan and at what point do you just need to jump in and start things
Jon’s advice to to product-based business centers who struggle with the follow-through on projects
The two main forms of motivation
The balance between money and passion
How shame influences setting goals, reaching those goals, and running businesses
Accountability and its influence on goal setting
The role that luck plays in growing a business

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KEY TAKE-AWAYS

“I would say one of them is the myth of the huge, massive, scary goal. People say, “Aim for the moon, because even if you fail, you’ll land amongst the stars,” but that’s not what really happens, either in research or in real life.”– Jon Acuff

“Most people grade on a pass/fail scale when it comes to goals.”– Jon Acuff

“Grow something or build something, that even if it’s not wildly successful, your life is better.”– Jon Acuff

“Starting is fun, but the future belongs to finishers.”– Jon Acuff

“When you go to a race, you stand at the beginning or the finish. The middle is pretty lonely. That made me want to write a book that would help somebody get through the middle.”– Jon Acuff

“Every book I’ve ever written hasn’t been perfect. I like to say it this way. Amazon has never sold a perfect book. They have just sold millions of books by brave, imperfect people.”– Jon Acuff

“The longer you wait to get something perfect, you’re going to miss your window of opportunity.”– Katie Hunt

“Perfect to me means you’re not trying hard enough and you’re not doing new things.”– Jon Acuff

“You have a choice, shame or strategy. Shame says I should be able to get it all done and then when you can’t, you feel ashamed. Strategy says, these three things, I’m not even going to care about them.”– Jon Acuff

“What I like about data is, data tells the truth. Data is not swayed by emotion.”– Jon Acuff

“If you’re a small business, there’s actions you can do every day, even as you plan.”– Jon Acuff

“Almost every business I work with undercharges. Especially if it’s a small business.”– Jon Acuff

“The balance is, you don’t get to do the passion very long if the profit isn’t there.”– Jon Acuff

“The problem is, a lot of us have trouble starting goals because we’ve lied to ourselves so many times that we don’t even believe it.”– Jon Acuff

“We’re not supposed to do this alone. Running a business is a very isolating experience”.– Jon Acuff

CONNECT WITH MARY JON ACUFF

Website: Jon Acuff | Facebook: @authorjonacuff | Instagram: @jonacuff | Twitter: @jonacuff

Connect with Katie Hunt

Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.

Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct