I have notebooks full of ideas and plans and yet, I rarely start any of them. Even this year, I want to learn Spanish. I do well practicing with Duolingo for 5 days in a row then if I miss a day, I feel all is lost. But it's not lost! Acuff tries to pound this in everyone's head in this book. Perfectionism is really an asshole, it wants you to quit and distracts you from getting something done.
“This is the first lie that perfectionism tells you about goals: Quit if it isn’t perfect.”
Some of Acuff's tips include cutting your goal in half. Want to lose 50 pounds? Try 25. Want to read 100 books in a year? Start with 50. Or in my case, want to become an expert spinner? Start by spinning ONE skein of yarn. Or just digging out your spinning wheel because you know you will suck at it right away.
He points out things you have to drop by the wayside in order to hit your goal. You will have to say no to people. You will have to give up social media (fun fact: since deleting Facebook from my phone last month, I've finished 3 knitting projects).
Acuff doesn't say anything revolutionary, but it still just resonated with me. "It doesn't count if it's not difficult". Wait?!?!?! That's not true? It can be easy/fun and still count?? That shouldn't have blown me away but it did. Now I have to re-evaluate my life. brb.
Seriously though, I try the occasional self help book to motivate myself into not binge watching The Simpsons for the 5th time but this one did it. Naturally, my favorite part was gathering data on your goals. I'm a data nerd so this speaks to my soul. You think you lost 40lbs in 2009 much faster than you are now? Your memory is probably tricking you, the data will show different. Make sure you track how things are going so the data, not your memory, will show you your progress. I LOVE this.
Acuff reads the audio book and he is a funny dude. Very easy to listen to and get into the zone.
Acuff - Figure out what doesn't work for you
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