Finish - Jon Acuff

Finish

By Jon Acuff

  • Release Date: 2017-09-12
  • Genre: Management & Leadership
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 101 Ratings

Description

Year after year, readers pulled me aside at events and said, “I’ve never had a problem starting. I’ve started a million things, but I never finish them. Why can’t I finish?

According to studies, 92 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail. You’ve practically got a better shot at getting into Juilliard to become a ballerina than you do at finishing your goals.

For years, I thought my problem was that I didn’t try hard enough. So I started getting up earlier. I drank enough energy drinks to kill a horse. I hired a life coach and ate more superfoods. Nothing worked, although I did develop a pretty nice eyelid tremor from all the caffeine. It was like my eye was waving at you, very, very quickly.

Then, while leading a thirty-day online course to help people work on their goals, I learned something surprising: The most effective exercises were not those that pushed people to work harder. The ones that got people to the finish line did just the opposite— they took the pressure off.

Why? Because the sneakiest obstacle to meeting your goals is not laziness, but perfectionism. We’re our own worst critics, and if it looks like we’re not going to do something right, we prefer not to do it at all. That’s why we’re most likely to quit on day two, “the day after perfect”—when our results almost always underper­form our aspirations.

The strategies in this book are counterintuitive and might feel like cheating. But they’re based on studies conducted by a university researcher with hundreds of participants. You might not guess that having more fun, eliminating your secret rules, and choosing something to bomb intentionally works. But the data says otherwise. People who have fun are 43 percent more successful! Imagine if your diet, guitar playing, or small business was 43 percent more suc­cessful just by following a few simple principles.

If you’re tired of being a chronic starter and want to become a consistent finisher, you have two options: You can continue to beat yourself up and try harder, since this time that will work. Or you can give yourself the gift of done.

Reviews

  • Excellent

    5
    By Danothemano02
    So good! Hit home in all the areas. Very relatable. A lot of humor. Convicting yet Encouraging! Not kicking you when you’re down! Let’s do this thing!
  • Great read

    5
    By Cassie Wodecki
    Great book for perfectionists, like me!
  • Fantastic!!

    5
    By Jinglebell666
    I read this book daily while working on my health and business goals and it’s such a helpful, motivating reminder for me to measure my progress, forget about perfectionism, and not quit on myself. Thanks Author Acuff, highly recommended!
  • Perfect

    4
    By saadgold
    This book is amazing and I would have rated it 5 starts if it was summed up because more than 60% of the book is repetitive and not important. However the remaining 40% is super informative and easy to adopt.
  • So nice I bought it twice

    5
    By JF0000T
    OK— so I seriously bought this book twice. I downloaded it on a whim in iBooks and fell in love with it, so I purchased a hard copy so I could mark it up with notes and sentiments. If you’re on the cusp of something great but can’t get out of your own way, read this book. If you’ve got to have everything “just so” before you can start (and thereby never actually start), read this book. It’s insightful, witty, honest. Best biz book of 2017. Thanks for writing a winner, Jon.
  • A True Gem

    5
    By Mosscow
    Jon is funny, breezy and so on-point here. If perfectionism has you in its clutches—you need to read this book.