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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Start summary
Jon Acuff
Punch Fear In the Face, Escape Average, Do Work That Matters
17 mins
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Start
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Key idea 1 of 8
Escape the average and become awesome by punching your fear in the face.
Do you dream of escaping the average? Do you want to become awesome and exceptional, but don’t know where to start?
Here’s a tip: If you want to become awesome, you have to punch fear in the face.
Fear can alienate you from your dreams. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t let it, but to beat fear, you have to understand how it works. Fear prevents you from chasing your dreams by convincing you that they’re impractical or unattainable.
But don’t buy into that kind of defeatist thinking. Instead, write down your fears and then exaggerate them ridiculously, to show yourself how silly those fears actually are.
For example, if you’re afraid that starting a new project will cause you to lose your job and stay unemployed, write that down. And then let yourself go farther. Imagine you’ll end up on the street with a scraggly beard, sleeping on top of garbage bags and talking to stray cats.
Does that seem likely? Probably not, which is why you need to write it down. That way you can see how illogical your fears really are, and thus prevent them from controlling you.
Luckily, there’s one more effective way to deal with fear’s mind games: Just start doing whatever you’re scared of.
You have no control over the eventual result, but that won’t ever change. You’ll never know how things will end up, but at least you can control the outset. If you want to do something, do it!
For example, consider the Segway. When it was first introduced, people thought it might spark a transportation revolution. And yet, since its launch the Segway hasn’t been such a great success.
Still, the Segway people deserve respect. They risked failure and pursued their awesome dream of developing weird, two-wheeled electric transporters.
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What is Start about?
Are you ready to escape the average and become awesome? Do you want to overcome your fears and follow your dreams? What does it mean to live a purposeful life and do work that matters? Ultimately, the most important step in achieving any great goal to START.
Best quote from Start
If taking the first step on the road to awesome were easy, then everybody would already be on it.
—Jon Acuff
Who should read Start?
- Anyone who is tired of being average and wants to be awesome
- Anyone who has a great dream but is crippled by fear of the first step
- Anyone who has put off acting on an idea time and time again
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