Latest / MESSmerized - Funny and faith based encouragement in marriage , family , Christian parenting , and finding purpose / Episode 143: Stop Putting It Off: Jon Acuff on Procrastination, Goals, and Getting Started

Transcript

Episode 143: Stop Putting It Off: Jon Acuff on Procrastination, Goals, and Getting Started · MESSmerized - Funny and faith based encouragement in marriage , family , Christian parenting , and finding purpose

0:06
[SPEAKER_01]: This is Cynthia Gannoff and you are listening to the mesmerized podcast.
0:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey friends, welcome to Podcasts.
0:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you had an amazing Easter.
0:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope that you had plenty of time to slow down and really reflect on the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf.
0:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I pray that you had fun with family.
0:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I pray that you didn't get pelted with confetti eggs.
0:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I did in the front yard by my brothers and my children.
0:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I also pray that you didn't need a lot of ham, but maybe you ate the devil eggs.
0:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And this year, I made a corn brule like corn
0:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Friend of mine gaming the recipe.
0:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It was really good.
0:47
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys so I hope you had a great Easter I'm glad you're here.
0:50
[SPEAKER_01]: If you missed last week or steep for Zell was on we talked about making Jesus King of our lives And I would love for you to go back and listen if you haven't because it is still with me so many thoughts about how to do that Practically and why it matters and then today
1:06
[SPEAKER_01]: We have one of my favorite guests.
1:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I cannot wait for you to hear from John Akeff before we get there, though.
1:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to encourage you to think about perhaps doing a book club this summer.
1:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Gather together, some friends, some women, maybe you've wanted to get to know better, maybe some women from your kiddos school, or neighborhood ladies, or maybe your small group.
1:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And I, you know, it's coming.
1:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I would love for you to do my new book.
1:28
[SPEAKER_01]: How do I miss that?
1:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I have book club questions.
1:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I can send you, and I'm even going to be popping into some of the book clubs that already know are happening or scheduled to be happening this summer.
1:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So think about that.
1:39
[SPEAKER_01]: If that's something that you can do, you want to do.
1:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I would love for you to consider my book.
1:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, you can DM me, you can email me through my website and I would love to send you the book club questions.
1:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Alright, also I said this last week, I'll be saying this for the next few weeks.
1:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I am now booking fall 2026 and spring 2027 speaking events and so many of you have already reached out.
2:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for that.
2:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm excited.
2:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Going to a lot of fun places.
2:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And I would love to come visit with your group.
2:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So go through my website against the again off.com.
2:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You can put in a request under the speaking request.
2:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And let's figure that out.
2:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, today you guys, John Akef is here.
2:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And I interviewed John Akef a couple years ago and did not know who John Akef was just quite honestly.
2:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And since then I've become the biggest fan.
2:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I love his podcast.
2:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I love his book Soundtracks.
2:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I love this new book.
2:33
[SPEAKER_01]: procrastination proof and we are going to talk about all the things in life that we are putting off that we need to get out and do that the Lord has called us to do and I think he just has an incredible inspiring voice and he is humble and kind and yeah, I'm a big fan.
2:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm excited for you to hear and if you haven't heard from John Akeh before like you were in for such a treat.
2:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So here we go, kicking it off with John Akeh.
3:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, John, welcome back to the show.
3:04
[SPEAKER_01]: How are you?
3:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I am great.
3:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It's great to see you again.
3:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It's good to see you.
3:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I feel like I got to interview you, I don't remember when, a couple years ago, on this show, or maybe one of my others, and I'll never forget that I'm just being totally honest.
3:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I've not heard of you yet, and everyone's like, you don't know him.
3:20
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't know who this is, and I'm like, I don't.
3:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I did what I do whenever I have a guess.
3:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I glanced through your things and read a little bit, and I was like, oh man, he's interesting, but I didn't have time to really prep.
3:30
[SPEAKER_01]: So after we talked, okay, I'm in a prepped, but I didn't read, I hadn't read everything's front to back.
3:36
[SPEAKER_01]: After we talked, I went and bought everything that hadn't been sent to me and I started reading your stuff and listening to your podcast and then I got my husband hooked and then I paid my two adult children, I have three that my two adult ones hold hard cash to listen to certain episodes of your podcast.
3:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, I was like, well, now I feel like I got ripped off because had I had known what I know now, I would have completely asked you different questions and it was an amazing podcast so you're always fabulous.
4:05
[SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, like this is redemption day over here, Johnny.
4:07
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why today is so great because now you're, now you're back.
4:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go.
4:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.
4:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm back.
4:13
[SPEAKER_01]: better than ever people, maybe not, but nonetheless I'm back.
4:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So okay, I want to talk to you though before we get started on, and you, I'll tell everybody, you have two adult daughters, right?
4:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Two older daughters?
4:25
[SPEAKER_00]: 20-year-old and 22-year-old.
4:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, and if you don't know who John AKF is, it's two-year-old, it's time people, like come to the party.
4:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can find all his stuff on his website, your podcast is called it, only takes a goal, right?
4:37
[SPEAKER_00]: All it takes a goal.
4:38
[SPEAKER_01]: All it takes a goal.
4:43
[SPEAKER_01]: So many books so I had to pull some of them up that are sitting on my desk right now.
4:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I have sound tracks all it takes a goal sitting on my desk.
4:52
[SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, okay, I was listening to some of your podcast you're as we're taping this but not when we're releasing.
4:58
[SPEAKER_01]: You're doing a little series where you're going through some cards that you've made and you're giving some of your like I guess you would come soundtrack, right?
5:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Just a quick statements and a soundtrack for everyone is a repeated statement,
5:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so repetitive thought you listened to again and again, okay.
5:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And so in the soundtracks book, which is everyone, when you, you will probably hear this before his new and releases and so that's the one you're going to get first and then you're going to want them all like I am, but he talks about how we all have narratives.
5:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We have soundtracks right John and we have the opportunity.
5:31
[SPEAKER_01]: to change them.
5:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And you said, look at this, is it true?
5:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it helpful?
5:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it kind?
5:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I started to think how that's so did my husband.
5:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm going to read you a few of yours.
5:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just want you to give like your one minute elaboration on him.
5:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Totally.
5:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
5:46
[SPEAKER_01]: They're so good.
5:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
5:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So, show me your screen time and I'll show you your future.
5:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that one is when people tell me they're too busy to write their book or too busy to walk around the neighborhood or too busy to spend time with their spouse.
6:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll say we'll show me your screen time and then often they go And they pull it up and they didn't know they spent 13 hours last week on Instagram And if you ask them they would have said four because it's very good at costing you more time than you recognize And so yeah, that's what it's about our life is built of time
6:17
[SPEAKER_00]: and the things we gave our time to or what becomes our life.
6:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's just a simple system of like, I like the thing about like, I spent 13 hours when we kind of Instagram and they didn't even pay me.
6:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I just showed up and did volunteer work.
6:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I was, I didn't even know I was on like, that was my job that week.
6:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And if they had said to me, we need 13 hours and be like this too much, but they take it in small bites.
6:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what that one's about.
6:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, hey, where you're really spending your time ends up being where your life really goes.
6:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So good.
6:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, you talked about this one on your podcast last week, week before tired, beats, regretful.
6:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I learned that one from my oldest daughter.
6:55
[SPEAKER_00]: She did a semester in London, and she had friends who would go, it's, we're too tired.
7:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We're just gonna door-dash Chipotle to this house in London.
7:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And we would say, you will be so grounded if you were in London, eating Chipotle door-dash and watching Netflix.
7:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You're in very much trouble, so she started to tell her friends, tired beats her griffle.
7:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go out, let's go see one more museum, do one more tour.
7:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd rather be tired than a month later, two months later, when I'm back in America, go I wish I'd seen London in a different way.
7:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So for us, that's like push through, try the one more thing, because you'd rather be a little bit exhausted than you would be regretful.
7:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So good, so good.
7:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And you even like really put that into parenting too in the podcast, just like,
7:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, like, he tired.
7:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Do the things wrong.
7:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it goes fast.
7:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You know it.
7:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, if you've got 20 year olds, you know it.
7:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But like, we went to a jump rope expert, like, jump rope show yesterday for my two.
7:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I have two nephews, a niece and a nephew that are 11 of the twins.
7:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And I went just because I'm an amazing uncle.
7:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I had very few uncles were there.
7:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I noticed, but I was there.
8:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And all those parents of elementary school kids think they've got a long time.
8:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And I wanted to be like, you don't, it's so fast.
8:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's the same with parenting.
8:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You'd rather be tired.
8:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I have two adult kids like you do college and then I have a third grader we adopted and everyone's like, oh, he's only in third grade.
8:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, oh, he'll be a senior next year.
8:20
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it's like that.
8:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I know how this works.
8:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
8:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
8:24
[SPEAKER_01]: This one I have a little testimony too that I, but I'm going to say it first.
8:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll fill awesome after.
8:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, so that one came um I wrote that after running I realized that if I focus on the before I never do the thing so I need to focus on the after meaning if I get up in the morning I go it's dark it's cold the wind's gonna feel terrible I don't know where my shoes are like if I focus on the before I won't do it
8:48
[SPEAKER_00]: But instead I go, I'm gonna feel so proud of myself at the end of this.
8:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna get to take a hot shower.
8:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna get to do that final walk, cool down, walk to our house.
8:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna come in the door feeling like I won.
8:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think about the beginning in Black and White and I dream about the after and technicaler.
9:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I really spent a lot like, I don't think about the hardness of writing a book.
9:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I think about holding the finished book in my hand.
9:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I think about conversations like you with you that you go, hey, I just, you've got a new book.
9:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk like, I think about the after not the before.
9:18
[SPEAKER_00]: That's, that's where that one came from.
9:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, yes, and so you my husband was reading this and you I think made a goal of running a thousand miles one years.
9:27
[SPEAKER_01]: That right.
9:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, okay.
9:29
[SPEAKER_01]: So my husband is not a runner, but I'm going to call a jathlete, but we're in our 50s now.
9:34
[SPEAKER_01]: He decided, okay, I'm going to do that.
9:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to run a thousand miles too.
9:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll finish them after and when I tell you last year, so 2025, you ran a thousand miles listening to John Akeff and that's amazing.
9:46
[SPEAKER_01]: He did it.
9:47
[SPEAKER_01]: He lost, what do you lose?
9:50
[SPEAKER_01]: 65 pounds.
9:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Which is like a fourth grader, congratulations.
9:54
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a fourth grader hanging on his back, you know, longer does.
9:57
[SPEAKER_01]: He lost the weight of our youngest child, you're right.
9:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he, I mean, it took like many, many half marathons, one full marathon and everyday getting up and running and all these things.
10:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So the last day of the year, okay?
10:09
[SPEAKER_01]: He has like, I think 13 miles to go.
10:12
[SPEAKER_00]: 13 miles in the last day.
10:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, so in so he's like, today's the day I run the half marathon and in this and so our little family stood in the street and he didn't go run a half marathon.
10:24
[SPEAKER_01]: He ran our neighbor with a long piece of toilet paper like it was a finish line and had his eyes
10:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And we had a sign, and we're like, man, one man, one mission, one year kind of sign at our member, what it said.
10:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you please send me that, do you have a photo of that?
10:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to see a photo of that.
10:40
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
10:41
[SPEAKER_00]: You have my, like, send it to my team.
10:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I would love to, if it was okay if you guys tell that story, share that, like, that's amazing.
10:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
10:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So he did it and we stood out there as a family and he ran through that John Akev and this is why you guys I'm a little giddy because I missed it all the first round while I interviewed you But we stood out there and he ran through there and I was like You just showed our kids something really important you just showed yourself something really important Yeah, and you know what he said every he would think it every day He's like I don't want to get up.
11:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean you get up.
11:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I answered a turn and he'd get up at four in the morning a lot of days because he had to be at the firm later
11:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't have a casual job.
11:16
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like he was doing something easy.
11:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
11:19
[SPEAKER_01]: No, he's a litigator.
11:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's a trial on time.
11:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, I'll fill awesome after, I'll fill awesome after.
11:24
[SPEAKER_01]: So anyway, I just want to encourage you in your writing.
11:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And anyone listening to this, because we're going to get to procrastination just a second, which is the next book.
11:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And my husband would tell you, he's a huge procrastinator.
11:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And in fact, I said, you should be doing this interview.
11:36
[SPEAKER_01]: You could talk to them about all the things.
11:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But that was really amazing.
11:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we're thankful for that.
11:41
[SPEAKER_01]: But then this is the last one I wanted to hit and we'll move on.
11:44
[SPEAKER_01]: But and you kind of just said it.
11:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But I was listening to your podcast.
11:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I just finished my second book and it just came out.
11:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love your stuff.
11:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you because it's so grueling, going through the process, it publishers and deadlines and things.
11:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it takes touches every insecurity you have all at once.
12:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, talk about it.
12:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Right now, right now, I'm in the process where it's only been out six weeks, and you're like, I wonder if anybody will read it.
12:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So you know, it has the whole thing.
12:09
[SPEAKER_01]: But you said something, and I'm going to butcher it.
12:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't find exactly what.
12:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But you basically says, to do the things, nobody else gets to do.
12:16
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to do the things, nobody else will do.
12:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm not saying that right, but in you would talk about how, you know, those hours of writing a book one day a box shows up at your house and you open it and there's a book with a cover in the picture and I would sit there writing my second book a second one's harder than the first.
12:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you're on like 27 or 35 or whatever you're on.
12:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm ready one right now with with my feet.
12:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't see it out of frame, I'm just riding with my feet right now.
12:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I literally do not doubt that.
12:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, okay, there will be a day.
12:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep sitting in there riding it, a boring.
12:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when the box came that day with the actual books and I opened, I was like, and this is it.
12:52
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what John, I have said.
12:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you got to do what nobody else is willing to do to experience what nobody else experiences.
12:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And so.
12:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Just any other ones on that?
12:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the one I think, what helps me remember that is I say Hills pay the bills, Hills pay the bills.
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: If I run the Hills other people won't, I get to see the views other people don't.
13:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I'm in the middle of a physical hill and I'm running or I'm, you know, like three or four weeks ago, my flight got canceled and no hair.
13:18
[SPEAKER_00]: There's not a person on the planet that goes, yay, an extra night in January and Chicago.
13:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I love a canceled flight at 11 p.m.
13:26
[SPEAKER_00]: But I remind myself, like, no, Hills, pay the bills.
13:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm gonna do this work.
13:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna push through, I'm gonna do the challenging thing because I wanna hold the book when it's done.
13:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna be able to help that extra person.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna be on stage, encouraging people.
13:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So for me, that, you know, if I'll do that work, then I get to experience things that most people don't.
13:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And the challenges, I think everyone can.
13:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I think everyone, the challenges people go,
13:51
[SPEAKER_00]: like we often say everyone you know is doing the best they can and I argue no they're not they're doing the best they think they can and there's a big difference we set what we're capable of way below what we're actually capable of and that's why we need podcasts and that's why we need encourage and that's why we need friends to go hey I see something in you that you might not see in yourself I think you can do even more and we call each other above where we've kind of set our own boundaries and our own limitations
14:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's why I like to write books and that's why conversations like this are wildly encouraging to me.
14:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you have a husband that said, yeah, I did a thousand miles and now the next, the cool thing about your husband's story, the next time he tries something big, he's already kept a promise.
14:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's the thing with goals.
14:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The goal is never just a goal, it's always a promise, and the more you keep them, the easier it is to keep the next one.
14:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So like good luck fear telling him he can't do something.
14:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna be like So where do you say that because I ran a thousand miles and I have a challenging job and still able to fit it in So I think I can do this other thing too.
14:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's what's fun about a goal like that is he's got so much Forward momentum and so do your kids because your kids watch him do it.
14:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't a single goal.
14:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It was an all year goal I love that please tell him congratulations
15:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I surely will, well, and y'all the other book is all it takes as a goal, which is the same name as the podcast, so check that out too.
15:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, we were, I'll talk to my husband this morning about interviewing you, and we're laughing about just all the stuff we have of yours and listening to you, and he was like, tell him I had a Hershey Kiss moment, but then we couldn't remember the story exactly, but I remember when you wanted to be like a public speaker and you're trying to get going, and you maybe rented a room at a convention or something, and you took candy or something,
15:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And you were like, and nobody came basically.
15:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that tell, tell everybody the gist of that?
15:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, yeah, that's a hindering thing.
15:38
[SPEAKER_00]: That 100% happened.
15:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a blog and I had a little bit of momentum.
15:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I was getting some readers and I was really excited.
15:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And there was a big event in Atlanta where we lived at the time called Catalyst.
15:48
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, the event in the space.
15:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they were not gonna let me on stage by a long shot, but they said I could have an empty room for a meetup.
15:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So I did all this stuff for this meetup.
15:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, there's gonna be so many people there.
16:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I printed up like a hundred quizzes for people to do.
16:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that'll be fun.
16:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it was skittles.
16:07
[SPEAKER_00]: pounds and pounds and pounds of skittles because I made a joke about skittles in my blog, and then I got, and my in-laws, I talked to them into printing up a thousand stickers with the name of my blog.
16:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, it's gonna, I'm gonna be handing out stickers like, I expected like a crazy reaction, I got there, there's probably a hundred chairs, I set them up,
16:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And then in 90 minutes or two hours or so, two people came in.
16:30
[SPEAKER_00]: One was my friend, Mike Foster, who just popped his head in, and I was like, dude, I know.
16:34
[SPEAKER_00]: This is hard.
16:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, just who encouraged me?
16:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The only person who really attended was the second person.
16:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a dad who walked in and said, I don't read your blog, but my daughter does.
16:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Why don't you call her?
16:43
[SPEAKER_00]: He put me on the phone with his daughter, had an awkward 30-second conversation.
16:47
[SPEAKER_00]: He left.
16:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he took one sticker.
16:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I asked a friend that day to take a photo of that for a couple of reasons, one I wanted to remember it.
16:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I knew it wasn't the end, I knew it was the beginning.
16:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a big believer in you should take the before photo, because it gives you hope that there's going to be an after.
17:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So in that moment I was like, no, that's fine.
17:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't feel good, I'm going to process this whatever.
17:10
[SPEAKER_00]: But this is the before, there's going to be an after.
17:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And the second thing is I knew if I shared it, other people would be encouraged.
17:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Like other people would go, oh, John's had those moments too.
17:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the third thing is you still have those moments.
17:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you never arrive.
17:25
[SPEAKER_00]: There's always any time you try to do something more with your life, there's awkwardness, there's challenge.
17:30
[SPEAKER_00]: There's empty rooms, you still show up.
17:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's not, even though I've progressed in certain parts of my career,
17:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm by no means free of doing awkward, sometimes embarrassing things that are humbling.
17:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And so like that's part of it, but I want to keep progressing, I want to keep growing.
17:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what that story is.
17:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And if it came, my biggest pop up.
17:52
[SPEAKER_00]: blog I'd ever had because I think everybody could relate to it and it was more vulnerable than most people in my kind of career.
18:00
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of people in my career that only share their wins and it's like they've been on a 20 year win streak and they never share like, oh, this bad thing happened last week and it didn't go well and so I try to stay connected to that because I think that's that's more honest and I think it encourages people.
18:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
18:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's just this reminder now that you're a huge speaker and, you know, you've worked with all the huge companies and you get to speak on giant platforms, whatever, like, you know, there's skittles and the stage, like both of them, right?
18:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yes.
18:29
[SPEAKER_01]: The skittle moments hopefully propel us to the stage, but we all have those moments.
18:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I have them all the time too.
18:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And like, you know, you think, okay, I've finally crossed the hump and then you get asked to speak at something and you're like,
18:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Or you try to get on a podcast and they go, no, no, thank you.
18:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And you go, hey, I'd love to come on your podcast and I say, never heard of you.
18:51
[SPEAKER_00]: No, thank you.
18:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And you go, I'll try not to act like you just got kicked out of the cool kid table at high school.
18:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's the thing nobody tells you when you're young.
18:59
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a cool kid table for the rest of your life.
19:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Like my wife's grandfather's 95.
19:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be 96 in a couple months.
19:06
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a cool section of the retirement community.
19:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, when they play bingo, there's cool tables.
19:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So you have to get secure in yourself because you'll always bump into it on some level.
19:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think if you can keep that in mind, you're like, oh, I'm just going to start cool.
19:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I define what's cool for me.
19:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And if other people get on board of that great, if they don't, I can't, they're approval can't be what they find my day or my worth.
19:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, and I know that you're a believer as am I and I think you know my husband are laughing because he taught a class at church recently and they didn't publicize it well we get a big church and there is he goes as my it was my skittle moment he's like four people and two of more kids and I was like been there been there done that a lot but at the same time I think also as believers we know that like you know Jesus left the 99 for the one and the one still matters and oh my gosh yeah
19:55
[SPEAKER_01]: you and I may or may not have the biggest podcast or the most booksells, although you're knocking them dead, but we need to stay in our lane, do the things we're called to do, and trust the Lord ultimately with the process.
20:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, it's been a fun journey.
20:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Your new book, we're going to fix that hold on.
20:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Your new book, Procrastination Proof, as I say at three times wrong, I'm excited about, I don't know that I think I'm a procrastinator, but then the more I kind of read through the materials that Y'all said ever, I was like, well, I think I kind of am.
20:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And so one of the staffs that got me is said, American Psychological Association studies show that up to 95% of people admit to procrastinating, and nearly one in five say it's a chronic issue that affects their careers, their health and relationships.
20:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And I thought, isn't procrastination one of those things we tend to think, oh, that's just a Cynthia thing.
20:47
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just a, it's only impacting John, but it's not.
20:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Talk to us about that.
20:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think some of the biggest challenges or biggest fears we have, we think we're the only one.
20:55
[SPEAKER_00]: That was certainly the case with the book Soundtracks.
20:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I was an overthinker, so I said, I'm gonna go right a book for overthinkers and see if there's more of them, and then I was shocked that everybody over thinks.
21:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's the same with procrastination.
21:07
[SPEAKER_00]: You think it's just you.
21:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And part of that Cynthia, as you have to understand,
21:11
[SPEAKER_00]: like social media has a role in that, like we're seeing everybody's finished product constantly.
21:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And even like I was laughing at the day, like there's so many AI over reactions where it's like, I just learned seven prompts and clawed and it took my eight hour workday down to 90 seconds.
21:29
[SPEAKER_00]: No it didn't.
21:30
[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, no it didn't.
21:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Second of all, you are terrible at your job.
21:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if you've got 99% inefficiency, you suck at work.
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
21:39
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's an exaggeration out of social media, clickbait, whatever.
21:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's the other thing too, is that
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: We, not only do we think we're the only one, everybody we see is posting their highlight reals constantly.
21:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And even though we tell ourselves intellectually, that's not real, that's not real, that's not real.
21:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You start to believe it's real, and it does get you kind of stuck in this moment of, oh, well, maybe it is just me.
22:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And if it is, just me, I certainly shouldn't talk about it.
22:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I shouldn't, certainly shouldn't share about it.
22:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And that just keeps you even more stuck.
22:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, I was with the friend yesterday and her kids have just kind of grown up and left the home and she's like I'm just mad that I didn't keep something going While I was raising my kids because now I'm just kind of stuck and she I was like, well, what are you good at and we talked about how she's great at working out like and she's fitness and she's great at She's very creative.
22:24
[SPEAKER_01]: She can draw and do art.
22:26
[SPEAKER_01]: She's like, but I just I don't know.
22:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't take that next step.
22:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just sitting there and I thought of this when I was reading your stuff and you kind of
22:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Talk to us a little bit about that and how that plays into this procrastination.
22:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a really simple success system.
22:41
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to accomplish anything, if you want to get unstuck, you just have to do those four things and in that order.
22:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So the dream is you ask the question, what do I want to do?
22:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And you have to have at least a sense of what you want to do because nobody changes just because
22:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I've helped them more than a million people with goals.
22:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never met somebody who said, I just decided that they'd have willpower.
23:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I woke up today and decided to have grit.
23:03
[SPEAKER_00]: The only reason people ever leave their comfort zone is that there's something outside it worth being uncomfortable for.
23:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody ever willingly leaves their comfort zone unless they can see something.
23:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's usually one of two things, a desire or discouragement.
23:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So desire or discouragement drives you out.
23:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you're discouraged by the way, life is ended up and it's painful and it's a change.
23:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Or you can see a desire clear enough to go, I want that.
23:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I do want to write a book.
23:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I saw Cynthia do it.
23:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I listen to this part.
23:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, your husband, it was desire.
23:32
[SPEAKER_00]: He listened and said, okay, John Reynethous Miles, I'm gonna do that and then he actually executed it.
23:38
[SPEAKER_00]: When you plan, you ask the question, how will I do it?
23:40
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem for people Cynthia is that dreaming runs on optimism, planning runs on realism, and a lot of people get stuck in those, the transition.
23:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So they've got tons of dreams, they're optimistic, and then the realism that planning requires feels overwhelming.
23:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So you have to plan it.
23:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You actually have to do it, and the question there is, are you doing it?
23:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you moved beyond dreaming and planning into doing?
24:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We've used books as a metaphor today, a couple times 82% of Americans according to New York Times want to write a book.
24:07
[SPEAKER_00]: and every year less than 1% do.
24:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So they have the dream, they might even have a plan, but they didn't get into the third stage of doing.
24:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the last one is review, and the question you asked there is, did it work?
24:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it working?
24:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Am I headed in the direction I want to go and people really struggle with review?
24:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Because data kills denial, which prevents disaster.
24:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Data tells you the truth, and it prevents disaster, but we hate data.
24:30
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll meet people that
24:35
[SPEAKER_00]: which meant they got sicker.
24:37
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't want to see the data.
24:38
[SPEAKER_00]: The first time I saw, I was at a restaurant, they had put the calorie number by the meals and everybody's meal changed.
24:46
[SPEAKER_00]: They opened up the menu and never mind.
24:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And they had the same calories where they knew them or not.
24:52
[SPEAKER_00]: We just, you know, unless you review, you don't know the truth.
24:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And so those are the four steps and it's really, really simple to go.
24:58
[SPEAKER_00]: How do I dream, how do I plan, and how do I do, how do I review.
25:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you ever stuck, you probably just need to do one of those four things.
25:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, if you are a procrastinator, somebody's listening and they are and probably most of us according the stats most of us are, what's the reason behind it?
25:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, did you get into that a little bit?
25:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Like is it weird?
25:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it fear?
25:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it what is what is that?
25:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll tell you the five reasons people think they procrastinate and then the real reason they do.
25:24
[SPEAKER_00]: They, uh, it's often a task.
25:26
[SPEAKER_00]: The task is overwhelming.
25:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know where to start.
25:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to write a book.
25:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know where to start.
25:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to lose weight.
25:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know where to start.
25:31
[SPEAKER_00]: The time, um, if I had more time than I would do it.
25:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Some day I'll invest in this, but I'm so busy right now.
25:37
[SPEAKER_00]: history, so you meet people that'll go, no procrastination is actually part of my process.
25:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I do my best work at the last second.
25:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I got an A on a paper in college because I stayed up all night and now it's no a system.
25:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Fear, just generalized fear of what if I try it and it doesn't work.
25:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I can prevent myself from looking like a fool if I don't try it at all and then the last one is ego.
25:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I shouldn't have to do this.
25:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm frustrated that I have to do this.
26:01
[SPEAKER_00]: This is somebody else's job, I shouldn't have to do this.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Though it's why people usually think they procrastinate.
26:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the real answer is usually, it's just the best system they have.
26:11
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't know a better system.
26:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Procrastination isn't a problem, it's a system in the sense of, you know, it's saving you from something you think is worse.
26:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't want to have this hard conversation with my mom, so I'll procrastinate on it.
26:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll let it, you know, I don't want to tell her I'm not coming to Thanksgiving.
26:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'll wait a week, I'll wait a month, I'll wait three months until it's the worst and she goes, we can't wait to see you guys on Thursday and you go, oh yeah, by the way, our family's not coming.
26:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But you use procrastination as a solution because it was the only thing you knew to deal with the fear.
26:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And what I'm arguing is I get that it's helped you in the past, but it's now become a problem.
26:47
[SPEAKER_00]: It's now holding you back.
26:48
[SPEAKER_00]: A better system is to dream plan do review and you actually get the result you want by not putting off the thing you might be afraid of.
26:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, when you're talking out results, too, I think that's always one of those things.
27:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe that goes back to the review portion of that.
27:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But art results to something kind of in the eye of the holder, too.
27:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Like for me, I ask this question, like, let's say for me, I could decide my books of failure because it's not on the New York Times best seller list.
27:13
[SPEAKER_01]: But how many are on there?
27:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Was it worth not writing it because it wasn't on the list?
27:17
[SPEAKER_01]: No, right?
27:18
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think that's the other thing.
27:19
[SPEAKER_01]: It's people don't know how to gauge success or failure and whether to be embarrassed or how to fall in.
27:24
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you look at that in your own life?
27:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I think you're 100% right.
27:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you have to define your own version of success or it's always a moving target and you never hit it.
27:34
[SPEAKER_00]: There's always, you know, I sold a million books and I was on a plane with Henry Cloud who wrote boundaries and he sold 20 million and I was like, man, I've really failed.
27:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, look at Henry Cloud.
27:45
[SPEAKER_00]: He sold 20 million books.
27:46
[SPEAKER_00]: He's 20x what I've done.
27:48
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be a ridiculous thing to say, but our heart says ridiculous things all the time.
27:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So for me, I have to go, no, like, a million's amazing.
27:57
[SPEAKER_00]: My first one that didn't sell a tonic up.
28:00
[SPEAKER_00]: That was amazing.
28:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So you really have to fight for your own definition of success.
28:05
[SPEAKER_00]: or it'll constantly kind of creep and it'll constantly kind of move from you.
28:09
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where the dream part matters.
28:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, no, this is the dream.
28:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I execute this, I'm going to be satisfied.
28:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And part of it too is you'll always want more.
28:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we're designed to be ambitious and grow and mustard seed, if you will.
28:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's not a bad thing.
28:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, if you want to hit on the believer side for a second,
28:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the parable where the five and the two and the one talents are giving out.
28:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And the five person doubles it to ten and there's a party.
28:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And the two person doubles it to four and they don't say it should have been ten.
28:42
[SPEAKER_00]: The four person doesn't come home and the land owner goes, yeah four is nice, you double that, I'll give you that.
28:48
[SPEAKER_00]: But this other guy double it to ten.
28:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he had his definition, like
28:53
[SPEAKER_00]: If I turn two into four, that's amazing.
28:55
[SPEAKER_00]: He did also didn't go, if I turn it into, I would've been better into 20.
28:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that wasn't the goal.
29:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you double that that's amazing.
29:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think you're right.
29:04
[SPEAKER_00]: You do have to kind of create your own definition, and you have to fight the whole onto it as the world kind of chips away at it.
29:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, that's a good word.
29:13
[SPEAKER_01]: What else someone who's maybe married to a procrastinator or, and this isn't like helping me out because my husband is, but heck, why not?
29:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He ran a thousand miles.
29:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a litigator, like, I'm not worried about your husband for a second.
29:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this, oh, good points, oh, good points.
29:27
[SPEAKER_01]: But let's just say that you're married to a procrastinator or even, you have a friend or someone that you're like, this person really has such a talent level.
29:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It could be doing so much, but they're stuck.
29:36
[SPEAKER_01]: What what's a good word like how would you say to encourage people and what's not encouraging I think it would be easy to be like You're just sitting on that or you're just procrastinating like what would be something that you can help people move forward besides buying tone and by the book, but yeah
29:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, part of it is not trying to fix it instantly.
29:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Like one of the hardest parts of life is watching someone you love, make life harder than it needs to be.
29:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And that happens in parenting, it happens in marriages, it happens in front circles, we're like, you've got a friend that just insists on running into the same wall again and again and again, or
30:09
[SPEAKER_00]: they are chaos monsters like we all have chaos monsters in our lives who are like I don't know why this stuff keeps happening to me and you're like I do know why like you're stirring up chaos so I mean one of the things I say is like can you mirror a different way to them can you just reflect a different way and say like hey man I am loving this like you wouldn't have to if you have a friend who you think could write a book I would first say we'll talk about how much fun it was for you to release your book
30:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't say to them, you should write a book, you're sitting on a great idea.
30:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe you don't write, be like, man, I loved this.
30:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this was, here's what I loved about this.
30:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You're almost advertising the change to them.
30:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's the first thing.
30:47
[SPEAKER_00]: The second thing is just be curious.
30:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Be curious about, you know, why they're not, like, ask questions about it.
30:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, I think you're really talented at this.
30:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever thought about doing something with that?
30:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you ever, like, are there things going on that I don't know about?
31:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Like,
31:01
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, oh wow, you have a dad, you're 10 hours a week of dementia care for like no wonder on the outside It looks like you're not doing the thing.
31:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You're doing a million things behind the scene most people don't do ask questions The worst thing you can do is to try to fix it in a way that feels like you're not all in it with them.
31:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I always joke like
31:21
[SPEAKER_00]: there's no man that's ever read a book his wife brought home from church and it's like hey this is a book about rage that speaker today talked about rage it may be thinking you I'm gonna put it on your nightstand like he's not reading that book so for me like the reason it's procrastination proof and not stop procrastinating right this second is that's not a fun book to give somebody
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: When you give somebody procrastination proof and go, like, this is a solution book, not a you've got a problem book, then it's a different kind of setup.
31:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think some of it too is that approach.
31:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And the last thing I'd say is, you have to have like relational equity.
31:56
[SPEAKER_00]: There was an 18 year old friend of my son the other day was like, hey, can you encourage my son?
32:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had a conversation with him and I realized, he's not going to take any of my advice, because I haven't talked to him in six months.
32:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And he shouldn't.
32:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't built any relational equity and in that moment it looked like here's a 50 year old who's like hey, I came to fix your problems because I'm further down the road like I hadn't invested in that kid and he reflected that by not listening to a thing I said and I didn't take that as like man I can't believe he's not listening I took that as like wow I didn't have enough skin in this game to earn the right to give him advice.
32:27
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the other thing.
32:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Advice is intimate and in a marriage you would hope I've got lots of space to do that with your kids You'd hope that both friends you kind of have to not do it in a way that's like, hey, I'm here to fix you because I'm successful It's more like I'm gonna walk beside you and we're gonna figure this out together
32:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.
32:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think you've just voiced why I think we find you so encouraging, because encouragement goes a lot further than criticism always.
32:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I've found that in parenting, I've found it in my marriage, right?
32:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, we need to speak truth, but at the same time, there's a lot of ways to speak truth ever people.
32:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And I feel like that's your brand.
32:58
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like you are just challenging the heck out of people and encouraging.
33:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not like critical, not like man.
33:03
[SPEAKER_01]: You're wasting your time.
33:04
[SPEAKER_01]: All people don't know Jesus because you won't write the book.
33:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Like none of that.
33:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, go do the thing.
33:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I just love it.
33:11
[SPEAKER_01]: for sure you need the new and procrastination proof and pre-orders are happening now.
33:16
[SPEAKER_01]: What's actual release date?
33:18
[SPEAKER_00]: April 14th and if you pre-order now you can get the whole audiobook for free which I was thrilled that the publisher did.
33:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you go to johnakeof.com after you purchased it anywhere slash go so johnakeof.com slash go you can redeem all the bonuses and whole audiobook and it's me that reads it.
33:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you read?
33:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you do an audiobook for your second book?
33:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, yeah, I did audio on both of them and read my own and part of it was the jar.
33:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's so hard.
33:45
[SPEAKER_01]: My first one I was like, well, I should be a professional reader.
33:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm fabulous.
33:49
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm not I'm horrible.
33:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I figured out so hard.
33:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew the first one so well that it was easier to read the second one.
33:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I screwed up every third word.
33:57
[SPEAKER_01]: They would have to stop it.
33:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, what is my problem?
34:00
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I love that you did that I did in my second one is you give all these little extra tidbits in your audio.
34:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, awesome.
34:06
[SPEAKER_01]: that aren't the books.
34:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, oh, I'm going to do that too.
34:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I gave like extra stuff.
34:12
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't get in the book.
34:13
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, and on yours, I audio booked yours and then ended up buying them because I wanted to go back and underline some things and other stuff.
34:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So if that.
34:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I did both everyone because I'm diehard and I'm a big fan so everyone go get procrastination proof I'm going to link everything in podcast notes and also I get the free audio and also we've been talking about soundtracks
34:37
[SPEAKER_01]: that's another one that we love in this house and all it takes is a gold these are some of his earlier ones and what number are you on i didn't even ask really uh... procrastination proof is my eleventh and we've got another one coming out in november number twelve so uh... twelve we will let him go because apparently you literally need to be writing every second of the day well i just so when people are like
34:59
[SPEAKER_00]: When I tell people, I'm naturally anxious.
35:00
[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, really?
35:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, yeah, why do you think I've written so many books?
35:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I have a lot of ideas in my head.
35:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, I really believe for a lot of anxiety, it's just creativity that's homeless.
35:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It's looking for a home.
35:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I can apply it to creativity, man, things go so much better in my day versus just ruminating or overthinking.
35:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And so,
35:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I've just, as far as number of books, I found a way to kind of channel a lot of extra thoughts and to hopefully products that help a lot of people just like they helped me.
35:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, they're amazing.
35:32
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, everybody.
35:33
[SPEAKER_01]: It's John A. Kev, J.O.N.
35:34
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't know it, that's how you spell it.
35:36
[SPEAKER_01]: A. Kev, A.C.U.F.F.
35:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's got a great website, all the things, and John, thanks for, hey, thanks for giving me a second chance.
35:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, of course.
35:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, well, thanks for telling me that story about your husband.
35:46
[SPEAKER_00]: That was, I assure you that is my favorite thing on the planet when somebody goes, yeah, then I did it, and it actually worked.
35:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And then that he did 13 miles on the last day.
35:56
[SPEAKER_00]: That's like, chair, it's a fire.
35:58
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fantastic.
35:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Great, congratulations to him.
36:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks.
36:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for being here.
36:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course.
36:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Alright, I hope that encouraged you to not put off the things you are called to do.
36:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe one of those things is a book club this summer, so let me know if you're going to do that and let's get you going with my book and some book club questions.
36:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And also you guys, all the things John A.K.
36:21
[SPEAKER_01]: have has you can find on his website.
36:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can look that up very easily, John Acuff.com, and I would encourage you to listen to his podcasts as well.
36:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's great in its short and so much fair to inspire us to do the things that we've created to do.
36:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Alright, thanks for being a part of Mesmer's family.
36:38
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys do the very best.