by Jason Joyner | Aug 10, 2011 | are you a quitter?, Blog, books, reviews, work
OK, the title of this post is lousy since my last rambling was whether I should quit blogging to focus on writing. It is lousy because it is misleading. And since I’m still here, I’m not quitting blogging.
But I want to be a Quitter.
I’ve known about Jon Acuff for a while. I’ve checked out his Stuff Christians Like site several times and have chuckled at numerous articles (learned what a Jesus juke is, and found I’m not opposed to massages at church). He has a new book out called Quitter. I was curious, so I checked it out.
He pitches it with this statement:
Have you ever felt caught between the tension of a day job and a dream job? That gap between what you have to do and what you’d love to do?
(That’s where I’m living right now)
Jon offers practical advise in a very humorous package. It turns out Jon is a successful quitter. In two ways. First, he was good at hopping from job to job. The problem was they were lateral moves, not into his dream job. Finally, he was able to leave a good day job to a dream job. It’s from this experience that he shares.
He tells people not to quit too soon – to use the time with a regular job that pays the bills to prepare for the time they can do something different. He gives pointers on finding the dream you may have. A major point is to work hard (hustle) to make things happen. He had to learn to be happy with small successes before he hit the “big-time”.
He writes this book for a general audience, but he includes biblical principles without preaching or quoting chapter and verse. One idea I appreciated (and was challenged by) was his emphasis on not stealing from a current job while working toward a dream job. This seemed to echo the principle of being faithful with little, so that the Lord can give more. He doesn’t explain it like this, but the book has several points like this.
Jon came to fame as writing a satirical blog poking fun at the church. Thus, the book has plenty of humor. I appreciate his sense of humor and laughed at many points. Any satire/comedy won’t work for everyone, so I’m sure there will be those who don’t appreciate it. Those people probably don’t read this blog anyway.
If you’re toiling away in a job that doesn’t give the type of satisfaction you think it should, if you are wondering if there is a way out of the quagmire of the grind, then Quitter is a book that can give you insight and inspiration toward a better job. It won’t buff your resume or give you angelic revelation. I was bummed. But, it helped me realize I need to do more than complain, and it was an enjoyable read.
Oh, and I would recommend not leaving it out on your desk when reading it during lunch breaks – it might bring up some unwanted questions…
—
Anybody out there wrestling with this issue? Any experience with this idea of day job vs. dream job?
—
by Jason Joyner | Aug 10, 2011 | are you a quitter?, Blog, books, reviews, work
OK, the title of this post is lousy since my last rambling was whether I should quit blogging to focus on writing. It is lousy because it is misleading. And since I’m still here, I’m not quitting blogging.
But I want to be a Quitter.
I’ve known about Jon Acuff for a while. I’ve checked out his Stuff Christians Like site several times and have chuckled at numerous articles (learned what a Jesus juke is, and found I’m not opposed to massages at church). He has a new book out called Quitter. I was curious, so I checked it out.
He pitches it with this statement:
Have you ever felt caught between the tension of a day job and a dream job? That gap between what you have to do and what you’d love to do?
(That’s where I’m living right now)
Jon offers practical advise in a very humorous package. It turns out Jon is a successful quitter. In two ways. First, he was good at hopping from job to job. The problem was they were lateral moves, not into his dream job. Finally, he was able to leave a good day job to a dream job. It’s from this experience that he shares.
He tells people not to quit too soon – to use the time with a regular job that pays the bills to prepare for the time they can do something different. He gives pointers on finding the dream you may have. A major point is to work hard (hustle) to make things happen. He had to learn to be happy with small successes before he hit the “big-time”.
He writes this book for a general audience, but he includes biblical principles without preaching or quoting chapter and verse. One idea I appreciated (and was challenged by) was his emphasis on not stealing from a current job while working toward a dream job. This seemed to echo the principle of being faithful with little, so that the Lord can give more. He doesn’t explain it like this, but the book has several points like this.
Jon came to fame as writing a satirical blog poking fun at the church. Thus, the book has plenty of humor. I appreciate his sense of humor and laughed at many points. Any satire/comedy won’t work for everyone, so I’m sure there will be those who don’t appreciate it. Those people probably don’t read this blog anyway.
If you’re toiling away in a job that doesn’t give the type of satisfaction you think it should, if you are wondering if there is a way out of the quagmire of the grind, then Quitter is a book that can give you insight and inspiration toward a better job. It won’t buff your resume or give you angelic revelation. I was bummed. But, it helped me realize I need to do more than complain, and it was an enjoyable read.
Oh, and I would recommend not leaving it out on your desk when reading it during lunch breaks – it might bring up some unwanted questions…
—
Anybody out there wrestling with this issue? Any experience with this idea of day job vs. dream job?
—
by Jason Joyner | Jan 29, 2008 | Blog, books, fiction, miscellaneous, work
Wow! How often do we get snow days anymore? Growing up, it was always the best day when we had a snow out, keeping us from class. I grew up in a rural community, so there were always kids who would get snowed into a farm or ranch even if we had school. I, on the other hand, had no excuse.
I lived a block from school.
I thought about trying to call in saying I was stuck, but they’d probably say something like, “I’m looking out the window and I can see your driveway. Nice try.”
Today had a bit of a black cloud in the otherwise bonus day off: I have to travel an hour into the high mountain desert on a bus, catching it at 5:30 am. So first, they didn’t cancel right away, so I had to get up early and trudge (more like skate) to the bus stop. Then, they sent us home at 10 am, but we sat at the bus depot for an hour before heading out so they could be sure they got everyone. Ah well. I still got six hours at home I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Well spent paying bills and playing G.I. Joes with my 3 boys. Yo Joe!
This gave me plenty of time to dive into the latest book I chose for the CFBA blog tour: My Name is Russell Fink by Michael Snyder. So far it is an interesting read, and I’ll have more in a couple of weeks. However, I just had to share this quote from it today. The main character is a hypochondriac, and is getting a mole biopsied by his doctor. Of course, he is sure it is cancer, so he is a bit nervous doing the procedure:
I begin to speak but have to stop and clear my throat. “Please tell me you’ve done this before, Doc. That you’re not reading the instructions as you go.”
“Actually, I’m using this paint-by-numbers kit that came with my mail-order medical license.”
The wit of Mike Snyder, ladies and gentlemen.
by Jason Joyner | Jan 29, 2008 | Blog, books, fiction, miscellaneous, work
Wow! How often do we get snow days anymore? Growing up, it was always the best day when we had a snow out, keeping us from class. I grew up in a rural community, so there were always kids who would get snowed into a farm or ranch even if we had school. I, on the other hand, had no excuse.
I lived a block from school.
I thought about trying to call in saying I was stuck, but they’d probably say something like, “I’m looking out the window and I can see your driveway. Nice try.”
Today had a bit of a black cloud in the otherwise bonus day off: I have to travel an hour into the high mountain desert on a bus, catching it at 5:30 am. So first, they didn’t cancel right away, so I had to get up early and trudge (more like skate) to the bus stop. Then, they sent us home at 10 am, but we sat at the bus depot for an hour before heading out so they could be sure they got everyone. Ah well. I still got six hours at home I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Well spent paying bills and playing G.I. Joes with my 3 boys. Yo Joe!
This gave me plenty of time to dive into the latest book I chose for the CFBA blog tour: My Name is Russell Fink by Michael Snyder. So far it is an interesting read, and I’ll have more in a couple of weeks. However, I just had to share this quote from it today. The main character is a hypochondriac, and is getting a mole biopsied by his doctor. Of course, he is sure it is cancer, so he is a bit nervous doing the procedure:
I begin to speak but have to stop and clear my throat. “Please tell me you’ve done this before, Doc. That you’re not reading the instructions as you go.”
“Actually, I’m using this paint-by-numbers kit that came with my mail-order medical license.”
The wit of Mike Snyder, ladies and gentlemen.
