ATG 288 | the First Key to Bravery  🔗 **Source:** [ATG 288 | the First Key to Bravery](https://share.snipd.com/episode/1d7f3fac-4489-416f-8cbc-1b345f158368) ## Highlights - **Goals Are The Root Of Bravery** - Bravery does not exist without goals and desire driving it. - Jon Acuff explains that bravery is costly and uncomfortable, so desire for a goal (like finishing a book) supplies the willingness to pay that cost. Transcript: Jon Acuff You have to have goals. If you don't have goals, like if you don't have goals, you will never be brave. Let's just lay it all out. We talked about simplicity. That's a simple truth. If you don't have goals, you will not be brave. Why would you? Why would you? It's challenging to be brave. It's uncomfortable. It causes you to stretch and grow. You have to do things you don't want to do. You have to make sacrifices. You have to say no to good things. You have to be patient. You have to do a million difficult activities and actions. All of that, let's be real. All of that sucks. It does. I don't want to do any of that. I want to be honest. I don't want to do any of that. I don't want to be uncomfortable. I don't long for growing pains. I don't get excited about doing things that I don't want to do. I don't enjoy making sacrifices. I would really prefer not to be patient. I don't want to pay any of the price that bravery requires, but dot, dot, dot. I have goals. I have goals. I have big, beautiful, sexy goals. I have goals I'm in love with. I have goals that get me out of bed at 4.55 AM. 4. 4.55 a.m. I was never a morning person. I am now. What happened? I have goals. Goals that keep me going. ([Time 0:03:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9bd75d6b-bf37-4cf1-8811-ab9fd08e77a9)) - **Bravery Is Paying Predictable Costs** - Bravery requires predictable costs: discomfort, sacrifice, patience, and doing unwanted tasks. - Jon Acuff lists these concrete costs to show bravery is a series of practical trade-offs, not heroics. Transcript: Jon Acuff If you don't have goals, you will not be brave. Why would you? Why would you? It's challenging to be brave. It's uncomfortable. It causes you to stretch and grow. You have to do things you don't want to do. You have to make sacrifices. You have to say no to good things. You have to be patient. You have to do a million difficult activities and actions. All of that, ([Time 0:04:02](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b39c41f8-4fed-4815-9795-6bf16999f56e)) - **How Writing One Book Broke Jon's Procrastination** - Jon Acuff shares his personal struggle with procrastination and how discovering a system led him to write 11 books after waiting 34 years. - He uses his book Procrastination Proof as the practical outcome of becoming brave enough to focus instead of doom-scrolling Reels. Transcript: Jon Acuff I have goals. I have goals. I have big, beautiful, sexy goals. I have goals I'm in love with. I have goals that get me out of bed at 4.55 AM. 4. 4.55 a.m. I was never a morning person. I am now. What happened? I have goals. Goals that keep me going. Goals I can't stop talking about or thinking about or working on. Goals that I love. No one is brave just because. No one's brave just because. That would be dumb. That would be dumb. Bravery is easier when you're pursuing a goal that matters. It's just easier. Like the reality is, I'd rather watch YouTube videos than write some days. Like I would. Or look at Instagram Reels. They're so good. Instagram Reels are so good. But oh, I want to hold a finished book in my hand. Like, I want that experience. So I have to be brave enough to focus. Like, I could have spent the last two years just doom-scrolling Reels. But instead, I wrote a book called Procrastination Proof. ([Time 0:05:04](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9812626e-23fc-48ef-9aaa-d447f313fc3e)) - **Prefer Temptation But Choose The Goal** - Jon admits he dislikes discomfort yet still chooses bravery because of goals like holding a finished book. - He contrasts temptations (YouTube, Reels) with the tangible reward of a published book to illustrate motivation. Transcript: Jon Acuff That would be dumb. Bravery is easier when you're pursuing a goal that matters. It's just easier. Like the reality is, I'd rather watch YouTube videos than write some days. Like I would. Or look at Instagram Reels. They're so good. Instagram Reels are so good. But oh, I want to hold a finished book in my hand. Like, I want that experience. So I have to be brave enough to focus. Like, I could have spent the last two years just doom-scrolling Reels. But instead, I wrote a book called Procrastination Proof. And now people listening to this podcast are buying copies of that book and their lives are getting to change. If you don't have a copy yet, it's sold everywhere. Books are sold. I spent the last two years writing that book and I was brave enough to focus. Like I'd rather stay the same and never have to change. ([Time 0:05:42](https://share.snipd.com/snip/357a2942-2878-400d-845e-9f1432ae9cc5)) - **Let Desire Trigger Bravery** - Let desire for a specific goal generate bravery; pick goals that light you up. - Jon Acuff advises choosing goals that get you out of bed (he cites waking at 4:55 AM) and keep you focused despite distractions like Instagram Reels. Transcript: Jon Acuff Your desire will generate bravery. So let me ask you an important question. What do you want? What do you want? What's a goal you're interested in? What's a goal that lights you up? A goal that encourages you? A goal that inspires you? And you don't have to tell me. You don't. But you better tell yourself. You better tell yourself. And don't play small. Don't play small. What's something big you want to accomplish? Like, what do you want and what's something big? What do you want to accomplish? Like I, I want to sell millions of books in my career. I want to sell millions. I want to, I want to speak on the biggest stages in the world. Like I desire that. I want to have wonderful relationships with my kids. I want Jenny and I to have enough money to buy a house with a view someday. Like there's a mountain town that we spend a lot of time in, in North Carolina. And I would love to have a house someday that has a crazy view, like the kind of view that when people come over and visit us, they go, Oh my God. Like they park in the driveway up front. They can't tell. It's like one of those views where you can't tell. And then you walk around the house to the back porch and you're like, what? Or like, it's the kind of view that when you, if you get there late at night, you can't tell and it's dark. And then the morning you get up and you have a cup of coffee and you walk out and you're like, what? I want us to figure out how to do that. I'm not maybe a brave person by nature, but the more time I spend with my goals, the more time I spend on my goals, the more I realize they will each require me to be brave. They're just going to cost some bravery. That's why I say bravery is the only thing every successful goal and person has in common. Every goal takes bravery. But the good news is every goal inspires bravery too. ([Time 0:08:19](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f1b7b1a1-e435-4c45-9380-6c3b0ba2c376)) - **Write One To Three Goals Today** - Write down one to three goals of any size to activate bravery. - Jon Acuff gives concrete homework: list goals from big (write a book) to small (return that phone call) to create focus and fuel brave actions. Transcript: Jon Acuff So let's do some more homework. I told you there's going to be a little bit of homework. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to write down one to three goals of any size, one to three goals of any size. And I'm putting some emphasis on any size. You could say, write a book. You could say, move to Colorado. You could say, lose three pounds. You could say, return that phone call. You know the one I'm talking about. You could say, clean out the garage. I need you to write one to three goals because a goal is the first key to bravery. One to three goals, write them down. ([Time 0:10:27](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5c609b4e-2111-4965-b404-3e8f30dc2ff5)) - **Tell Someone Your Goal For Accountability** - Share your goals with someone or a platform to increase accountability. - Jon invites listeners to message him on LinkedIn with their goals, modeling public declaration as an accountability tactic. Transcript: Jon Acuff So the first key to bravery is goals. First key is goals. Now in the next episode, a little teaser, I'll share the second key. And then the episode after that is going to blow your mind, the third key. And then we'll talk about some soundtracks that you can repeat to make yourself braver. So that's where we're headed in this episode. But the homework today, write down a couple of goals that you care about, a couple of goals that this summer might fire you up, a couple of goals that'll make it easier for you to be brave. ([Time 0:11:23](https://share.snipd.com/snip/41ea90f9-c167-4ba0-aa8b-c464bd2c4a3b))