How to Live Into Your Full Potential with Jon Acuff Episode 282

How to Live into Your Full Potential with Jon Acuff

In a recent survey, 3,000 people were asked, “Do you feel like you are living up to your full potential?” I was shocked to find out that 96% of them said no! How did we get here, and how can we change that? 

My friend Jon Acuff and I had a great conversation all about our potential: what “potential” refers to, how we can reach it, and some pitfalls to avoid along the way.

If you want to close the gap between your dreams and your reality without causing yourself to burn out in the process, this conversation is for you!! 

Jon is one of INC’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers and the New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including his most recent, All It Takes Is a Goal: The 3-Step Plan to Ditch Regret and Tap Into Your Massive Potential. He’s a husband and dad to two teenage girls, living outside Nashville. 

Here are a few things we talked about.

The Vision Wall Which Blocks Our Full Potential

How do you ease into potential? When you feel like you haven’t lived up to your potential you start to dream and run into the vision wall, which is a barrier between you and what you want to do that says you have to know exactly what you want to do before you get started.

Jon believes this happens because people have misinterpreted great books like the 7 Habits and Start with Why. He gives the example of his friend who spent six months trying to figure out his why. The friend said, “As soon as I figure out the why, then I’ll do stuff.” Jon explains we must do stuff while we are figuring out our why.

The Difference Between a High Achiever and a High Performer

Jon then worked on trying to get around the vision wall and he found that there is a difference between a high performer and a high achiever. Just because you’re a high performer doesn’t mean you’ll be a high achiever. As his research continued with the people, he was surveying for his book he realized that high performers always travel between one of three performance zones:

• Comfort zone = no goals, no actions, no progress
• The potential zone = the right goals, right actions, right progress
• Chaos zone = too many goals, too many actions, still no progress

Tip – don’t make life-changing goals during the holiday season.

How Do You Define Full Potential?

The gap between your vision and your reality. How do you bridge that gap? By taking action.

The Best Moment’s List.

The best moment’s list – is asking yourself, “What are the best moments that have happened in the last ten years?” It makes your head and your heart Google out the best moments of your life in the past ten years. This list then helps you think about what you want in the future. It also creates a roadmap to your future and it teaches you about who you really are.

Here is what the best moment’s list can help you with:

• Gratitude – this can be for big or small things.
• Self-awareness – because you start to notice things you care about
• Being present in the moment

How Do you Leave Your Comfort Zone to Live Your Potential?

You have to woo yourself outside of your comfort zone. You must talk yourself out of your comfort zone and convince yourself that what is out there is better. The only reason people leave their comfort zone is because what’s on the outside is better than what’s on the inside.

Jon’s last visit to the show was equally amazing, especially for parents of teens. The things we believed as teenagers can be so impactful. It is so encouraging to think about how the teens in our lives can learn to create new thoughts that lead to actions and even better results. Be sure to listen in to find out how!

Listen now:

iTunes.

Google Play.

Stitcher.

Spotify.

Favorite quotes:

“You should dream but when your dream is divorced from reality it doesn’t end in a healthy marriage.”

“Excellence is boring.”

“Potential is the gap between your vision and your reality.” 

“You’re the CEO of your actions, not the CEO of your outcomes. Focus on those actions.”

“The Best Moments list starts to teach you about what you want in the future. The list reflects your past, informs your present, and prepares your future.”

“The only reason people leave the comfort zone is because what’s on the outside is better than what’s on the inside.” 

“The harder the challenge, the kinder the words.”

Coaching this week: 

1.   Automatic thoughts that can stop you from starting a business and how to battle them. (45:14)

Links to great things we discussed: 

• Jon Acuff Website
• Jon Acuff Instagram
• All It Takes Is a Goal: The 3-Step Plan to Ditch Regret and Tap Into Your Massive Potential
• Homesick – Noah Kahan
• Busy Child – The Crystal Method
• The Grand Tour 
• BritBox
• Bose Headphones
• Leuchtturm Notebooks
• PowerSheets
• The Coach School
• The Coach School Instagram
• 3 Secrets to Become a Successful Coach
• Remaining You While Raising Them

Order your copy of Remaining You While Raising Them here.

Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! 🙂

xo,

Alli