Book Review: Quitter, By Jon Acuff

Normally acknowledging that you read a book called “Quitter” is not a good thing to do on the world wide web. At least while you’re still employed. Luckily, my current employer is also a partner so there is no conflict of interest. I also mainly picked this book up because I’m a fan of Dave Ramsey and Jon Acuff is an employee there, I also follow him on twitter and he’s pretty hysterical so I thought it’d be an enjoyable read.

This book is intended for people that have some sort of dream job, or dream career that they would rather be in, but they are stuck working some job that is primarily just a way to pay bills. In other words, it’s not their calling. I know a lot of people who find themselves in this situation, and this book would help them think things through better. Here are the main points I took from this book:

• Don’t quit your day job in order to start working towards your dream job. The first part of this book is refreshing because he talks about how bad of an idea it is to just quit as if that was going to enable your dream job to instantly grow to the size where it can replace your job. He also talks about how unfair it is to your existing employer to be dreaming or working on your new business or dream job while you’re at work on company time. Using the existence of a new business or potential new dream job as an excuse to slack off at your current job will only screw up your work ethic and enthusiasm for everything else in life. Who you are at work truly reflects how you behave outside of work. You can’t be enthusiastic and passionate at home and then go to work and stare at Facebook all day. At least not for long.
• Making the transition is going to take a ton of hustle. Quitting your job would be the easy way out. Finding time to build your dream in your early morning or late evenings will be a better test of how bad you want it.
• Although I’m a night owl, he sold me on the idea that the early morning is a better time to get things done without distraction. As he says in the book, your boss doesn’t need you to handle something that came up by surprise at 6 in the morning, nor does your buddy invite you out for drinks at that time (hopefully). Things come up in the evening much more frequently than they do in the early morning.
• It’s going to take time to grow your dream. Don’t get discouraged if you have to start small and let it grow slowly over a long period of time. Most growth occurs by doing small things over and over and it will eventually snowball. Expecting anything more is setting yourself up for disappointment. Plus, if you quit your job then the desperation for money will only add to the unnecessary pressure.

Acuff tell his own personal story throughout this book with a lot of humor and insightfulness, and if you’re trying to bridge this gap, then you need this book, it’ll help you keep your sanity.