Acuff Quotes & Sayings

Don't climb a single rung up the entitlement ladder. Demanding something you haven't truly earned is a great way to get stuck in the land of Learning for decades, even an entire lifetime. Kick those ladders over and keep on walking. — Jon Acuff

Choose your attitude every day until eventually it chooses you right back. — Jon Acuff

People who can't be questioned often end up doing questionable things. — Jon Acuff

Pastors are starting to get wily. When people tell my friend, 'I'm not being fed,' he replies, 'I'm prefectly happy to spoon feed my one-year-old. But if I'm still spoon-feeding him when he's five, we've got a problem. Here's a fork. Feed yourself. — Jon Acuff

Sometimes when jerks become Christians, it's like a bully learning karate. Instead of having Christ transform our hearts and attitudes, we now have a new method with which to beat you up ... what was once just 'forcing everyone to agree with my opinion' is now 'forcing everyone to agree with my opinion in the name of God. — Jon Acuff

God is an early bird; satan is a night owl. Everyone knows that. — Jon Acuff

We started seeing motion as a sign of success and transition as a sign of progress. — Jon Acuff

More often than not, finding out what you love doing most is about recovering an old love or an inescapable truth that has been silenced for years, even decades. When you come to your dream job, your thing, it is rarely a first encounter. It's usually a reunion. — Jon Acuff

Want a better job right this second? Choose your attitude and adjust your expectations. — Jon Acuff

Life is dreamed in big leaps and revealed in small steps. — Jon Acuff

Joy is an incredible alarm clock. It will wake you up and keep you up and pick you up and gently pull you through a thousand rejections along the way. — Jon Acuff

Roy Acuff was the first country music star to buy a home in a fashionable section of Nashville. The real estate man said, 'Mr. Acuff, how do you plan to take care of this?' since the house was very expensive at the time. Roy said, 'Would cash be all right?' — Minnie Pearl

Awesome writes great books even if no one is going to read them. — Jon Acuff

They are four words I want you to keep in mind when critic's math gets loud. He wrote, We will miss you. — Jon Acuff

We - not our company - are responsible for our attitudes. What happens each day at work doesn't get to determine my attitude, I do. Attitude is a decision. And it's a decision we have to make every day, sometimes every hour if that particular day is especially whack. — Jon Acuff

Pitting your dream against someone else's is a fantastic way to get discouraged and depressed. — Jon Acuff

I've done a whole lot of things. I've had the pleasure of introducing two presidents, several senators and congressmen. — Roy Acuff

The problem is that "by now" is a phrase we say to ourselves when we're trying to believe the lie that it's too late to start pursuing our dream. — Jon Acuff

in a 2013 Gallup survey, 70 percent of Americans said they hated their jobs or felt disengaged. — Jon Acuff

Misery loves company, but company often multiplies your misery. — Jon Acuff

Real-World Example = Don't constantly complain about the work conditions. (It's too bright, it's too dark, it's too cold, I wish it smelled more like cinnamon.) A simple rule of thumb to remember is, "Unless there's a live cobra in the office, I'll be all right. — Jon Acuff

Someone is going to hate what you do. That's not a maybe. That's a definite. And I don't mean dislike. I mean hate. With energy and vitriol and a passion that surprises you. — Jon Acuff

I like being a beginner. I like the moment where I look at everyone and say, "I have no idea how to do this, let's figure it out. — Jon Acuff

I'm just another Opry entertainer. I'm not the start of the Opry, and I'm not the ending. I'm not the Alpha, and I'm not the Omega. It's been a pleasure taking part in the Opry and country music these many years. I'm part of a big operation. — Roy Acuff

Don't become a jerk. Don't get lazy. Don't get entitled. — Jon Acuff

God found Gideon in a hole.
He found Joseph in a prison.
He found Daniel in a lion's den.
He has a curious habit of showing up in the midst of trouble, not the absence. Where the world sees failure, God sees future.
Next time you feel unqualified to be used by God remember this, he tends to recruit from the pit, not the pedestal. — Jon Acuff

That's why I always keep a handful of silver glitter in my pockets. If I get pushed into a conversational corner I throw the glitter into the air, and while the person I'm talking to is distracted, I run away. An additional benefit is that I look like a cool magician, so I've got that going for me. — Jon Acuff

It is seldom indeed that one parts on good terms, because if one were on good terms one would not part. - MARCEL PROUST — Jon Acuff

Great lives are very rarely created in great comfort. — Jon Acuff

I know it sounds crazy, but people with jobs tend to have more creative freedom than people without. — Jon Acuff

Complacency is a slow gas leak, not a bomb blast. Like being robbed by a thief in the night who only steals a penny at a time, we awake to find the days have all gone somewhere. Things — Jon Acuff

Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity."4 — Jon Acuff

I'm with you, networking is miserable. Whenever I find myself at a dinner party where people are networking I immediately focus on the dog, and if the host doesn't have one, I focus on persuading them to get a dog. — Jon Acuff

People are mistaken when they think chasing your dream is a selfish thing to do. As if perhaps being average is an act of humility. As if perhaps wasting the talents you were given is proof that you're a considerate individual.
It's not. — Jon Acuff

Billions of people have traveled and continue to travel the other path, and it grows wider every year ... The trouble is that on this wide path, you don't end up at awesome. You just end up at old. This path is called 'average'. — Jon Acuff

the best way to crush the discussion, is with a decision. — Jon Acuff

You've got today, and today is all you need to start. — Jon Acuff

wild talent and a bad attitude eventually lose to mild talent and a good attitude. — Jon Acuff

Right now, 80 percent of employers Google you before they bring you in for an interview. — Jon Acuff

Sometimes, you have to shot block a friend's prayer because she's asking God to bless an obviously bad dating relationship. — Jonathon Acuff

The greatest thing the Democrats have ever done for me was to defeat me for the governor of Tennessee. — Roy Acuff

Roy Acuff was a big hero for me, and I was so sad when he passed. It's hard as you get older to lose your friends and family. — George Jones

I'd like to be remembered as a man who went to Heaven and not another place. — Roy Acuff

Fear would have told the Wright brothers not to fly. Fear would have told Rosa Parks to change seats. Fear would have told Steve Jobs that people hate touchscreens. — Jon Acuff

Sometimes God redeems your story by surrounding you with people who need to hear your past so it doesn't become their future. — Jon Acuff

Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle. — Jon Acuff

Learning from those before you is a dying art that can catapult you ahead in the land of Mastering. — Jon Acuff

I learned a simple lesson about being awesome: always play to the size of your heart, not to the size of your audience. Awesome doesn't let the crowd determine the size of the performance. Awesome gets up for two people or 200. Awesome writes great books even if no one is going to read them. Awesome sweeps the parts of store floors that no foot will ever touch. Awesome can't help itself. Awesome has a huge heart. And that's what it always plays to. The size of the crowd doesn't matter. The applause of the audience doesn't matter. — Jon Acuff

The golden watch has become the other end of golden handcuffs. We now look at steady jobs as less of a goal and more of a necessary evil. They aren't fun; they simply fund our lives. — Jon Acuff

Laughter is a gift from God. When we refuse to accept it, it makes Him want to take it back. Like the unicorns. — John Acuff

You don't need to go back in time to be awesome; you just have to start right now. Regretting that you didn't start earlier is a great distraction from moving on your dream today, and the reality is that today is earlier than tomorrow. — Jon Acuff

If I miss a goal, which sometimes happens when you set huge ones, I want the reassurance that I did everything I in my power to make it happen. I want the peace in knowing that it wasn't for lack of hustling that I missed a target for my dream. I want to know that the one thing under my control was under control. — Jon Acuff

Conversations, much like Saturday Night Live skits, are often difficult to end. — Jon Acuff

As you guide, you're going to disappoint people who want your time or your input or your attendance. And often you won't be able to give it to them. But it's okay to disappoint people, as long as you make sure you're disappointing (and guiding) the right people. The biggest lesson for me was to not say yes to things I am ultimately going to say no to. — Jon Acuff

Not because of my words - those are cheap and untrustworthy. But because of my actions, which are expensive and trustworthy. — Jon Acuff

You have the perfect amount of time each day for the things that matter most. The key is spending time on those things. — Jon Acuff

If you're going to risk and maybe fail, fail at something that matters. Fail gloriously so that even in failure, lives change. — Jon Acuff

(The truth is that real life-change and the joy of being who you are designed to be always results in selflessness, not selfishness.) — Jon Acuff

I loved Roy Acuff with all my heart, and I never dreamed I'd be able to meet him or see him onstage, or especially become good friends with him. For all this to happen, it's hard to explain what a dream this is when you love something as much as I love traditional country music. — George Jones

Burn your dream bright. Pursue it with the best of who you are. But don't confuse hustle with burnout. Hustle fills you up. Burnout empties you. Hustle renews your energy. Burnout drains it. — Jon Acuff

The only music we ever listened to out in the piney woods was Roy Acuff and the Grand Ole Opry. That was the only night of the week I was allowed to lay in the middle of the bed with Mama and Daddy, just long enough to hear Roy Acuff sing; then I had to go back to bed. — George Jones

A dream you don't have to fight for isn't a dream - it's a nap. One changes your afternoon. The other changes your world. Keep fighting. — Jon Acuff

What do you do when all the excuses you used to not chase your dream are gone? What do you do then? — Jon Acuff

How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, author Michael J. Gelb — Jon Acuff

Any game you play, you got to lose sometime. — Roy Acuff

90 percent perfect and shared with the world always changes more lives than 100 percent perfect and stuck in your head. — Jon Acuff

Chances are, no one is trying to kill you at your current job. If they are, please read a book on Krav Maga, not this one. — Jon Acuff

Ask any honest sage if they were an expert at something the first time they tried it, and they'll giggle and probably give you a caramel. — Jon Acuff

As if perhaps joy is acceptable for rare moments on the weekend or surprising glimpses of sunsets while on vacation, but it has no real purpose in the real world. — Jon Acuff

Day one of our new adventure behind us, we are shocked to learn the hardest lesson of chasing a dream. When you go for it, you don't escape fear, you land in it. Fear is not a dragon to be slain once, it's an ocean to be swum daily. — Jon Acuff

I'm not a fan of "finding your purpose." I'm a fan of "living with purpose. — Jon Acuff

I know sometimes it's scary to think that you might do the wrong thing. It's terrifying to imagine wasting your "one shot". But let me assure you, nothing you do will be wasted. Every decision you make, every path you take, has the ability to contribute something you need to succeed at your dream. — Jon Acuff

Television made a lot of difference in country music. It's progress. I believe in progress. — Roy Acuff

No one pursuing a life of average was ever made fun of by other average people. But if you decide to travel the road to awesome, you will be. — Jon Acuff

You think about people like Hank Williams, who stood on that spot of wood, and Mr. Acuff, and, of course, George Jones. And just about anybody you can think of who has made country music has been on that stage. That's what makes you so nervous - to think about the historical part of the Opry and how it's played such a part in country music. — Alan Jackson

If you want help for your dream, start by helping someone else with their dream. If you want support for your hope, start by giving support to someone else's hope. If you want encouragement as you work on your calling, start by encouraging other people. Giving support is often the best way to get it. — Jon Acuff

You used to believe like that too. You used to turn sticks into swords or dirty flip-flops into glass slippers. You climbed trees and made forts and thought being a doctor wasn't out of reach. Nothing was out of reach. Then, somewhere along the way, you lost it. — Jon Acuff

You will work harder at something you love than at something you like. You will work harder than you have ever worked when you start chasing a dream. You will hustle and grind and sweat and push and pull. You will get up earlier and go to bed later. But that's okay. — Jon Acuff

Because the truth is, the surprises life gives are always better than the things you think you see coming. Publishing — Jon Acuff

Generosity is always cheaper than greed. — Jon Acuff

I want the peace in knowing that is wasn't for lack of hustling that I missed a target for my dream. I want to know that the one thing in my control was under control. — Jon Acuff

As a child, when his mother would pray that he would have a hedge of protection or a hedge of angels around him, he would think, "Anyone can jump a hedge. How hard is that? Forget the hedge of angels; I'm praying for a dome of angels. — Jonathan Acuff

My health is good; it's my age that's bad. — Roy Acuff

I was a pretty good imitator of Roy Acuff, but then I found out they already had a Roy Acuff, so I started singin' like myself. — Hank Williams

Quitting a job doesn't jump-start a dream because dreams take planning, purpose, and progress to succeed. That stuff has to happen before you quit your day job. — Jon Acuff

Scars you refuse to hide can become lighthouses that warn other people who are headed to the same rocks you crashed on. — Jon Acuff

Intentions are ambitious liars. — Jon Acuff

Hustle tries. Then it fails. Then it tries again, because of grit, which is simply being brave when you don't feel like being brave. — Jon Acuff

Your dream might not be as extreme as Bono's, but like him you may meet yours before you're ready to run after it. — Jon Acuff

You've got to capture an audience. You don't go out there and just sing, or just play. If you can't capture an audience, you might as well not be out there. — Roy Acuff

Put your trust in the Lord and go ahead. Worry gets you no place. — Roy Acuff

Don't be a blueprint. Be an original. — Roy Acuff

The only reason cavemen painted on walls was they didn't have note cards. — Jon Acuff

Regardless of your age or station in life, it all comes down to one simple truth: you just have to start. — Jon Acuff

Real-World Example = Don't schedule meetings that demand high creativity on Friday afternoon at 4:00 P.M. People are creatively empty then and their ideas will be too. — Jon Acuff

And then you get some jerk for a boss. And you think, 'I wish God was my boss. That would be awesome. He wouldn't care about my sales sheet. He would care about my soul sheet.' Then you feel a little embarrassed because that was such a low-quality joke. — Jon Acuff

An accountability partner you only contact when you are winning isn't an accountability partner, it's a cheerleader. It's — Jon Acuff

Age is no longer the primary factor that determines where you are on the map. Life is now less about how old you are and more about when you decide to live. — Jon Acuff

Instead of chasing "enough," you have to define it. If you chase it, you'll never catch it. Enough is incredibly quick. Much like perfection, it seems to remain out of reach. "As — Jon Acuff

In order to survive, I came up with a five-step secret to getting it all done. If you're busy too, feel free to use it:
1. Admit that you can't possibly get it all done. — Jon Acuff