Jon Acuff

It’s always a real joy when your friends read your book! Thanks Greg!

I don’t know why we keep acting like Kobe didn’t force the trade to the Lakers. Do you honestly think he wanted to play in Charlotte or LA? “In “Sole Man,” Vaccaro, who signed Bryant to an endorsement deal with Adidas and was instrumental in Kobe’s jump to the pros, acknowledges that they wanted Kobe to play for the Lakers. He says they even created a rumor that Kobe would go play pro ball in Italy to dissuade teams from drafting him.”

I grew up in Massachusetts in the 1980s and I swear we used to say the word “mint” as a way to say “cool.” My wife has never heard of that. Did you say mint?

We’re debt free. Lived off my salary so wife could stay home with kids. ($50k) Camped for vacation ($11 per night.) Got cheapest house in worst school district. Freelanced on top of full time job. Moved to Nashville. Wrote 12 books. Hit NYT. Tithed 1st, bills 2nd, invested 3rd.

Me: Your sister texted me Happy Father's Day ... My oldest kid: That's cause she's at camp. I told you IRL, right to your face. Next you'll want me to do an Instagram post. Me: A carousel with some of the best photos of me & a long caption would be nice. My oldest kid: Oh jeez.

Thanks Jim! (And I've watched that clip of your game 100 times!)

Raise your “Acceptable Success Line.” The ceiling you think is the amount of success you deserve is an arbitrary number you inherited from your parents, hometown and 5 closest friends. No one is afraid of success. They're afraid of disobeying their Acceptable Success Line.

I made $24,500 at my first job as Gen X. The same job today would pay $52,500. Every generation is difficult. I wish it got easier but life doesn’t. You learn to adapt or learn to blame.

@wesleywhamond Fake people on X

@JonAcuff Who keeps money in a bank account?

Again, where’s the link to the data? “The latest bank data was released” is a meaningless clickbait sentence unless you can share a study that shows the numbers you’re talking about.

@tprobus Congrats. I saw that study

@JonAcuff According to a new study, I am thin.

A simple X lesson. Whenever someone says “new study” and doesn’t link to that study, they are either lying or lazy or both. Never trust anyone who says “new study” and doesn’t show receipts.

If you never made $1b, commenting about what it feels like to make $1b is like me commenting about what it feels like to dunk. I don’t know. I’ve barely touched the net. Alex hasn’t made $500 million or $250 million or $100 million. We don’t know.

@scism_cameron Unfortunately it was closed on Tuesdays.

@JonAcuff Not sure where you were waiting, but My Father’s Pizza is our go-to place in Black Mountain. Never had anything there that isn’t good (I’m a calzone girl myself). We love Black Mountain from our FCA days.

Say this the next time your flight is delayed. Last night after waiting 52 minutes at a restaurant in Black Mountain, NC we abandoned ship and walked to another one to start the waiting process all over. The restaurant was understaffed and a collection of people began piling up on the sidewalk. At minute 45, the hostess came out the front door and yelled for a party who had already given up and left. She then hit herself in the head with a stack of menus. “I hate my job! This is the worst job ever!” She shouted into the cool mountain air. How do you weather moments like that? The never ending restaurant wait, the delayed flight, the DMV? Often, you can’t say, “They’re doing their best” because they’re not. They’re doing their medium-est, as people who are underled and underpaid are often understandably prone to be. How did I keep my Joe Cool last night? Scott Allen, a professor from SMU who I did a few Lexus events with taught me a trick. All I do is imagine I’ve just been invited to an impromptu lesson in Emotional Intelligence. I’ve just been given a golden opportunity to recognize, understand and manage my emotions. I take a deep breath and say the soundtrack “Session is in.” It’s one thing to read about empathy, kindness or patience. It’s another thing to practice it when your pilot just timed out in DFW and you’ve got an airport La Quinta in your near future. That’s what I did last night. I made it even easier on myself by texting Scott and thanking him for the technique. After a fruitless hour of waiting, we walked to the nearby Thai Basil restaurant and ended up having a wonderful meal. Crisis averted. “Session is in” is powerful soundtrack. Say it the next time you’re tempted to lose your cool. Question: What moments in your day challenge your patience the most?

However bad your day is going it could be worse.

This is a quick reminder that the last time you felt nauseous, you thought, "I should have appreciated all the days when I didn't feel sick. I was so ungrateful! I had no idea how good I had it." If you don't feel sick today, be thankful! #HappyNotThrowingUpTuesday

This birthday keeps getting better and better!

Make up your own mind politically. Don’t take political advice from celebrities unless you take dental advice from your mailman.