Jon Acuff on Overthinking, Mindset and Faith-Driven Success (Part 1)

Jon Acuff is likely a familiar name. Perhaps you know him as the brain behind “Stuff Christians Like,” one of the popular humor blogs of the 2010s. Or as a New York Times bestselling author of seven books, or as one of INC’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers. (He once opened for Dolly Parton at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.) 

Outreach magazine caught up with Acuff to discuss his life journey to this unique calling, how his faith informs his work, and why, in his most recent books, Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking and Your New Playlist: The Student’s Guide to Tapping Into the Superpower of Mindset (both Baker Books), he tackles the problem—and opportunity—of mindset.

Jon, you’re a very busy guy. When somebody asks you what you do, how do you reply?

I say that I just do two things all year: I write books and then I go talk to people about those books. 

Sounds pretty simple [laughs]. Tell us about how you got to where you are now.

I was born in Durham, North Carolina, and moved to Ipswich, Massachusetts, in first grade so my dad could attend Gordon-Conwell Seminary. Ipswich is quintessential coastal New England, all the way down to the castle on the beach where they hold prom. The mascot of my elementary school was the clams. The fighting clams—what a terrifying mascot. I mean, if a clam is coming at you, you have at least three weeks to get out of the way, right? [Laughs.]

Some of the way I look at communicating comes from growing up with my dad. Here was a pastor who planted a Southern Baptist church in an area, back in the 1980s, where there were no Southern Baptist churches. It was Massachusetts. He had no cultural Christianity around to tap into. It just didn’t exist like it had down South. I learned how to communicate in fresh and different ways by watching my dad figure out how to do it.

I went to a Catholic all-boys high school, both because it was the best education available in our area, and because I was kind of being a knucklehead my freshman year in public school. Then I ended up going to Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. I met my wife right after college at my first “adult” job, working for Details Communications. They were one of the first companies to do advertising for churches. 

We moved back to Massachusetts for the first couple years of our marriage and lived outside Boston. I was working corporate jobs for companies like Bose and Staples, writing advertising. I loved the concept that you could encourage life change with nothing more than a well-written sentence. You could inspire new action if you communicated a message clearly.