The Empowerment of Simon, Jon, and Dave

Photos courtesy of: cbtconferenceandexpo.com, daveramsey.com, TED.com

Dave Ramsey often states that the average millionaire reads at least one non-fiction book a month. I found this an interesting tip and often try to emulate what I find worth emulating. Reading one non-fiction a month would grow me, prepare me, and educate me better than all the social media scrolling I do daily. So the current men in my life are Jon Acuff, Simon Sinek, and of course Dave Ramsey.

I have spent the last few weeks with these movers and shakers in the sense of reading their books and listening to their lectures and talks. Now we all know from reading my blog I am a bit of a Davist. I follow that man and have for over fifteen years. I have watched him grow an empire and spread his message further than that small radio show I managed to catch on XM radio ‘way back when‘ because no station near me carried it.

“For your own good, for the good of your family and your future, grow a backbone. When something is wrong, stand up and say it is wrong, and don’t back down.”
― Dave Ramsey, The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

This man grew my backbone. Over a decade ago I was left by my ex husband with a special needs child and only $35 in the bank. I remember sitting there the night he moved out on the floor because he took anything of value including the furniture and thinking to myself what a scary place that was. The first time grocery shopping after that took four hours because I couldn’t make a decision.

But there was this man out there. He taught about money. He did. But what he was teaching was SO MUCH MORE than that. He was empowering his listeners. With control over finances in my life, I had suddenly more peace than I could ask for. He helped grow my backbone and now I can be a fearsome sight to behold if I see injustice happen in front of me. I think the mild word is advocate.

“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

Now Jon came into my life about two years ago. But he didn’t step onto my life stage until this last month. The day I was fired I picked up the book Quitter that was gathering dust and started at the beginning. I’m a quick reader. In a few hours it was done and I was left wishing for more. I think fired can be called late quitter. Much like a necromancer in the gaming world is considered a very late healer. (They resurrect the fallen players).

Quitter and Start are two of the books in his three-part series. Finish was just released and I can’t wait to dive in. Jon is empowering his reader to seek out their calling and then be brave (yet wise) enough to go after it. I often say that I am going to fail and I am going to fail valiantly. I see failure as a challenge and usually find too much to chuckle about at the end of it all. As one very wise nurse told us in the last position I held, “Make Mistakes” whenever we were in the classroom. It is how we learn and succeed.

“If good people are asked to work in a bad culture, one in which leaders do not relinquish control, then the odds of something bad happening go up. People will be more concerned about following the rules out of fear of getting in trouble or losing their jobs than doing what needs to be done. And when that happens, souls will be lost.”
― Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t

I openly admit it. Simon is my new guilty pleasure. He is fantastic to look at for sure, but it is his energy and passion while he speaks that I find so fascinating. His mind races behind his green eyes and his energy spills out of him confidently and calmly. He will even reach toward the person he is speaking to out of passion in order to spread his message. He calls it a movement. He put into words ‘The Power of Why‘. He empowers us to find our why. He brings to light that once the why is found, nothing can deter our track from it. We have a compass.

The quote above speaks volumes of the culture I just left behind. My feeling of freedom came so quickly it was almost shameful. I know I was fired, but within days I was feeling the peace of no longer facing a toxic and mediocre environment. I am not an outlier there. The policies were written to instill fear and take away the feeling of job security. We were nothing but a number, a means to an end. According to my newest muse, that is all the sign of the wrong place to be.

If you wish to read more from these men in my life, please feel free to use the links below:

Simon Sinek

Dave Ramsey

Jon Acuff

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of these speakers, nor am I sponsored by them.