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Your New Playlist by Jon Acuff PDF Download

 

Your New Playlist by Jon Acuff PDF Download


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Your New Playlist by Jon Acuff PDF Download 


Details of Your New Playlist by Jon Acuff Book

  • Book Name: Your New Playlist 
  • Authors: L.E. Acuff, Jon Acuff, McRae Acuff
  • Pages: 192
  • Genre: Fiction
  • Publish Date: September 13, 2022
  • Language: English

Book Review:

I’ve been a Jon Acuff fan for a decade now, so I’ve been looking forward to this new book which hit the shelves in April. His last book, titled Finish, was SO good and I highly recommend it. 

But this one….it’s just as amazing and it feels even more personal. Because this book is about that ongoing conversation we have with ourselves and how those words and beliefs impact our day-to-day lives and our future. 

If you’re an overthinker (like I and a gazillion other people are), this book will smack you right between the eyes and convince you that those broken soundtracks you’ve had on repeat have got to change.

While I have loved Jon Acuff’s work since his early writings, Soundtracks may be the most widely-relatable work he’s ever penned. 

It doesn’t matter who you are, where are you are in life, or what you are overthinking, Jon easily connects with your mind and your heart on this one. He infuses his signature humor frequently, but it doesn’t distract from the message. In fact, it enhances the truths he provides. 

I found myself laughing right along with him as he described the uncanny twists and turns life can take and the soundtracks that we play along the journey. 

I couldn’t help but read excerpts aloud to my wife! Between Jon’s whit and his incredible insight into mindfulness, I just had to share his simple, yet life-changing approach to thinking...and thus, overthinking.

The book is a guide to exploring music on your own terms and finding the music that matters to you.

Prompted by the author’s work as both musician and critic, the book is the result of both his participation in and observation of the further reaches of experimental music around the turn of the millennium. 

And if that sounds forbidding, just know that it’s the most readable journey possible through the tangled history of some of the most difficult modern sounds.

Toop traces a radical shift toward music that’s barely there (compositions that make use of mostly silence, the density of free jazz giving way to extremely delicate improvisation), and music that seems to construct itself as much as it’s guided by musicians (artists who use software to let sounds seemingly mutate on their own). 

As music, it’s the definition of not-for-everyone, some of it quite beautiful and intriguing, some of it more interesting to read about than listen to, but Toop has a unique ability to write evocative descriptions about this sort of music without lapsing into either purple poetry or musician’s jargon. 

I can still recall lines from his daydream revolving around a Patrick Pulsinger piece, or his sensitive and nuanced description of how Morton Feldman’s ultra-minimal music works, without pulling the book off the shelf.

And as a working musician, his insider’s knowledge gives you a realistic sense of how this seemingly formless music actually gets made. –Jess Harvell

I am grateful to Corinne Crabtree for recommending this book through her No BS program. Our thoughts guide our actions, and we can change our thoughts. My broken soundtracks have been loud and persistent. 

Reading this book, I feel, energized and empowered to turn down those broken soundtracks and replace them with what I want to think. This book really cuts to the chase providing tools for the solution to overthinking. 

I love Jon's honesty about his own struggle with this and his humor. I also love that Jon lives in Nashville. I know that isn't really relevant for most people, but since this is my home too, it felt like a bonus... a little more connected.

The book is divided into four parts: who you are, what you love, where you go, and what you hear.

Acuff: Exactly, and the way I wrote the book was to deal with both the emotional and the practical. A lot of goal setting books act like you're a robot, and so they go, "Do these seven things and life will work this way," but that takes away emotion. We're emotional people. 

I heard somebody say, "If we were a logical people in America, People Magazine wouldn't sell more than Time."

I typically order new books to read on my Kindle app, but I bought the hardcover for this one because I knew it was going to be a book I’d read with a highlighter in hand. And that’s exactly what I did. 

I highlighted too many lines to mention here, but here are three that jumped out at me and demanded I whip out the bright yellow highlighter (which just happens to match the happy yellow color inside the cover of the book):

The first part covers things like identity and what music speaks to you on a personal level.

Like how many of your listeners have had an idea before they even wrote it down, before it even made it a paper, they said, "No, it's dumb. That's dumb."


That's a broken soundtrack. Like every idea is at least worth 30 seconds of ink and a piece of paper, but that's a broken soundtrack that tells you, "No, it's stupid. Nobody would ever believe that. Don't even waste your time."

[00:46: So like that becomes a soundtrack for me, ego or heart. Like I face decisions just like you, opportunities just like you do, where you go, "Yeah. That thing is awesome and would fill me up. Like I wouldn't have to not be Jordan. 

I'd get to be more Jordan if I take this opportunity." This other thing, like, "Oh, it's shiny. Like it's got a lot of stuff, but like you can feel the ego is like going to be crazy on that one. 

It's going to put me in relationships with people I already don't like, and like, it's not going to be worth it." That's what I mean, like I borrowed that from my friend, but I have to be willing to go, "Yeah, I'm scared about this. I feel anxious about this." Like I don't get to receive that gift of that unless I'm honest in the relationship.

The second part covers topics like exploring your personal taste, finding music you’ve never heard of before, and discovering music you may have dismissed in the past.

While some of the specific data points in Soundtracks were absolutely interesting, it wasn’t particularly surprising to find out that the things we let swim around our little brains have a great effect on how we perceive the world, ourselves, and our role in it.

I’m a huge movie soundtrack guy—one of the first things I do after I see a great movie is go download the soundtrack and listen for the subtleties and nuances that reinforce great parts of the movie. That’s an example of a soundtrack doing what it should do—make something better.

The third part covers topics like finding your city’s music scene, pairing music with your mood, and using music as a way to relax.

 Jon Acuff: "He's going to ask me for a favor. This guy only reaches—" And it fires that up. And then you react in the moment in a way you might not have reacted if you hadn't been listening to that soundtrack. So if you said, "Okay, like with a family and a holiday, like let's get practical.

" I would say, okay, well what's the soundtrack." And maybe some of it is true. Like maybe that's why you asked three questions. Like one question isn't enough. If you said, "My mom always criticizes my politics and makes me feel 12 years old, again, like I'm 35 and I feel 12. The minute she starts criticizing my politics. Is that true that my mom does it?" It might be true. Like your soundtrack of my mom criticizes my politics and I feel 12. That might be true.

A standout thought caught my attention early on in Soundtracks. Jon says, "Fear does not take work. Doubt does not take work. Insecurity does not take work.” Have you ever stopped to think about that? Me neither! What does take work?

Breaking free from fear, doubt and insecurity by playing new soundtracks that are louder than the old broken ones that keep us stuck. Jon shared three questions we must ask our current soundtracks. I didn’t know how much I needed these three questions in my arsenal. 

I won’t spoil the learning by sharing them, but I believe they have the power to free you from some badly broken soundtracks. In the past two weeks, I've used these three questions to help reshape the way our family communicates in the present, ruminates on the past, and dreams about the future!

The fourth and final part covers ways to keep your playing list healthy, rediscovering old tracks, and continuing to find new music.

[00:39: Jordan Harbinger: That is interesting. We all kind of have these negative soundtracks or many of us have these negative soundtracks. You mentioned in the book about turning down the volume, exercising, organizing, making lists. 

I go for walks or exercise. And the walks help me think, but they also help me turn down the volume. Because I can kind of process things a little bit and there's less distraction, 

but also I'm working off probably some nervous or anxious energy by getting some sun and being outside and walking around, burning some calories. I think that's useful. 

And I also — this doesn't really apply to a lot of other people — but I've read fan mail from The Jordan Harbinger Show, because it's really hard to feel sh*tty when you're reading like 30 nice letters from people about your work.

Broken soundtracks are tricky and can often skate through the first two questions undetected. They’re great at masquerading as the truth. How could they not be? You’ve been believing some of them for years. But this last question is the one that will undo them.


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