How to Find Your Zone and Stay There - A Masterclass On Focus w/ John Lee Dumas

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Hello, and welcome to the growth mindset podcast with me, Sam Webster Harris, diving into the psychology of self improvement today. We are learning about the mindsets for success in podcasting and business with none other than John Lee Dumas, the host of the entrepreneur on fire podcast. He started the first daily business podcast and built it into a multi million dollar empire.

His story is one of mastery, dedication, and hustle, and he's full of tips to turn your side project into your full time success. John is a hugely inspirational guy, and it's great to share a conversation with you today. So without further ado,

Let's get cracking with John Lee Dumas and mindsets

for firing up your motivation to do some incredible things.

Sam:

What Sparked the Entrepreneur on Fire Show

Sam: I guess being the entrepreneur on fire, I'd really like to know what kind of first sparked your fire.

John: Honestly, it was a little bit of the desire to fill a void that's [00:01:00] Wasn't being felt. I love listening to podcasts as a consumer.

Like I love the platform. I got it. I understood podcasting But at the same time it was like where's the daily show interviewing successful entrepreneurs? Like every show was once a week twice a month and I went purposely To itunes to stitcher to all the directories like, i'm just gonna find that show i'll subscribe It'll be perfect and it didn't exist.

I was like, how does this not exist? It was kind of like McCartney being like how does this song yesterday not exist? Like he had it in a dream He just assumed it was his hit song And I was like the same way with that like how has somebody not thought of creating a daily podcast? Like I don't get it. I mean it makes all the sense in the world to me.

I go. Maybe i'm crazy But maybe there's more people out there like me who would want the opportunity to listen to a fresh, new, inspiring podcast with a motivating entrepreneur seven days a week. And you know, I didn't know for sure that was going to be the case. just like McCartney didn't know that people were going to love this song yesterday, but [00:02:00] they did.

Fire Nation did. And you know, here we are eight years later, 2, 600 episodes later, 85 million listens later, I've got a little bit of traction.

Sam:

What Fueled John's Fire

Sam: what was the thing that then like fueled your fire? Cause you know, you need a spark, you need like the word, which is yourself.

So what was like the oxygen that like got it going and how did you get the initial traction? Was it just sort of, you asked a few people about the idea and they just sort of, it just took off straight away. Like, how did you make the leap?

John: Yeah, so nothing I think of any like substance ever takes off right away It's always kind of like a slow burn you stoke the flames you kind of start to build the fire you add more sticks you Add kindling you had kind of bigger pieces of logs to the fire to eventually kind of get to that bonfire status And that was a process for me.

I mean, there was no hockey stick. There was no overnight success It was just one step at a time and the thing that really Kind of took me though from just spark to like the hint of a flame [00:03:00] Was I hired a mentor like I literally found somebody was a successful business podcast host I wanted to be a successful business podcast host She was able to guide me every step of the way during that process, you know back when I Potentially would have stumbled or given up or just gotten confused or made a big mistake Like I had that guide, you know keeping me going forward and that's kind of the biggest thing when you first start is like Once you get that initial excitement and enthusiasm and that little spark of momentum Like you've got to do everything you can to keep that moving forward because otherwise poof it can be

Sam: gone Yeah disappears so quickly as soon as you just take your eye off the ball for a bit

What was John's Most Useful Mindset and How He Learnt It

Sam: so what would you say?

Is your most useful mindset and how did you learn it?

John: My most useful mindset would definitely be one word focus, follow one course until success. And that was my complete mindset for the entire [00:04:00] first year of entrepreneurs on fire. I was like, if I'm going to do the first daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs, it's going to be because I focus better and more consistently than anybody else before me.

And that was it. And you know, I probably got that focus from my military days, you know, for me being an officer in the U S army, like I had to learn one thing leading men. Incredibly well. So that was my one focus. And that was the one thing that I dialed in on. And I said to myself, Hey, if I want to have the kind of success I had as an officer in the army, as an entrepreneur, like I need to bring that same kind of focus, that same kind of laser focus to what I do.

So I cut out all the distractions, all the social media, all this, all of that, all the outside voices. And I just did one thing. I delivered one episode. every single day for 2000 days in a row.

How John Managed His Focus

Sam: it's great to [00:05:00] focus on the business, but then it's very easy as an entrepreneur to kind of lose focus on not sure what to focus on and you try different things.

And as things grow, it feels like there can be so many different things you need to be working on that you sort of, if you're not focused on that, like the other things start dropping. How did you. Manage the multiple balls in like the business

John: with I mean at first there were no multiple balls That was kind of the thing.

It was just one ball the podcast like that was the focus And then as I got some more traction with that and I said, okay, let's start adding some more balls to the mix That's when I started building a team like that's what I brought on our virtual assistants That's when I brought on kate And like that's when I was able to kind of build out Other people who were doing those things who are managing those balls so I could still keep my focus So, you know for eight years now My main focus has remained the podcast.

Of course, I've done other things, but at the same time, my focus is entrepreneurs on fire. It's the podcast. It's the interviews. It's that focus. Like that's the core that I don't take [00:06:00] my eye off that ball.

Sam: Yeah. That's interesting. So you've been so focused in that class, what's led to it? Being so successful and making a ton of money and we will go back into that later But I want to talk about mental health in terms of having such a focus.

How Did Being So Focused Affect John's Mental Health and

Sam: How has that impacted your friendships and Ability to kind of be happy and like exist in like a normal

John: way, I guess Yeah to me like i've always been happiest when i've been living in my zone of fire in my zone of fire Is creating amazing interviews with inspiring and successful entrepreneurs. So that makes me happy.

That's why I love what I do. And that's why a lot of people fail when they try to like copy entrepreneurs on fire or copy some other successful entrepreneur, because they don't have that love, like that's not going to make them happy. They, you know, they just want to do it because it's success. Like they might be to find success or it could be financially rewarding.

Those aren't reasons to do something. But when you find that zone of fire, where you're actually happy doing that thing. Then it goes a very long way and guess what? Like, I [00:07:00] still have plenty of time for my friends and my family, those who I want to continue to engage with. And there's been a lot of people who I've lost touch with over the years.

And guess what? I can't, keep in touch with everybody. I can't make everybody happy and I'm not trying to. I'm saying, you know what? This is my tribe. This is my core. This is my focus. If you're in my inner circle, awesome. If you're not, I wish you the best. Let's do this.

Sam: Yeah, I certainly would say as in my own podcast, it's been like, I just enjoy doing it so much.

It wouldn't even have mattered if I hadn't taken off, but it has, which has been great in ads, but like, it didn't really matter so much. It's just been fun to connect with people like you and have great conversations. But I guess it would be interesting to know a bit more what things have you suffered and you can't have been happy the whole time.

Any Low Moments as an Entrepreneur

Sam: Have you had like any low moments?

John: entrepreneurship is a roller coaster. Like if you're not having low moments, you're just kidding yourself. I mean, you're going to have ups, downs, successes. Losses, failures, [00:08:00] mistakes. that's part of the game and that's part of the thing you have to embrace as well.

So I've absolutely had low moments. There's been things that I've tried that haven't worked. There's been things that I was hopeful and excited for that just flopped and I mean, you know, that's part of it. You go back to the drawing board and say, okay, let's learn, let's pivot, let's adjust and if and when the time feels right at a later point, Let's try again

Sam: cool Good answer, but a bit generic Can you go for a specific story that we could maybe relate to and be like, oh john was really low in that moment

John: the first thing would be is when I Decided on my own accord without even communicating or engaging with my audience like hey let me create this for them.

Let me create This thing that I'm going to call pod platform, which is you record something, send it to me. My team will edit, my team will polish it up. My team will add an intro and outro. We'll host it on our own platform. We'll publish it to all [00:09:00] the directories. Like we will essentially be your podcast creator for everything.

And this was back in 2013 when nobody was doing. Anything along these lines. So it was brand new and I thought it was perfect and it Absolutely got crickets. I mean nobody wanted it nobody would pay for it, you know, I had this team prepared for all this work I thought was gonna flood in None of it materialized and I had to shut it down like almost as soon as I turned it on It was a big failure.

It was a big low moment because I didn't know what was next. I didn't know that my next idea was going to be a multi million dollar idea called podcasters paradise Like in hindsight, I can be like, oh john like you're gonna be okay because I obviously was okay, but at that moment in time I was like Man, did I just make a huge mistake?

Am I ever going to recover from this? Is there ever even possibly a way to make a revenue in the business?

Sam: It's funny how often I could have hard [00:10:00] moments and things that sort of teach you that lessons you need to be like so successful And you should have knew that it was part of your journey. It would be like, ah, so it's so exciting I've just passed like another level.

I'm going to the next thing but At the time it feels awful.

Sam: okay.

What Makes John Most Happy

Sam: What would you say is the point of existence?

John: Why don't you expound upon that question a little more

Sam: I guess What is the thing that sort of makes you most happy?

John: I think that changes, you know, I think that evolves I mean for me working on my crafts, you know working on the business, you know working on my personal health and wellness there's a lot of things that make me happy and some Times those things evolve and change over time.

Like what makes me happy today You know very well may not have made me happy six months ago and same thing goes from six months from now So for me, it's just all about keeping my finger on the pulse trying new things really understanding, where my mindset's at where my head space is out where my game is at [00:11:00] And just continuing to evolve every day.

Sam:

John's Life Goal

Sam: What would you say is the overall like life goal when you're 80, 100, whatever. What's going to be the thing that you're most proud of doing, do you hope, that could be in like 20 years

John: time anyway? I'm not big on legacy. Like, Gary Vaynerchuk loves talking about how many people are going to go to his funeral and what his legacy is going to be.

And for me, it's like, when I'm gone, I'm gone. I don't have any illusions of grandeur that people are going to care that much, if at all, that, you know, I walked on this earth, I think. frankly, people, rightfully so, are pretty all consumed in their own world, in their own life. people are dying every single day around us, and...

Are you really letting that affect you? Like, no, not really. and that's just reality. So for me, I don't really spend much time thinking about that stuff. I'm just like, right now, in the present moment, am I, impacting the world in a positive way? And am I adding positive value to this world?

And if my answer is yes, more often than not, Then I feel like I'm progressing in the right way. [00:12:00] And if it's not, then um, I try to make a change and make it so it is. And you know, when I'm 80 or a hundred, I'm probably gonna be like, got all the money that I need. , I'm on my way out, unless, this anti-aging thing really takes hold and, I'm keeping my fingers crossed, they have all bit gray on, it's, I'm young enough to, maybe transfer my consciousness into something else.

Like, who knows? That stuff could be possible at some point, you know, maybe we're 500 years away from that But maybe we're only 50 and if we're only 50 I might be able to just sneak under the wire there

Sam: Yeah, he knows like maybe the first person to live to a thousand is already alive right now That's

John: crazy to think it really is

Sam: Definitely does play your mind a little.

on the subject of childhood stuff.

Earliest Memory

Sam: What's your earliest childhood memory? Or one of your early memories.

John: One of my earliest memories, we used to have this like red plastic slide that we would put, right in like three feet of water in the shore of our lake house. And I would just [00:13:00] remember getting up on this red slide.

Going like the three or four feet down into the water thinking is the coolest thing in the world to like splash into water And then running back climbing back up the stairs and doing it again and just literally That was it. Like I would just do that Yeah, that was my life Nice,

Sam: that's great.

John: And now i'm just like how many calories was I burning because yeah, that's amazing.

Sam: Yeah, it's good to work out and yeah fine. So I guess

Kindest Thing

Sam: What's the kindest thing that someone's done for you?

John: Kindest thing somebody's done for me, which

Sam: is something that was super kind and not necessarily the kindest.

John: Yeah, I'd say one of the top things that somebody's ever done that's really on a kindness level for me was my grandmother and you know, I remember that I would always you know, go over to our house and have my little tiny suitcase with like my going to grandmother's house on it and I had like my [00:14:00] clothes.

I thought it was like so cool to like be able to go to her house for the weekends. And I'll just never forget that like, she cleared a drawer for me like in her bureau. She said, this is your drawer where you can put all of your clothes when you come here. And I don't know why, but at that moment in time, Like she was like, like telling me that I was like an adult like that I was like not a kid anymore and I don't know why I interpreted that way but to me like that's always stood out as just like Such a kind thing that she did for me that just made me feel so special and to this day what is it?

35 years later. I still you know, don't take that for granted.

Sam: That's really nice Glad that you are learning at an early age and things. well, thanks so much for being on the show Is there anything? I can do for you.

John: Not at all, but I appreciate you hosting me. Keep up the great work and I'll catch you on the flip side.

Sam: Yeah. Take care.

Mhm.

[00:15:00] Well thanks a bundle for John coming on the show. What a baller. There are so many people out there telling you to do a million different things as I always say with the growth mindset, you can do anything But you absolutely cannot do everything.

To have big success in an area, you have to be focused, you have to be dedicated and you have to make sacrifices. If you want to do everything all at once and also be successful instantly, you are going to fail. John was laser focused on just building his podcast and nothing else and the results were huge.

Honestly, I have to admit that the growth mindset podcast for me was very much a side hustle to my other projects for many years. And now that I am focusing more on this podcast, it is growing so much faster than it used to.

It's crazy. I'm really excited now for next year where I'm going to continue focusing on the show

With some great series coming out and I'm loving the simplicity of my life of having less different things Biting on my time and actually doing [00:16:00] everything properly So with that it is worth asking yourself what projects or desires it would help if you simply drop them and just did less stuff Because I'm certain there's something most people are doing that's actually holding them back The modern age is full of distraction and shiny things and success comes from being able to eliminate all these distractions and focus on the few things that are truly important.

So, on that note, if you did learn anything, make a note of it. Journal on it. Talk to a friend about your ideas or share the episode with them. If you really do feel like you just have to procrastinate for perhaps 60 seconds, then one good option would be leaving a positive review on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube for the podcast or hitting us up with a comment.

Yeah, I squeezed that in there. Anyway, finally, remember that life is to be enjoyed. There's no point hustling every day if you're not enjoying it. It is easy to wait for the future where you can finally perhaps relax into feeling happy. But this usually leads to false promises Where you always need one more thing and the illusion continues.

Life is [00:17:00] today, right now The most important mindset to build is the attitude for enjoying yourself.

So be kind to yourself, challenge yourself, But remember to rest, relax and enjoy the little things because they are what makes life happen. and whilst you're being kind to yourself, try to do the same for those around you too.

Thank you so much for listening. Go you. Your consistency to reach the end of an episode is legendary, my hero. If you have any ideas or feedback for the show, I'm always interested to hear from you. You're the best studies show. We need time for information to sink in, so I'm going to give you a five second pause, silence to reflect on one idea from the show before you jump back into your busy life.

Ready and go.