0:20

Host: John Lee Dumas is back on the show, I'm sure you know him

0:24

or you should know him host of Entrepreneur on Fire, EO fire,

0:28

millions of downloads, he has a new thing that's called the

0:32

mastery journal that helps you kind of stay on track and to use

0:38

the words master productivity, discipline and focus in 100

0:41

days. So John, welcome to the show. John Lee Dumas: I'm fired up to be here. I'm just happy to be

0:46

alive. Host: Obviously, discipline, productivity is what we're

0:49

talking about here on The Action Catalyst. But what are some of

0:53

your favorite episodes that you've recorded on productivity,

0:57

discipline and focus? Who are you learning from in that way?

1:01

John Lee Dumas: The two that I can really say popped to mind

1:03

was Brian Tracy and Darren Hardy, like both of them just

1:06

took the interview on EO fire, and just turned it into this

1:09

lesson, this course, on those things on productivity, on

1:12

discipline on focus. And I was just like, man, these are the

1:15

pros. Every day, I wake up in the morning, and I start my

1:19

morning routine, you know, I say to myself, John, Eat That Frog,

1:22

which, of course, is a Brian Tracy ism. And you know, every

1:25

time I'm like, should I really be doing this right now meaning

1:28

like, you know, it seems small and insignificant. I think of

1:32

Darren Hardy in the compound effect, and how small things add

1:35

up to huge results, then, you know, I just say those two

1:38

people really rise up to the top. And I think about those

1:41

three words, and I've just continued to learn from them.

1:44

Host: What is your definition of productivity? How do you define productivity?

1:49

John Lee Dumas: Well, I think it is important that we talk about

1:52

the definition because you're right, everybody does define it

1:55

differently. And that's fine. And that's actually great. But

1:58

for me, I love going to the roots of these words. And for

2:02

me, the root of productivity is produce, what are you producing

2:05

on a day to day basis, I mean, you can be the most efficient

2:09

person in the world. But if you're efficient, doing the

2:12

wrong things, producing the wrong things doesn't really

2:15

matter. So productivity is producing the right things on

2:18

that day to day basis, so that you can reflect upon your day

2:21

when that Sun starts going down. And you can say, you know, what,

2:25

I produced the right content for my audience, it doesn't mean I

2:29

did a ton of work, or I did all this, like mountains of

2:32

episodes, and copy and etc, it's I did the right work, I produced

2:36

the right content for my audience today. A lot of people

2:39

I think, look to people like myself, you know, he's had a lot

2:42

of success, and they just want us to give them answers. And,

2:46

you know, we're not just here giving you answers, what we're

2:49

doing is we're giving you systems, we're giving you

2:52

frameworks so that you can self evaluate yourself. And those two

2:56

words self evaluate are so key within the mastery journal, that

2:59

that's what I have you do, because what's productive to you

3:03

is not going to be productive to me, we have to self evaluate. So

3:06

every single day within the mastery journal, you are going

3:10

to be producing specific work. But the most important thing is

3:13

actually at the end of that day, you're going to be self

3:16

evaluating yourself on that production level. So you might

3:20

not be that productive, by my definition I just gave you on

3:23

days one through seven, because you're trying to figure it out,

3:26

you're trying to understand, get your finger on the pulse. But

3:30

hopefully you're learning so that by day 815 20, you now

3:33

start knowing through your self evaluation, what being

3:36

productive means to you, and your business and your life, on

3:40

that whole scheme of things. So self evaluations key is

3:43

something that I really drill into, within the mastery journal.

3:46

Host: You know, you hear 21 days to form a habit, you hear 30

3:50

days, you hear sort of 90 days, and I think there's some

3:53

powerful psychology behind the 100 day deal.

3:56

John Lee Dumas: There is and you know, go back to those two

3:58

words, self evaluation. I mean, in 2015, when I was coming up

4:01

with the idea for the Freedom Journal, which is accomplish

4:04

your number one goal and X number of days, you know, it's

4:08

now 100 days was trying to fill in that X, I did some self

4:11

evaluation, I said, How long has it taken me to accomplish a big

4:14

meaningful goal in my life in the past, and I looked at EO

4:17

fire, and it took me three and a half months, I looked at

4:21

podcasters paradise. And it took me just about three months, you

4:24

know, I looked at all these different things that I've done

4:27

that had been meaningful, and that timeframe just kept coming

4:31

up. And so I said, you know, there has to be a timeframe

4:34

because otherwise as Parkinson's Law states, tasks will expand to

4:37

the time allotted, we definitely we know that. So I had to have

4:41

that time bound. And I just knew that, hey, 100 days is going to

4:44

be great for a number of reasons. Number one, is going to

4:47

give that endpoint so we know that we're going to have a start

4:51

a start line and a finish line when it comes to that number one

4:54

goal so we can focus on those things. Number two, as I'm

4:57

driving forward within this, I can have nice, neat checkpoints

5:01

along the way, at day 10, you know, we do a 10 day sprint

5:04

every 10 days. So every 10th day, you're accomplishing a

5:07

micro goal every 25 days, you're looking back on your quarterly

5:10

review to what you did over those 25 days to see your wins,

5:13

amplify those your losses, figure out solutions to them. So

5:17

that by day 100, you've done 1010 day sprints for 25 Day

5:20

quarterly reviews, it just worked, the more I thought about

5:23

that, and the more I realized, I've been able to accomplish big

5:26

things in 100 days. And that can set up a framework where others

5:30

can, too. That's where the number 100 came from. And I

5:33

realized that that system works. So I said, why not just take

5:36

that apply the 100 day methodology to the mastery

5:39

journal, and come up with a framework that I can guide

5:42

people in mastering the three skills that I've mastered over

5:45

the last four and a half years, productivity, discipline and

5:48

focus. And we'll have them do it in 100 days.

5:51

Host: You have a focus time and a refresh time. What's the

5:56

concept with focus time and refresh time?

5:59

John Lee Dumas: So during 2016, I spent the entire year doing

6:03

the research on productivity, learning the ins and outs of

6:07

that of discipline, and a focus really just becoming a students

6:12

of these three skills. And the thing that just kept coming up

6:14

over and over again, was the Pomodoro Technique. And I said,

6:17

you know, I feel like I've done that sometimes in the past with

6:19

success, but I'm gonna commit to it for three weeks. And so I

6:23

committed to the Pomodoro Technique, which is essentially

6:25

in a nutshell, basically setting a timer for you can fill in the

6:29

blank for the timer, they kind of recommended with a Pomodoro

6:32

Technique, traditionally, 25 minutes on 10 minutes off, where

6:35

you're definitely having this timer countdown while you're

6:38

doing one specific task completely focused, it didn't

6:41

work for me. And I was like, you know, I need to play with this a

6:44

little bit, because 25 minutes just seems too short of a period

6:47

of time, I just am getting into my flow, getting some great work

6:50

done thing goes off, and I gotta stop. So I started playing

6:52

around with it and ended up for me, I found my sweet spot, which

6:56

was 42 minutes of focus time, 18 minutes of refresh time. So now

7:01

I have the session of one hour with 42 minutes of pure focus.

7:06

But my brain knows that I'm going to get this beautiful 18

7:09

minute relief break refreshing time where I can go, you know,

7:13

check the sport score, or jump on Facebook real quick or go

7:15

take a walk outside in the sun, you know, just do one of those

7:18

things. And I did that for three weeks. And I was shocked at what

7:22

happened. I was just like I'm getting more stuff done during

7:24

these 42 minutes than I would get done in 400 minutes

7:27

throughout the week, because I'm just clicking to this different

7:30

gear. So I knew that I had to implement the Pomodoro Technique

7:34

heavily within the mastery journal. So every single day

7:37

within the mastery journal, I've set up for sessions, where and I

7:41

have not filled in the focus time or the refresh time because

7:44

that is for you to figure out what works for you. Again, for

7:47

me 42 minutes of focus, 80 minutes of refresh, you know, we

7:51

check back in and a year, it might be an hour of focus and 10

7:55

minutes of refresh, or 30 minutes, I don't know where I'm

7:58

going to be at that point. But you got to stay attuned and

8:01

continue to self evaluate yourself. And then during that

8:04

focus on that you figured out, nothing else matters, but you're

8:07

a wonderful guest. And then during your refresh time you

8:10

give yourself the gift of refreshing and then guess what

8:12

self evaluation at the end of that session, you give yourself

8:15

a productivity score, you give yourself a discipline score, at

8:18

the end of your four sessions, which maybe do two in the

8:21

morning, two in the afternoon, however you want to break them up, you have now all of these scores from those four sessions,

8:26

which you average out, because you add up your your four

8:29

productivity scores, your four discipline scores, obviously,

8:32

then you divide it by four and you get your daily score, which

8:34

you then flip to and again, we train you at the beginning part

8:37

of the mastery journal, how to do this, you flip to that 10 Day

8:41

recap. And you fill in that day is a little bar chart, you fill

8:44

it in. So as you're going towards that 10th day, you're

8:47

seeing your ups and your downs, you're seeing how you're

8:50

flowing, and you're starting to get understand the rhythm that

8:53

you're getting into as an entrepreneur. Host: We've been talking a little bit about productivity,

8:57

but you also have a discipline score. How do you classify that?

9:02

John Lee Dumas: So discipline is something that was hammered into

9:04

me at a young age. I was a military officer for eight years

9:07

for active foreign reserves. You know, I did a 13 month tour of

9:10

duty in Iraq. So I realized at a very young age, that I had to be

9:15

disciplined. And that's one of the big touchstones as a in the

9:18

military. So that was something that I learned that I was then

9:20

able to with some work, transition into entrepreneurship

9:23

when I started EO fire back in 2012. But the reality is I like

9:28

to go to the roots of the word just like I did with

9:31

productivity and to produce discipline into disciple you as

9:36

the individual. You have to be a disciple of your day. And what

9:40

that means for me is I sit down and I craft a plan. I have a

9:44

plan that I am then going to execute upon so you set a plan

9:49

and then execute that plan. And for me, I realized the days that

9:53

I wasn't doing that, that I didn't have a plan that I'm just

9:56

like, You know what, I'm just gonna let the day kind of come

9:58

to me. What was I doing? When I was OPA all day long other

10:03

people's agenda, I would just be like, you know, I don't know

10:05

what to do right now, because I don't really have a plan. I jump

10:07

in my inbox. And I spent the whole day just putting on other

10:11

people's fires. I jump on Facebook, I spend the whole day

10:14

responding to people's comments and questions, which is, by the

10:16

way, things you have to do at some point during your day. But

10:20

I wanted to be intentional about it, not just haphazard about it,

10:23

I wanted to spend the best parts of my day disciplined to

10:27

producing the right content that matters. So having that plan of

10:30

action, so for me disciplined, setting up a plan executing step

10:35

by step. Host: So between the military and then you've been on this

10:39

sort of personal self journey, why do you think people struggle

10:42

so much with this? Is there something that you think that

10:45

people who do push past and they do have the productivity and

10:49

discipline and focus that that there's, there's some reason

10:52

they break through that barrier? John Lee Dumas: People struggle, because we're human, I mean,

10:56

we're human, and to err is human, that's just a phrase that

10:59

will always be with us. And so that's why I want to take out as

11:02

much as possible. The fact that, hey, we are going to air we're

11:05

going to draft you know, we're going to not be accountable to

11:09

ourselves any given day, that's just part of it. And what I

11:12

wanted to do is to give people an anchor that would draw them

11:15

back in, you know, we're all going to drift and slide I do

11:18

that, and I'm the creator of the mastery journal, but the mastery

11:21

journal is your anchor to draw you back in and and say, Listen,

11:25

you might have had crappy things happen yesterday. But now you

11:28

know that you can wake up this morning and follow the steps

11:31

step by step by step, I'm guiding you, just holding your

11:34

hand through this process of what is going to make a

11:36

productive, disciplined and focused day is always there for

11:39

you. It's your anchor, when you don't have the days that you

11:43

want. Just you know, don't be too hard on yourself, realize

11:46

that you're going to have those days because you're human, but

11:49

just know you had that anchor to go back to as therefore you.

11:52

Host: The mastery journal is kind of an interesting project

11:55

because it supports Pencils of Promise. And so can you tell us

11:58

a little bit about where should we go to learn about it? How

12:01

does it support Pencils of Promise? John Lee Dumas: Stuff that really mattered to me was

12:05

education. I knew that education was a huge part of my life. I'm

12:08

not talking traditional education. Like I went to

12:11

college, I went to law school like, that wasn't what made me a

12:14

success. What made me successful was self education, but the

12:18

ability to be educated, and there's so many people out there

12:21

that don't even have access to the best educator in the world,

12:24

just that Google search bar, you know, or just just somebody that

12:28

actually cares is going to take them those first few steps. And

12:31

Pencils of Promise is just doing amazing things around the world.

12:35

I had Adam Braun on the show now multiple times, and he's now

12:38

become a close friends. And I just loved it. His mission was

12:41

was which was to bring education to developing countries to give

12:45

the gift of education to those less fortunate. So with the

12:48

Freedom Journal launch, we partner with Pencils of Promise.

12:51

And every time we had a funding goal, we wrote a big fat check

12:54

to Pencils of Promise on behalf of the supporters to build a

12:58

school in a developing country and we ended up writing 320

13:01

$5,000 checks to pencils own amazing what's you know, you can

13:04

do with dollars in developing countries when they're spent in

13:07

the right manner. And we're doing the exact same thing with

13:11

the mastery journal. We've partnered with Pencils of

13:13

Promise, and we just want to keep giving and going from

13:16

success to significance. Host: Okay, so my last question, last very last question for you,

13:21

John, is just what is that thing maybe it's advice or an area or

13:24

this thing that just you can never lose sight of because you

13:27

know, you'll go off track if you're not like extremely

13:30

intentional about it? John Lee Dumas: Nutrition. Absolutely. Without a doubt

13:33

nutrition is my Achilles heel. I mean, I'm very healthy, but I

13:37

have to work really hard at it. You know, I have a personal

13:39

trainer that I meet three days a week, virtually online. I'm

13:43

extremely focused on the foods that I put into my body because

13:46

if I if I slip up and I'm not disciplined with nutrition,

13:50

everything is going to fall off the tracks. And I mean that like

13:52

I'll become overweight, I'll become unhappy. I'll become

13:56

lethargic. I'll get unenthusiastic like it all

13:58

starts for me with nutrition because if I'm eating right, I'm

14:01

feeling right. I'm exercising right everything then starts

14:04

that domino effect. So that's huge for me. That's something

14:07

that I keep a really sharp eye on. Host: I love it. Keep crushing it and keep lighting people on

14:12

fire. John Lee Dumas: Thank you and come visit me in Puerto Rico!