Unleashing an Expansive Mindset

The “Uncommon Path to Success” Book That Delivers

One of the biggest hurdles I am seeking to overcome is my propensity for thinking too small. I’ve found this to be no small feat given the thought conditioning I’ve long been accustomed to. 

Sure I have grand aspirations for “Great Books, Great Minds.” But admittedly, it wasn’t until recently that I began to expand my thinking to a much higher, quantum level. 

Today, my quest to “Ignite a New World of Human and Business Expansion, One Book at a Time” is reflected in this new mindset. Along with this is my legacy aim of “1-Million Great Books, Great Minds” Network Subscribers by 2030.” 

For some inspiration, I recently turned to a book entitled “The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfilment” by John Lee Dumas. And I must say that his book certainly didn’t disappoint. 

First, a little about John. I became acquainted with his “Fire Nation” community back in 2016 and now am using it as my model for building “Great Books, Great Minds.” As a pioneer in the podcasting world, he has produced a daily episode of his podcast for nearly ten years running, an extraordinary content development feat. In year two, he reached $2 million in sales through his network. 

The biggest source of inspiration I receive from following John and his Entrepreneurs on Fire model is his financial reports which he makes public online each month. Talk about making you wanna stretch….

https://www.eofire.com/income/

In an excerpt in his book, John adds: 

“WE LIVE IN a world that provides limitless opportunity and information at our fingertips. With opportunity comes excitement, and with information comes power. This book will show you how to harness your excitement and maximize your power.”

In my view, his book offers an embarrassment of riches for expanding your life and business to new heights. It was so good that I read it twice, both in hardcover and digitally. There’s a lot to unpack from it so let me do some of the heavy lifting for you. 

Here are my favorite quotes from John:

On the Importance of Being Valuable

“Becoming a person of value allowed me to achieve my goal of financial freedom and fulfillment. [At one point]  I was spending all my energy trying to become this mythical person of success, but what value was I providing? Upon reflection, the answer was simple: none.

On Having a Big Idea

“Your big idea needs to be a combination of your passions and your expertise.”

On His Podcast Show Success Formula

“I keep each interview between fifteen and twenty-five minutes, packed with value.”

On Rendering His Competition Non Existent

“I realized that the higher the barrier, the lower the competition. A daily podcast interviewing the world’s most successful entrepreneurs was such a high barrier to entry that my competition would be nonexistent. That was a race I could win!”

On Identifying Your Target Focus

“What is an avatar? An avatar is one single individual. Your avatar is your perfect customer, your model client, the ideal consumer of your content, your products, your services, and your offers. If you try to resonate with everyone, you will resonate with no one.” 

On the Importance of Mentors

“Set aside time daily to consume the content each potential mentor is creating on all their channels. Leave comments, share their content with others, and send them kind messages. Your job over the next ten days is to get to know each potential mentor and for them to potentially see you.” 

On the Value of Surrounding Yourself With Supportive People

“As the late motivational thought leader Jim Rohn often said ‘you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.’ Who are the five people you spend the most time with? You are the average of those people, for better or worse. For most, it’s for the worse. If you want to change your life, change your environment.”

On Blocking Off Your Calendar

“This is where your calendar becomes your best friend. For over five years, every single Tuesday was completely blocked off in my schedule. Why? Because that was the day I set aside to record and edit eight episodes of Entrepreneurs on Fire.”

On Following One Course Until Success 

“We (at Entrepreneurs On Fire) focus on one thing, go deep, and serve our niche better than anyone else is willing or able to do.”

On Creating a Formidable Offense

“What if, instead of playing defense our entire lives, we played offense? What if we dreamed bigger? Playing offense means spending money on things you love while cutting spending mercilessly on things that are not important to you.” 

On Taking Leaps Outside of Your Comfort Zone

“We love living in our comfort zone. It’s so gosh dang comfortable. However, all the magic happens outside of your comfort zone. It’s scary to push yourself to new limits, take risks and chase your dreams. But that’s the path to uncommon success.” 

On Putting in the Reps

“Are you willing to put in the reps? Are you willing to work at something ten times longer than your closest competition? Are you willing to work so hard that your solution is the best solution by a country mile? When you put in more reps than anyone else might reasonably expect, you create magic.”

On Avoiding Saying Yes to Everything

“For a long time, I said yes to everything. Then I realized that each time I said yes to one thing, I was saying no to everything else I otherwise could be doing with that time. Since that revelation, I’ve been very careful with my commitments.”

On How Value Equals Luck

“The way to attract good luck is to be reliable in a valuable area. The more you repeatedly deliver value, the more people seek you out for that value. Your reputation is a magnet.”

On Being Laser Focused

“In a world where information is abundant and easy to access, the real advantage is knowing where to focus.”

On the Powerful Passion + Value Equation 

“We have one life to live. Find your passion, combine it with the value you can provide the world, and give it your full attention. Then you’ll spend your life doing what you love and impacting the lives of others. If that’s not the definition of fulfillment, what is?”

On Living With Fire and Enthusiasm

“Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points. At the end of the day, we root for people who are doing their best. Be enthusiastic about what you do. What’s the alternative?” 

On Taking Complete, 100% Ownership of Your Life

“It’s amazing how wonderful it feels to take 100 percent ownership of everything in your life. Most people spend so much time, energy, and mental bandwidth looking for people and situations to blame for their lousy lot in life. When you stop playing the blame game and take full ownership for exactly where you are in this world, everything changes.”