024 Pat Flynn: Using a Weird-Looking Device to Get Insight Into Calmness

Pat Flynn is an online entrepreneur, a father and husband who puts family first and is one of the most personable, friendly business owners I know. Pat was laid off from his day job in 2008 and then started an online business. His blog and podcast called ‘Smart Passive Income” is wherePat shares amazing, abundant content and is completely open and transparent about his online learning experiences. Pat attributes mindfulness and meditation as part of the reason for his success.

Contact Info

• Website: www.smartpassiveincome.com
• Blog: Smart Passive Income
• Podcast: Smart Passive Income
• Twitter: @patflynn

Most Influential Person

• Elon Musk (Founder of Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity)

Effect on Emotions

• It's helped me get in tune with what's happening and also figure out how to get deeper into what those things are. Sometimes when I have conversations and I ask questions, whether I'm the one who's needing help or someone else, the surface level questions don't really get into the root of the problem. Like the Toyota Manufacturing strategy of the five whys, it's when you get deeper into those conversations that the realness comes out. So I try to be mindful of the fact that people's initial answers aren't necessarily 'the' answer.

Thoughts on Breathing

• I'm a trumpet player and I would be very focused on breathing. Now I'm taking singing lessons on Skype to try to improve my public speaking and breathing has been very important with that. And so breathing is actually, in a lot of things, the foundation for great things. And so for those things, specifically the performance stuff, I make sure to focus on breathing because it's just the foundation of creating good sound. In life in general, it's just nice to breath in terms of giving yourself space. I work hard as an entrepreneur, but I also schedule in time to breath, or have space

Suggested Resources

• Book: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath
• App: Calm App and the 5 Minute Journal App

Advice for Newbie

If you don't know what it's supposed to be like, it's ok. You're going to figure it out for yourself over time. You should get connected with other people who do know what mindfulness is about. You can learn as you go, you don't have to get it right the first time. You may not even know what you're doing at first, but the more you are conscious about the fact that you're trying to put this into your life, the more likely that it will.