Nine Questions to Awaken the “Zentrepreneur” in You

Hello everyone, and welcome to our 23rd episode of Fearless. The show exists to help people dealing with anxiety and stress and worry and really find techniques and strategies and tools to work through it to achieve a much higher level of performance and honestly, a much more peaceful lifestyle. Okay, and so today's episode, I'm going to host myself solo. You know, I've had some wonderful guests on here, and in fact, next week I've got Mary Pat Knight, who's a transformational leader and an expert in emotional intelligence. We'll have a nice conversation around how do we use EI to work our way through fear. All right. And fear, as I've talked about in the past, is essentially a projection of the mind. It's an illusion and it exists when we see something negative in the future. We see the possibility of failing or hurting ourselves. It's not ever in the present. It's only in the present that we feel what we see and what we think. So when we think negative or see something negative, if we don't change that channel to something positive, Our body, our emotions, our hormones—they they tell us we're right to be afraid. Now fear is not a bad thing; it's just a it's it's an awareness. We want to be aware of what it is we're thinking and what could go wrong, so that we can mitigate any risk and move forward. Now today I'm going to draw from a book I wrote in 2013 called Zentrepreneur. Get Out of the Way and Lead to Create a Culture of Innovation and Fearlessness. And in this book, I designed it to be contemplative. What does that mean? Contemplation means that we examine something or someone without opinion, without judgment. We weigh it. It's mysticism. There's no right and wrong. We're just looking at it from different perspectives. So we could look at fear from different perspectives. We could look at ourselves, our relationships, our jobs from different perspectives. It's almost like saying, what are the positives and what are the negatives or the limitations or the risks so that I can come up with countermeasures to remove those obstacles and get better flow in my life? And flow applies to everything— creativity flow, which is essential to dealing with fear. When we're afraid, we have to get creative. We've got to figure out, how do I get through this? How do I get around this? When we're faced with adversity, what can I do with my skill set? What can I do with my mind? What can I do with my body to make my way through this? All right, so Zentrepreneur poses 9 questions that I have found immensely helpful in my 38 years of consulting and even before that in my management executive role. So the first question as entrepreneur is, what if? What if? You know, what if I do this? Or what if I stop doing this? It's contemplative and it's creative. So what if I start a company? Which is precisely what I asked 38 years ago. And then what if I write a book? What if I join with Fuel? What if I start a podcast? What if I start 2 or 3 podcasts? I have 3 podcasts right now. What if I have an AI twin, a replica of me that people can access for coaching anywhere in the world in multiple languages? An AI bot, if you will, or twin loaded loaded with 40 years of my work and my insights, hundreds of articles I've written, hundreds of YouTube clips, hundreds of interviews, hundreds— all of my books, 20 books, all loaded into an AI twin that has perfect recall. In fact, I have conversations with my twin frequently to test it. I also have a Mastery Lab coming out which will feature things like the 9 questions in Zentrepreneur and my entire body of work. The Mastery Lab will help teach skills, specific skills and tools, and then allow participants to interact and role-play with my AI twin to really prove they get it, so to speak. It's a phenomenal opportunity. And if you're not familiar with Fuel, the producer of this show, Go to myfuel.io and take a look. We've got phenomenal instructors, and we've got several, a number of our instructors now with the AI twins available. I have 3 courses that I'll also be drawing from today on the show: Leading with Wisdom, Creative Problem Solving, and Beyond Doubt, Living Beyond Fear, Beyond Worry. How do you do that? So I'm going to draw from all of those because they're all incorporated now into into my work, which includes Zentrepreneur. So the what if— I've been what-ifing my whole life. What if I try this? What if I take a risk? What if I maybe go a different way? What if this relationship just isn't working? What if I don't like my job? That's happened before, and I've just decided I need to make a change. So now, what ifs can be positive and exploratory. Sort of, you're on a journey, an adventure. You're dreaming. You're looking at things in terms of opportunities and potential. What-ifs can also be negative. Like, oh, what if something goes wrong? What if I get— what if I'm late? Jim Cathcart, one of our Fuel instructors, talks about the what-if in that way and how to get over it. Just do it. So, what if you're late? You're late. You know, call ahead and tell people you're in traffic. Jim likes to say that. So, What-ifs can be positive. What-ifs can be negative or difficult. And what I'm saying is that in Zentrepreneur, we're using what-if to find better ways to do things. So Zentrepreneur, if it isn't obvious, is combining Zen, which is inner peace, like from Beyond Doubt, inner peace. It's combining, it's balance and harmony and rhythm and flow. So Zen is very peaceful. Graceful, smooth. It's like an Olympic swimmer or athlete. They just look graceful. All right, they're moving through the water very quickly, but they're graceful. Whereas you see, I go into a lot of companies and it looks like they don't know how to swim. They're in the water and they're thrashing all over the place and it's chaotic. So Zen entrepreneurship brings in harmony and balance to an organization where the culture is Cash is flowing. Inventory is flowing. Creativity is flowing. The people are flowing. It's a harmonious— it's like a symphony. It's a harmonious flow. So that's the Zen part. Now, of course, you can think peace all day, but if you don't do anything with it, if you don't act, well, nothing really changes. So Zentrepreneurs— and I believe there's a Zentrepreneur in everyone— is essentially our spirit seeking harmony. Adventure and improvement and a life of excitement and prosperity and generosity, a life of pure bliss, if you will. And I've managed to accomplish this over the years where I live in bliss, and there's actually nothing that I'm afraid of. Okay, people say, oh, are you— aren't you afraid of death? No, because I don't believe in death. The body dissolves and whatnot, but spiritually we continue. Everything in the universe is cyclical. It goes around and around and around. Look at the planets. Look at the solar system. Look at winter and spring and summer. Look at plants that die and come back again. Everything is cyclical. Okay. And so once you understand that there is no death, it's just an exit, if you will, from one stage in our existence. But there's no end to our existence. And so when you actually believe that, which I do, what do I have to worry about? Here's the key. Anything you worry about only hurts you. It doesn't affect anything external. It only hurts you. So if you're worrying and you're anxious and you're— you've heard me speak about the map of consciousness. So when you're in that ego, fear-based, dualistic worry state of mind where you never have enough, you have to have more and more and more and more, that's the ego. And when you think that's you, your false self, your small s self, when you think that's you, Court, you go through life, you know, you actually don't go through life with life. You go through life with fear. And until you let go of that fear, you work your way through it, you attract more and more positivity into your life. We attract whatever it is we feel and project from our heart electromagnetically. We we receive what we sow. We reap what we sow. Everything is karmically connected. So when we get rid of the idea that anything can go wrong, because even if it does and we learn from it, we gain wisdom. So everything is for a positive growth reason. Everything. I can't tell you how many mistakes I've made over the years. Trying to navigate my way through my business. I started at 28 years old. I essentially had no credibility, no publicity. All right, and I'm trying to I'm trying to make it as a consultant. Now why am I doing this? Is because I didn't really care for my two prior corporate jobs, and I wanted to do something entrepreneurial. I've been an entrepreneur since I was a kid. So I started asking the first question: What if? What if? I actually listen to my heart? What if I listen and discover my calling? And my calling is to teach. My calling is to give and to help people. That's just my mission is very simple. It's to help millions of people around the world live a more productive, happy, joyful life, peaceful life. So how in the world am I gonna do that? We'll get to the how question. The first one is the what if. So I want you to stop and just think about What if I made one change in my life? What if I let go of one thing that is weighing me down? What if? Then, we move on to the second question, why? Now, these are simple questions, but they are deep. Why should I do this? What are the reasons for it? In business, we use a tool called the force field analysis. The forces for making a change and the forces against. Essentially, why should we do this? And the third question as an entrepreneur is, why not? So we're contemplating, we're weighing. What if I write a book? Why should I? Well, it might help me gain credibility. It might help me help a whole lot of people around the world, help me on my mission to give and to help people. This is important. I didn't write a book to make money. I didn't write the book for me, really. I wrote the book for other people and the money follows and the credibility follows. But the number one reason I started writing books was to give, to offer something. And now through Fuel, I have 3 courses. I have my AI twin with mastery labs and microclasses where you can learn a specific skill very quickly and then practice it. So, those are all what-ifs. What if I do this? What if I start a podcast? Why do it? It's an opportunity for me to help people, to help you, to share what I've experienced, including all the mistakes I've made and the corners I've trapped myself into, and to get creative to get out of that. So why do it? You got to have a why, something that really helps you in your heart or you emotionally. It's not work. You just can't wait to get up in the morning and do your thing. It's who you are. It's what the gifts you have to give. And we all are blessed with gifts. And when we give those gifts to the world in a positive way, we feel good. We feel great. It's joy. So when you live a life of joy and bliss and peace, it's because you're giving away your gifts. And the more you give away of something real, the more you have. The more love you give, the more love you feel, and the more love you have to give. The more joy you give, the more joyful you feel. But be careful, because misery loves company. If you're commiserating with people and you see everything negative and wrong in the world, you're just asking for more in your world. Meanwhile, I'm over here having a great time doing my thing. And even problems— I, I'm grateful for problems because they give me an opportunity to do something, to be creative. So, one of my courses at Fuel is creative problem solving. How do we handle our problems in the most creative, optimal way? They are going to always come as they actually should. It makes life exciting. So, what if I make a change? What if I do something? What if I take this risk? Why should I do it? How does this benefit the world? How does this benefit me? What is the win-win relationship? And then, Why not do it? What are some of the— where could I really fail potentially? Now, in my case, starting a practice at 28, no credibility, no experience, very little money to get started with, a lot of reasons not to do it. So, huh, now what do I do? What if I write a book? I didn't know how to write a book. And this is a long time ago. There was no YouTube, there was no internet. It was no Google, so to speak. It was like, you want to learn how to write a book, you need to read a book. Okay? Or you need to talk to someone who can help you with that book. So, that leads us to number 4 question as an entrepreneur. Question number 4 is who? So, we have what if, why, why not, and who? Now, the who is critical. Because the who can help you with the why nots, and the who can also help you with the next of the questions. The fifth question is how. So who can help me with how? Like, if I don't know how to do something, maybe I need to learn from somebody who does. And I can learn from people in a number of ways: reading books on them, meeting them, talking with them. Interacting with them, even if it's virtual. Okay, I can, I can watch these days, I can watch podcasts and listen to some of the smartest people, brightest people, most helpful people in the world. I can, I, I can, with artificial intelligence now, I can use it in a very positive way. There are a lot of people afraid, if you will, of AI, but it's also, it's, it's like the internet. People were afraid of the internet. People were afraid that in the, the year 2000, the world was going to come apart. People fear all kinds of things, but AI can be used very positively. So I'm part— I can be part of your who. You can interact with me 24/7 in a number of different languages. You go to myfuel.io, you go to instructors, you go to John J. Murphy, and there you have it. And then you get a 7-day free trial. And if you're loving what you're seeing, all the courses, the microclasses, the AIs, The blogs, everything. Wow! Back in my day, the who was in many cases it was virtual, but it was through books. So I was reading all kinds of books on how to do what I wanted to do. And I also discovered that if my what is clear enough and my why is important enough and powerful enough to me, the how shows up. Okay, there's no way 38 years ago I could have predicted YouTube, Google, podcasts. Even the internet was just coming along to become available to us. I couldn't predict an AI twin. I couldn't predict the fact that I'd be working with companies in China and Brazil and Argentina and all over Europe and South America and Mexico and Canada and the U.S. I couldn't. I I had a vision of maybe hope at that point. Someday I really do want to reach the whole world. But back then I didn't, I didn't know how. And but the how didn't stop me. All I needed to know how to do was start taking some baby steps. So that led me to some more what-ifs. What if I start a workshop? I was failing if in trying to knock on doors and sell my services because I had very little credibility. People didn't know me. I wasn't published. Who's this guy trying to sell us leadership development strategy and change? Even though I had done that in my prior executive role. Okay. Who's going to hire this guy? So, go back to what if. And I started a workshop actually and offered it at a local university. I got people to come to that workshop. They loved it. My evaluations were great. I got 2 clients out of it, including a bank that ended up loaning me money. But I also made mistakes. And I asked a university professor there, somebody to sit in and watch it and give me feedback. And when I finished, I asked her for feedback and she said, John, do you want the truth? I said, yeah, of course I do. But that, you know, that might sting a little bit. She goes, your content was great, but I think you could learn a lot around delivery. True, because I didn't know really how to deliver. My programming, my paradigm was professors standing at lecterns in school, you know, honestly, in many cases, very boring. So she suggested I learn adult learning theory and experiential learning and simulations to help really engage audiences, which actually led not only to half-day workshops and one-day workshops, but to 5-day Kaizen events and 5-day Executive retreats where it was five days zipped by because it was interactive. It wasn't lecture; it was here's a tool. Now let's play with it. All right, here's a process map. Now let's map a key process in your business or key process in your life, and let's examine it end to end. And let's look at the various touch points and the what I call the white space, the gaps in between tasks and things like that. And let's find a better way to. Zen it, to Zentrepreneur it. You can Zentrepreneur your own life. You can Zentrepreneur your department, your business. It's basically the application of very thoughtful, deep, peaceful thinking, seeking harmony and balance and flow across a value stream or throughout your life, where just life flows because you are in alignment with source. The, the source that gives us life, the power. So when we're aligned with that, it's like riding the wave. We are riding the wave of change because we are aligned with it. We're not fighting it. We're not resisting it. We're not complaining about it. We're riding it. And it's exciting to do this. It's incredibly exciting to ride the waves of life. Now, the next question. So we've got what if, why, Why not? Okay. We've got who can help us with all of that. Who can we model? Who could mentor or coach us? Who can we learn from? And there's all kinds of ways to learn the who and surround yourself. It's absolutely essential who you surround yourself with if you really want to climb, so to speak, the ladder of inner peace and true success. To me, true success is joy. And inner peace. Money, of course, money is helpful, but I know a lot of people with a whole lot of money that aren't very happy. Okay? And they're stressed and they're anxious and their bodies are falling apart and they're aging faster than they should. And it's just, it's, it's simply not what I consider a successful life. So you have to define what success looks for you. What if it, so that you can find ways to bring that success and joy and peace into your life. And then you just do it. So the next one, the 6th question is, when, when do I do this? Now, this is where the Zentrepreneur says, I do it now. I don't plan this for next year. I don't plan this for next quarter. I begin taking steps right now. And maybe the first step, if you want to write a book, Is to read a book about how to write a book, which is what I did back in the day. Or now you can AI it, you can Google it, you can YouTube it. How do you do something? You just you learn and you do it. So the whole idea of the when is now. The only time that ever exists is now. It's always now. So what can I do right now? To move in the direction of my what if, my mission, my vision. What can I do right now? And that might be I need to assess the risks of why not do it. What could go wrong? I've talked about the FMEA tool since in one of my courses on fuel failure mode and effects analysis, which is essentially asking what could go wrong and how serious would that be and what's the likelihood and what can I what could I basically do to to mitigate that risk or or Eliminate it so that there's there's no risk. So this leads to the the next. It's not so much a question; it's it's I call it yeah but. So we've got you know the the who and the how and the when, and and now we've got the yeah buts. What's that all about? Well, you've heard yeah but a lot in your life. I'm sure you have it, and I certainly have too. The yeah but is resistance. Yeah, but you could never do that, John. Yeah, yeah, but you don't have the skill. You don't have the credibility. You, you don't have the money. You, you're dreaming. You could never make money as a musician or an artist or, you know, a dancer. We've heard things like that from parents. We've heard those things from friends. The yeah, buts. Yeah, but this isn't a good time. You hear it in business all the time. Yeah, but what's really wrong with the way we're doing it now? It's not— why should we have to change? So the yeah, buts. Now, this intrapreneur expects the yeah, buts and anticipates the yeah, buts and comes up with preprogrammed responses, what Disney calls preprogrammed responses. We know things are going to go wrong, so we're going to be prepared in a standardized way to deal with it. Yeah, so something's going to go wrong. Okay, I mean, I don't have the credibility. What can I do starting right now to gain credibility? Okay, I don't have the experience. Well, guess what? We're gaining experience every day, especially if we're taking risks and really challenging ourselves. You're going to make mistakes. That's experience. And that's also where we gain wisdom. We gain wisdom from mistakes and experience. We don't gain wisdom sitting in a classroom reading a textbook. That's for sure. So now the the eighth question, if you will, or challenge is called I call it so what? So we've got the yeah but resistance, and now we have the so what? What does that mean? I'll tell you a quick story. I went back to a Notre Dame football reunion some years ago that where where I played, and got to see some of my. My old friends, people at different age groups, people that were you know NFL Hall of Famers, people that you know hung up the cleats after college like I did. And here's what was interesting to me. It really struck me is that I left feeling like a lot of these guys that I idolized back in the day were going downhill. Their glory days were in the past. You know, and reminiscing about this and that, which is wonderful. Okay, feels good. But if if your glory days are in the past, or you're going through life, you know, because you got trophies on the shelf and you've done some great things in the past, that doesn't do anything for you in the future, in the now, unless you put it behind you and seek continuous growth, continuous learning. For me. Leaving the football field brought me to the stage. It's a new kind of performance, but it's an opportunity for me to give and to help people. And it's just like a game where you have to get prepared and psyched up, so to speak, and ready to go. And it's a thrill. And afterwards, when you're talking with people or signing books, which is like signing autographs, Okay, it's thrilling. And I see myself honestly as never retiring. Why? Because I love what I'm doing. It's play. It's not work. I continue to learn and grow from writing books to writing blogs and creating podcasts, creating labs, mastery labs for people. I'm still climbing. And I think that's important for any leader. To commit to continuous improvement and keep climbing and put the past in the past. So what? So what about the past? Where are you now and where are you going? Which leads to the 9th question, which is now what? So we've got yeah, but, so what, now what? And I can't tell you how many times I've been in that now what phase where I mentioned earlier, I'm I've got myself into a little bit of a corner here. What am I going to do? And this is where it really triggers creativity. So, we're exercising that right-brain intuitive connect-the-dots part of us with the left brain, the facts, the details, the logic, the rationale, the reasoning. So, essentially, if we've got a bunch of dots that we can't see the connection on, the intuition helps us connect those dots. So on the left side, so to speak, we have tactical work, and on the right side, strategic work. Both are important. You know, I recommend you use both sides of your brain just like you use both hands. All right. So when we're at the now what phase, it leads right back to what I was talking about with continuous improvement, continuous growth. All right. And the thing is, is we can't, we can't really predict necessarily where Everything's going to be five years from now, if not one year from now, especially with the accelerated pace of AI and things like that. But we can take steps each day on our now what? Now what am I going to do? And I love this tip from Roderick Jefferson, who was on the show a couple of weeks ago. And Roderick said, "You know what? I do this now. Three, I write three things." I'm going to do each day for my professional life and one thing I'm going to do for my personal life. Just 3 things. It's pretty simple. So, the now what could be, I'm going to reach out today and bring on another exciting guest for the podcast. Okay? I'm going to write a blog or an article. Okay? Something to share. All right? I'm going to create a new mastery lab. All right, I'm going to go to an event and network with people. I'm going to make a few couple of phone calls to people that I can network with, professional things like that. I'm going to listen to a podcast that's helpful. I'm going to sign up, okay, for a channel. And I'd urge you to sign up for this channel. Please join me. I've got some phenomenal guests each week, great tips and ideas. I'm learning as much as anybody else from from these interviews. So, the now what can be that simple. And a personal thing you could write down is, you know what, I'm going to go to the gym or take a walk after work, or I'm going to do something just for me. There's something to celebrate and calm down. I'm going to take 20 minutes to meditate. I do that every single morning. Okay, just start with quiet. I'm going to put my phone and my computer and my electronics aside, and I'm just going to take a little time to myself. to get centered, to feel that inner peace, if you will. Those are the 9 questions. We've got what if, why and why not, who and how and when, and then the yeah, but, so what, and now what. Those questions have guided me through my journey in wonderful ways because they keep me contemplating, they keep me navigating, they keep me learning. And so I give those to you. I also urge you to share this episode with family and friends, to like it and share it, to bring people onto this show. We're growing. This is our 23rd episode. Next Friday, I've got Mary Pat Knight, as I mentioned before. Mary Pat is a wonderful expert, if you will, executive coach and transformational leader on things like emotional intelligence. And on emotional intelligence, which is a critical differentiator Among leaders, people with self-awareness and social awareness and self-management and social team management, things like that. Those core competencies are a huge differentiator in leadership. And I'm actually hosting a Fuel production on Monday, this coming Monday, Mindset Matters, and it's on emotional intelligence. And the more you can learn about emotional intelligence, the more effective you're going to be in life and in relationships, essentially in everything. So I urge you to do that. That's it for today's episode. Take a look at Zentrepreneur too. This is a wonderful book with wonderful endorsements. You can get it on Amazon. Take a look at that and go to my website, johnjmurphy.org. If you want to reach me, you can email me at john@johnjmurphy.org. Visit me on LinkedIn and message me. I'm here for you. All right, that's it for today. And, uh, we'll see you, uh, Monday hopefully on Mindset Matters. Otherwise, we'll see you next Friday on Fearless with Mary Pat Knight.