Lessons - Why Learning Everything Is Killing Your Business | Pat Flynn - Smart Passive Income Founder

Summary

Summary of "Lessons - Why Learning Everything Is Killing Your Business | Pat Flynn - Smart Passive Income Founder"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Success Story with Scott D. Clary
• Host: Scott D. Clary, entrepreneur, business executive, author, educator & speaker (@scottdclary)
• Episode: Lessons - Why Learning Everything Is Killing Your Business | Pat Flynn - Smart Passive Income Founder
• Release Date: July 27, 2025

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of the Success Story Podcast, host Scott D. Clary welcomes Pat Flynn, the founder of Smart Passive Income, to discuss a critical issue facing entrepreneurs today: the detrimental effects of knowledge hoarding on business growth. The conversation delves into the necessity of transitioning from passive learning to purposeful action, overcoming fear, and implementing effective strategies to foster sustained success.

Shift from Passive Learning to Purposeful Action

Tim Varus kicks off the discussion by emphasizing the transformative power of just-in-time information over traditional learning methods.

“Everything I want is on the other side of action, I spend way less time learning and way more time doing.”
— Tim Varus [00:53]

He reflects on his personal journey, admitting that while podcasts and continuous learning are valuable, the key to success lies in balancing knowledge acquisition with actionable steps.

Overcoming Fear and Taking Action

The conversation transitions to addressing the fear that often hinders entrepreneurs from taking decisive action. Tim Varus highlights the concept of "fear setting," inspired by Tim Ferriss, to mitigate paralyzing fears by realistically assessing worst-case scenarios.

“Understanding what's the worst possible outcome that could ever happen and actually understanding is it likely that it's going to take place... then it's a lot easier to take action.”
— Tim Varus [02:15]

This mindset shift helps entrepreneurs move past the fear of failure, encouraging them to embrace action over stagnation.

Strategies to Combat Knowledge Hoarding

The Joy of Opting Out

Pat Flynn introduces the idea that the fear of missing out (FOMO) drives many to accumulate unnecessary information, leading to what he terms "squirrel syndrome." He proposes an alternative strategy: the joy of opting out.

“I'm going to say no, not yet. I'll get to that later... What I've already said yes to... is what I'm focusing on.”
— Pat Flynn [04:20]

By consciously declining new projects or information that do not align with current priorities, entrepreneurs can maintain focus and reduce overwhelm.

Digital Shoebox Strategy

To manage residual FOMO, Flynn suggests creating a "digital shoebox" where irrelevant information can be stored without occupying mental space.

“Put it in a Notion folder, put it in Evernote, put it in a notepad... 98% of the time, you will never, ever, ever go back to that thing.”
— Pat Flynn [05:10]

This strategy allows for the acknowledgment of tempting information without allowing it to disrupt ongoing projects.

Time Blocking

Flynn elaborates on the concept of time blocking as a shield to protect focused work periods from interruptions.

“Time blocking as like a shield... literally blocking out other things that could happen during that time.”
— Pat Flynn [05:45]

By allocating specific time slots for deep work, entrepreneurs can enter a flow state, enhancing productivity and ensuring that personal and professional lives remain balanced.

Pat's Experiment with YouTube Shorts: A Success Story

A pivotal moment in the episode is Flynn’s account of his experiment with YouTube Shorts, illustrating the power of consistent action.

“About 300 days ago, I said, I'm going to experiment on YouTube shorts... I was going to do this for 60 days.”
— Pat Flynn [06:30]

Despite initial low engagement, Flynn persisted, dedicating time each day to create content. His commitment paid off when one video went viral, leading to exponential growth:

“Now that channel... has now just recently crossed cumulatively 2 billion views. We're at 1.6 million subscribers. It is a five-figure income on its own from ads...”
— Pat Flynn [08:00]

This success story underscores the importance of showing up consistently, refining skills through practice, and remaining patient for results.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

The episode concludes with actionable insights for entrepreneurs struggling with knowledge overload:

1. Prioritize Action Over Learning: Focus on implementing ideas rather than endlessly acquiring knowledge.
2. Embrace Fear Setting: Assess and understand fears to diminish their impact on decision-making.
3. Adopt the Joy of Opting Out: Consciously decline projects that do not align with current goals to maintain focus.
4. Utilize the Digital Shoebox: Store distracting information externally to free mental space.
5. Implement Time Blocking: Protect dedicated work periods to enhance productivity and work-life balance.
6. Commit to Consistency: Regular, persistent effort can lead to unexpected and significant breakthroughs.

By integrating these strategies, entrepreneurs can overcome the paralysis of knowledge hoarding, foster sustainable business growth, and achieve lasting success.

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Notable Quotes:

• “Everything I want is on the other side of action, I spend way less time learning and way more time doing.” — Tim Varus [00:53]
• “Understanding what's the worst possible outcome that could ever happen and actually understanding is it likely that it's going to take place... then it's a lot easier to take action.” — Tim Varus [02:15]
• “I'm going to say no, not yet. I'll get to that later... What I've already said yes to... is what I'm focusing on.” — Pat Flynn [04:20]
• “Put it in a Notion folder, put it in Evernote, put it in a notepad... 98% of the time, you will never, ever, ever go back to that thing.” — Pat Flynn [05:10]
• “Time blocking as like a shield... literally blocking out other things that could happen during that time.” — Pat Flynn [05:45]
• “Now that channel... has now just recently crossed cumulatively 2 billion views. We're at 1.6 million subscribers. It is a five-figure income on its own from ads...” — Pat Flynn [08:00]

This episode serves as a compelling reminder that in the entrepreneurial journey, action, focus, and strategic planning trump the endless pursuit of knowledge.

Transcript

[Scott]

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[Tim]

Just in time information transforms productivity by.

[Scott]

Shifting your focus from passive learning to purposeful action learning. Learn why fear often disguises itself as preparation, how time blocking protects your focus, and why consistent effort beats perfect timing when building lasting success.

[Tim]

This is the perfect example of, of just in time information like that you. You lived it. And that's, that's such a powerful idea. I feel like, I feel like I haven't been the perfect proponent of this my entire career, my entire entrepreneurial journey. But I can tell you that when I, when I sort of have realized that everything I want is on the other side of action, I spend way less time learning and way more time doing. And I've actually even. Listen. There's nothing wrong with podcasts. I can never tell you not to listen to podcasts. I'd be, you know, shooting myself in the foot. But there's a point where you have to stop listening to podcasts and you have to start doing shit. And, um, Tim Varus is so good. I love that. If this were easy, what would it look like? Another thing that I think entrepreneurs get in their head about is, or the reason why they accumulate so much knowledge is because they're scared of taking action or they're scared of a negative result. Tim Ferriss has another idea that actually fixes that. It's fear setting. It's understanding what's the worst possible outcome that could ever happen and, and actually understanding is it likely that it's going to take place. And more often than not, the answer is no. Like, you go to the extreme, right? I'm sure you know this concept, but it's like, okay, if the business doesn't work out and I can't afford rent, you know, the worst, worst worst is I'm homeless My wife leaves me. That that's never going to happen. And then when you start to realize that the worst case scenario is never really going to happen, then it's a lot easier to take action, which is really what you have to do. Sort of spoken about how just in time information is very different from the way most of us were taught to learn. But if you were going to look back and see how you made the transition from just, just in case information to just in time information, if you were going to give the most useful idea so somebody can start to shift the way that they think and the way that they learn and the way that they do, what would that idea be for somebody that is right now stuck in this knowledge hoarding mode of their life? And again, I mentioned before, like, who listens to this show? It's people that are in businesses, are building their first business or their executives. But a lot of executives that listen to the show, they would love to start their thing, but they're scared shitless to do it for a variety of reasons like we just discussed. So how do you switch your thinking?

[Pat]

I think thinking about the why behind the draw to learn so much for everybody it's different. But in general, it typically comes down to fomo. We don't want to miss out on that next thing that everybody's talking about. And so we get drawn to it. And now we have squirrel syndrome and we're kind of running all over the place, right? We have this fear that if by saying no to that thing that's coming across our plate, even though we might not need it right now, that we're going to miss out on something. And just we as humans, we don't want to miss out. We don't want to be left behind or not be a part of the crowd. It's just, it's just human nature, whether you know you're doing it or not. So there was a strategy that was put into place a while back called Jomo, that there was even a book, I think, called Jomo, which is Joy of Missing Out. But I don't like that. Like, that's just kidding ourselves. You don't feel joy because you're missing out on stuff. You're just kind of pretending. So I have a different strategy and that is the joy of opting out by you saying, I see that there, I recognize it. But I'm going to say no, not yet. I'll get to that later. Because this thing I've already said yes to or this project that I'm working on, is the thing that I'm focusing on right now. That is what's important to me. It almost re ups the energy to the thing you've already said yes to. And one strategy is to get around that, because you'll still have fomo. Create your own digital shoebox for those things, or maybe an actual shoebox, meaning if you come across something that's not relevant to what it is you're learning next, put it in a Notion folder, put it in Evernote, put it in a notepad, whatever it might be. Now it's out of your brain, but you still know you could go back to it if you wanted to. 98% of the time, you will never, ever, ever go back to that thing. It's simply a strategy for you to finally move forward into that. Into that thing that you're doing. The second component of making progress is giving yourself time to do this. And there's a strategy in the book I call time blocking. You may have heard of time blocking before. It's where you literally put a block of time in your calendar and you say what you're going to do there, and that's fine. But I want to use time blocking as like a. As like a, a shield. Like you're literally blocking out other things that could happen during that time and doing everything in your power to within that time. Just focus on that thing to get into that flow state where you're starting to challenge yourself a little bit more and get a little bit deeper into that thing, because you are literally shielding everything else from around that time. And for different people, that means different things. It might mean asking your secretary or assistant to say, like, hey, for the next two hours, like, no calls. Like, I have to be in here by myself for the next two hours to learn this thing. It might mean asking your spouse or people around the house to just kind of understand that during this time, you're going to be all in on the thing. You're going all in. And however you want to balance that with time, that you are all in with your family as well. That's one important thing I've learned as a parent and husband, as an entrepreneur, is like, I used to blur those lines between personal and business all the time. And it was not fair to either of those parts of my life. And so to compartmentalize and go all in on my family, as much as I'm compartmentalizing and going all into my business is really key. And to just see those things on the calendar, month by month, I can make sure that I'm balancing it as. As well as I can. One strategy I have for a lot of high performers that if they want to fit in something, but they're also so busy, is similar to how when you receive a paycheck, you pay yourself first, right? You grow your nest egg. You pay yourself first before you pay anybody else or any bills. You take a little chunk out of that paycheck and put it into something that grows and grows and grows over time. You could do the same thing with your time on these separate projects or inspirations you have. So perhaps it might mean for a period of time, waking up a little bit earlier. I did that when I was writing the book because I knew that I would not have any distractions before the kids got up and I could just wake up for me before I wake up for somebody else or some other things and tasks that I have to do. And that's really important as well. I mean, I could go on and on and on, Scott, about different strategies. I mean, there's the idea of giving yourself an allocated amount of time to have that focus on one specific thing, right? You might give yourself. If you're going to experiment with going on YouTube and doing shorts or reels or TikToks and you're like, okay, I want to give this a shot. Instead of just going like, okay, I'm going to try it for a couple of days and see what happens if nothing happens. And then I guess I'm not good. You need to give it a shot. So what I did recently, this was 300 days ago. About 300 days ago, I said, I'm going to experiment on YouTube shorts. I have a Pokemon YouTube channel that's at one and a half million subs.

[Tim]

That's killing it, dude. I saw that. That's incredible.

[Pat]

It's a separate story, but I decided to start a shorts channel separate from that. Still Pokemon. I open a pack every day, and it's either a good hit or a bad hit. And I just wanted to see if I could get some momentum on the algorithm there. I didn't link to it or mention it at all. And I said, I'm going to do this for 60 days. And if I get to the end of 60 days, I go daily for 60 days, then I've won. It doesn't matter what the results are. I've given it a shot, and I'm going to base my win and my, my, my, my happiness, my joy about this on the fact that I showed up every day for 60 days and that's going to be the win. Not if I get a lot of views or not, because you can't always control that, but you can control you showing up every day. And so what happened in the beginning went live daily on, on TikTok and I also repurposed it for, for shorts and reels. And it would take me like 45 minutes. But I found the time. I woke up a little bit earlier or stayed up a little bit later, started to batch process some of them to do multiple of them in one time or in one sitting. And after 30 days I only had about 200 or 300 views per video. And old me would have said by then, man, it's been a month. Like I'm not seeing any momentum here. Like I'm a failure, I'm bad at this. But I was only halfway through the experiment. 60 days, no matter what, was going to be the win for me. But not only that, I did see improvement in my editing. By putting the reps in, I went from 45 minutes per video to 10. And so even if I moved on to something else, I, I will have gained some skills and have acquired some ways to get better at other things that would have involved my business and other things that I have going on. Now. Day 35 comes around, one of those videos hits 750,000 views and I'm like, oh my gosh. And all the videos start to surge up. And today that channel that was started just about 300 days ago that I didn't link to from any of my other properties has now just recently crossed cumulatively 2 billion views. We're at 1.6 million subscribers. It is a five figure income on its own from ads and all those kinds of things. It's allowed for opportunities. Like the Detroit Lions football team invited me to come and open a pack on their field. Because they open a pack, their social media guy opens a pack before every game for good luck. He reached out to me and we connected. And I was able to fly out to Detroit and open a pack of Pokemon and, and get to know people who work for the Detroit Lions and build a relationship with them. And that's just one of many things and people that I've connected with just as a result of showing up, getting the reps in, knowing that it wasn't going to be forever because there was a stopping point. And that's important too. Like nothing else mattered during those 60 days other than the work I was already committed to. I wasn't allowing new projects to insert themselves. This was a, this was like a petri dish that I was able to focus on, and it worked.

[Host]

Thanks for tuning in. If you found this valuable, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you want to dive deeper into this conversation, check out the links in the description to watch the full episode. See you in the next one.