Disappear For 2-4 Hours A Day (The Millionaire Productivity Routine)
By Dan Koe
Summary
## Key takeaways - **Focus over Hours: Millionaires Prioritize Right Work**: Success isn't about working long hours, but about focusing on the right tasks. Sam Altman emphasizes that clarity on what to focus on is more crucial than the sheer number of hours worked, as most time is often wasted on non-essential activities. [00:35], [00:46] - **Build vs. Maintain: Two Work Phases**: Distinguish between 'building' (creating a new foundation) which requires significant upfront work, and 'maintenance' (streamlining existing systems) which can often be done in 1-4 hours daily once established. [03:26], [03:36] - **Psychic Entropy: Distractions Drain Creative Energy**: The modern mind is split by distractions like regrets, anxieties, and open tasks, leading to stress and reduced creative energy. These distractions are problems within your productivity system that must be solved to achieve laser focus. [08:15], [10:30] - **Flow State: The Intersection of Skill and Challenge**: Achieving a flow state, where life feels meaningful, occurs when the challenge of a task aligns with your skill level. This state is nature's signal that you are on the right path, driving personal evolution. [11:38], [11:58] - **Deadlines: The Procrastinator's Edge**: Procrastination isn't inherently bad; it's human nature. For many successful entrepreneurs, waiting until the last minute triggers intense focus and creativity, making their best work happen under pressure. [21:14], [21:30] - **Rest: The Secret Weapon of the Greats**: Visionaries and innovators throughout history often succeeded with surprisingly low work hours. Working intensely for 1-4 hours and then resting is crucial, as focus is finite and recovery enhances subsequent work quality. [25:14], [26:24]
Topics Covered
- Focus is the True Force Multiplier for Success.
- Your Mind's RAM: The Key to Unlocking Focus.
- Entropy: The Secret Driver of Evolution and Purpose.
- Achieve Flow: Match Your Skill to the Challenge.
- Rest: The Secret to Creative Genius and Success.
Full Transcript
block out one hour a day work on one
meaningful project aim for One Vision
for your future take it one day at a
time you don't need more motivation you
need more clarity you don't need more
time you need more Focus this video will
teach you how to unlock insane focus on
demand and the reason for making this is
because most people think that they have
to work like a millionaire in order to
become a millionaire but the first
misunderstanding there is that most
people don't know how millionaire work
and there are two examples of this the
first being Sam Altman from open AI
quoting Sam focus is a force multiplier
on work almost everyone I've ever met
would be well served by spending more
time thinking about what to focus on it
is much more important to work on the
right thing than it is to work many
hours most people waste most of their
time on stuff that doesn't matter once
you have figured out what to do be
unstoppable about getting your small
handful of priorities accomplished
quickly I have yet to meet a slow moving
person who is very successful and a
second example is Tes Dosa who is a
low-key copywriter and just a cool guy
to follow on Twitter I know an
entrepreneur who works 14 hours a day
and is stuck living in the basement I
know an entrepreneur who works 5 hours a
day and is built and sold three
companies for 100 million plus each the
value isn't in how many hours you work
but where you focus your attention
awareness Consciousness and third is
myself I would argue that 90% to 95% of
my workday are 4 hours or less sometimes
they go down to 2 sometimes they go up
to 6 sometimes when I'm building
something they go up to 12 but honestly
never usually that much like I take
breaks in between that so the point here
is that you don't need more time than
you already have that's the realization
you need to make if your excuse is time
to that is preventing you from actually
starting building your dreams cuz it
doesn't make sense it's imposs possible
to have more time than you have everyone
starts somewhere people don't start with
a fake millionaire routine they start
with what they have so while I've mostly
worked for 4 hours a day up until now it
wasn't like that when I was just
starting out I didn't have 12 hours a
day I didn't have 4 hours a day I worked
a job I had other responsibilities I was
building something on the side during
that time I worked for 1 to two hours a
day and that's what led to this the
entrepreneurs that decide to work more
usually enjoy working more and a lot of
them I mean I preach the 4-Hour Work Day
as if it's a fit for everyone because
that's how you get the point across you
be confident and somewhat polarizing so
people actually so your words don't get
watered down and people actually get use
from them so I understand why
entrepreneurs that work a lot of time
tell people to work a lot of time this
is the birth of hustle culture but often
times the people that feel like they
have to work a long time and try to
force themselves to work a long time and
they don't see that work as play it's
often at their own psychological expense
they are lacking quality in their work
because they are working too long and
therefore if their work were higher
quality they would see better results in
less time with less work and their life
would just be all around better
productivity is like Fitness and you
wouldn't train 8 hours a day with no
food or sleep and expect to make
progress there are two types of work
first is building when you are building
the foundation of something new like a
product service or brand this requires a
lot of upfront work the second is
maintenance when you are feeling the
foundation you've built with a
streamlined productivity system like
writing content marketing yourself
building an audience or fulfilling on
your product or service this requires 1
to 4 hours a day depending on your skill
level or choice of work people trying to
change their life or quit their job
often get discouraged at the amount of
work it takes to build not maintain and
people don't understand that building
isn't a permanent thing it may be 6
weeks of working extra or working more
on the weekends and you're maintaining
things along the way but it's not
permanent that's not your permanent
State that's something you do maybe once
or twice a year to reverse entropy of
your business and keep yourself alive
and relevant and to keep new Revenue
generating so I'll actually be writing
about this in a future newsletter and
therefore a future video but I will be
talking about CO's law k e my name law
which is a spin-off of Parkinson's law
which is work expands to fill the time
allotted for completion CO's law is the
next level of that it's the evolution
it's Transcendence of your work so CO's
law is work evolves to earn more in the
same amount of time allotted for it so
that you can maintain your 4 hours and
make more money because your work has to
evolve to account for that as your skill
set increases and with that you need to
understand that with the building and
maintenance work that Focus compounds
and you get better at what you're doing
with time when you build one thing it
takes 2 weeks when you build the second
thing it takes 2 days when you build the
third thing it takes 2 hours nobody
starts building the first thing that
takes 2 weeks so they never give
themselves the chance to build the third
thing that takes 2 hours focused work is
only one part of changing your
life yep that's me you're probably
wondering how I ended up in this situ
situation you see after losing a few
hairs and my already high genetic
hairline receding a bit further I had an
existential crisis even though I
probably didn't actually lose anything
my hairline was just that bad after
worrying for weeks on end because I was
overly identified with my glorious hair
and researching the buzz cut with hopes
to look like Joe Delaney I decided to
cut off the piece of myself that lived
on my head to see if my worries would
hold their weight and I just wanted to
know what I look like your mind is a
supercomputer and your attention is the
ram thoughts regrets and tasks are the
program slowing your performance writing
mindfulness and focus are the reboot you
can access at any time Ram r or random
access memory is one of the most
important parts of the computer because
it determines performance the more RAM
you use up with different programs
running open browser tabs and the
performance requirements of what you
have running the slower your performance
will be this is no different from your
focus or what you hold in your conscious
attention humans can process 50 bits of
information per second which adds up to
around this is approximate 125 billion
bits in their lifetime I talk about all
of this in my book The Art of focus
which is a philosophy for working less
earning more and enjoying life focus is
only one part of it and focus is so much
more than just deep work there's one
chapter on deep work in the book the
rest is the holistic Philosophy for
living a better life doing what you want
creating your own career not being a
signed one and just doing the things
you've always wanted to do and how to
navigate that mentally and become build
that mental strength and emotional
resilience most people live with
multiple high demand programs running
that are draining the limited Creative
Energy they have thoughts about
regretful past mistakes thoughts about
stressful future happenings desires for
hunger and entertainment to escape those
thoughts an internal cry to break out of
their conditioned way of living a list
of mixed priority tasks that need to be
finished and open Loops of tasks they
were supposed to complete but forgot
about the list goes on and on the modern
mind has its attention split in infinite
directions by default we go about our
lives stressed out and near sickness
rather than living with singular focus
and what I mean by singular focus is
it's like a funnel it's like a cone
where your mind is open to your vision
for your ideal future and it is focused
on the present steps that you were
taking to get there and along the way
the clarity that you have to create and
maintain to prevent your mind from
declining into chaos are the goals the
skills the education the awareness that
you gain along that path and you can't
expect to know everything along that
path that's why it's open to the Future
having faith and trust in your ability
and taking action on a daily basis to
get there if you understand entropy you
understand that by doing nothing with
your life you choose to slowly drown and
Chaos you don't stay the same you dig
yourself deeper into a hole without
trying the good life demands consistent
effort toward your own goals entropy is
the supreme law of the universe and
without getting too complicated entropy
is that everything tends toward disorder
or chaos or everything falls apart with
time everything around you the building
you're in the your skin your hair the
food in your fridge the cleanliness of
your bed the cleanliness of your room
it's all going to tend toward chaos
unless you put focus and effort into
solving the problems that lead lead to
it being better or it being maintained
now entropy is the driving force of
evolution since everything tends toward
let's say death we are aware of that and
out of fear we are pushing towards
something related to IM immortality or
youth extension and problem solving is
the way we do that right if things
didn't tend toward disorder we would not
be in the situation we are today we
wouldn't have any motivation to do
anything we wouldn't have a reason to be
here we wouldn't have a purpose purpose
our purpose is to solve the problems
that lead to the dissolution of barriers
in our own minds so that we can pass
those lessons down and solve problems in
other people's lives to remove the
limits from their minds that's what a
problem is it is a limmit on your mind
and potential and once it is solved you
increase your level of mind or level of
Consciousness so that you can navigate
the world better and lead to a better
humanity and if this is done on an
individual level across the globe by bu
let's say one vessel to do this is a
personal brand the Creator economy
writing putting your word out there to
help other people selling a product so
you earn a meaningful income like I
always talk about by solving your own
problems and selling the solution which
we'll talk about in the next video
that's what I mean entropy is important
now if you don't put effort into
cleaning something like your room
eventually with time it's just naturally
going to turn into a disgusting nest of
Filth so related to the mind in psychic
entropy most people's minds are a
disgusting nest of Filth because they
don't take the care to solve their own
problems they focus on them it
multiplies and it ruins their life
because they can't zoom out and practice
what I talk about in my book to learn
how to navigate their mind you aren't
productive because you don't have
Clarity you aren't productive because
you focus on one distraction don't
correct yourself and slowly become
overwhelmed by the chaos in your mind
distractions are problems in your
productivity system that must be solved
if you want to unlock laser focus there
are two ways to identify distractions
and correct yourself these are boredom
and anxiety so here is a graphic that
I've shown multiple times before this is
adapted from mihi chickp mihi from his
book flow on the Y AIS up and down
there's the challenge level on the x-
axis left and right there's the skill
level if the challenge is too high but
your skill is too low you are going to
get anxious or self conscious and if
your skill is too high but the challenge
is too low you're going to get bored or
your focus is going to be self-centered
but when you live at your Edge when you
live at the edge of your abilities and
you pursue a challenge or a problem that
you want to solve and your skill is up
to par with that this is when you feel
good this is when all of this life stuff
makes sense because the Flow State
arguably AP Peak experience a spiritual
experience once you tap into that state
I believe that's nature signal that you
are doing something right and so if this
aligns with entropy and problem solving
and by continuously solving more complex
problems that increase the complexity of
your mind and therefore Ripple out to
the minds around you when you interact
with people because ideas replicate we
reproduce on a spiritual level as well
every single word that I'm saying to you
right now is forming your identity which
is your mental body not your physical
body I'm not giving birth to a child I
am shaping the identities of people with
the content that I'm creating and then
you are going to go and tell people
these ideas or you're going to just
shape your words and actions because of
them and you're going to move in a
different life Direction and that is
going to Ripple out to hundreds of
thousands if not Millions if not
billions of people in your lifetime
simply because of the network effect
whether you're online or not if you are
online and you're able to reach more
people then that number multiplies even
more so your actions matter and being in
the flow state to lead Evolution it
matters so the balance between boredom
and anxiety let's make sense of boredom
how to notice if you're in this state
the boredom stems from self-centeredness
your focus breaks a new desire pops into
your head and related thoughts start to
fill your attention if you are bored of
the task you will start thinking of
better things you could be doing that's
what you're trying to notice the anxiety
stems from self-consciousness your focus
turns inward and negative thoughts flood
your mind about how you aren't good
enough if you look in the mirror and
spot a pimple or hair that is going to
be on your mind for the rest of the day
it will impact every other area of your
life the ram of your mental
supercomputer will be consumed by Rogue
programs until your performance suffers
as a whole the chaos induced by boredom
and anxiety can only be cured by Clarity
when you have the skill and knowledge
that matches the challenge of a task
life becomes a video game of quests that
you love to play now let's create your
own productivity system under the
philosophy of the 4-Hour workday which
we will expand on in a few videos from
now and we have already talked about in
multiple videos humans Find meaning in
stories humans love playing games why
because they present a clear hierarchy
of goals that our mind can adopt as an
indistractable frame they follow the
Curiosity intensity consistency cycle of
the universe first you're lost then
you're curious then you're obsessed then
it's a consistent part of your life with
little extra effort most people get lost
focus on distractions and never put
effort into to a goal even if they don't
see the meaning in it yet to reverse the
hole they're digging themselves into
understand that nothing is perfect there
are bad lyrics of a good song There are
ugly pixels of a beautiful image there
are low stocks in a high mutual fund
it's like a story life is story life is
song Life is game Universe one song the
universe is one song playing and it's
harmonious there are highs there are
lows but it is perfect it is absolutely
perfect when you single something out
that is not going to be perfect you
having the perspective of reality or
life or the universe is what makes life
perfect but when you focus in on
something that's just a a figment of
Consciousness or just an idea that we
have labeled in our minds then that's
when imperfection starts to come into
play because in a story there are lows
there are lows there are climaxes there
are there's death there's Decay there's
growth we find most interest in in the
lows we find most interest in the drama
but when it happens in our own lives we
hate it why like a video game you will
have to progress from beginner to
Advanced by completing a series of
quests to level up it will take time if
you want maximum enjoyment in your focus
in your work here are the guidelines
that you must have to create your
productivity system the first is
Identity or solving productive problems
ever since I can remember I've always
had the goal of working 4 hours a day a
9-5 job was the bane of my existence I
observed society and realize the life I
didn't want I observed the successful
and realize the life I did want over
time that perspective shaped my identity
I was attached to that desire of not
working a job and most people tell you
desire is bad but not if the outcome is
positive because the goals are the axis
of your suffering and you get to choose
which goal you want to pursue most
people have goals that are assigned to
them and that's why they suffer and they
can't escape it but when you choose the
problem you want to solve that leads to
meaningful living in Challenge and
purpose in life there's going to be
suffering along with that but it's worth
suffering through that's a good sign
that you're on the right path is that
you're willing to take the suffering
that comes from pursuing the goal that
you chose perspective is everything it
allows you to identify problems and
opportunities that when solved result in
achieving the goal of that perspective
it was nearly an automatic decision to
be where I am today because anything
that threatened the idea of me working
four hours a day was seen as a problem
most people don't do this they work
they're expect they expect to work 8
hours a day so anything outside of that
is perceived as a problem like oh I have
to work 30 minutes extra today that
sucks I'm anxious I'm bored like I don't
want to do this right now I'm
overwhelmed for me that happens at 4
hours but the thing is is that I'm
allowed to create that lifestyle because
I chose a vessel that you'd go with time
I worked a job as well but choose a
vessel that allows you to control and
create your own lifestyle over time so
if you don't have that that's step one
that becomes your identity is one the
job is the problem and you're going to
have to work at it until you can get out
of it so by me wanting to work 4 hours a
day that's what led to me doing
freelance work me understanding the
power of social media people don't
realize it's power now because they
don't have the identity that isn't an
employee mindset so identity is the
first thing to keep in mind but the
second thing you need is a project which
we talked about in the last video on how
to learn any high value skill fast so
you can finally change your life your
identity is shaped by your vision for
the future your vision is the
all-encompassing goal that you are
pursuing in your life it is at the top
of your hierarchy everything falls under
it so now you need a project a tangible
project I keep repeating this because
you need a project to work on in
the first 1 to 2 hours of your day
create a project
please for the love of God because you
need something to build that will result
in your ideal future if you aren't
building your future then that future
isn't going to be built does that make
sense and you also need something that
exposes you to problems to solve cuz if
you aren't building something then the
only problems that you're encountering
are the ones that your mind fabricates
and lastly you need Clarity for your
work so you have a place to Anchor your
attention so it doesn't go to the
negative thoughts and fabricate problems
and if you watch the last video you
understand that building a project and
teaching as you build is the best way to
learn something studying and getting
trapped in tutorial hell is not learning
something learning comes from struggle
not memorization it's a principle in my
book so step one is to create an outline
brain dump everything you know that
should be built in the project you will
add to this outline as you build number
two is to create Milestones so break the
project down into manageable goals you
can achieve in 1 to 4 Hour Work sessions
depending on your current
responsibilities Now understand this
your vision or your project as well your
your project falls under your vision and
you continue building projects until you
reach that Vision your project isn't
going to be perfect you need a minimum
viable product in business you need a
minimum viable Vision in life you need a
minimum viable project in everything you
just get something out on paper it
doesn't have to be ready for you to
start building it you build it so you
can identify what's not in it we're
building cortex right now the second
brain software and we've changed it
completely from what it was originally
planned to be how do you think we
figured out how it's going to be better
by building the bad version first so you
can improve it you can't improve
something that doesn't exist so what
should your project be I have no
clue I can't tell you that stop
Outsourcing your critical thinking and
just life to someone on the internet but
what I can tell you is that it should
probably a business as that's the vessel
for your purpose it is the Catalyst for
the good life that breaks you out of
robotic living entrepreneurship is
Modern Survival and your psyche is wired
to hunt you aren't meant to be a monkey
and a cubicle along with that in just
the other domains of your life are the
projects in your life your health your
relationships now the third guideline
for focused work or the 4-Hour Work dat
is deadlines which are the
procrastinator Edge you aren't
productive because you aren't public
which is another point for building an
internet business on social media the
Flow State requirement of challenges and
deadlines is baked in when I set a
launch date for a lead Magnet or a
product or something that I'm going to
do I better finish it before that date
because people are expecting it and
people probably pay for a pre-order one
important thing here procrastination
isn't bad it's human nature most
successful entrepreneurs are lazy they
wait until the last minute to get work
done but during that last minute they
enter the most enjoyable season of their
lives their mind becomes a magnet for
ideas their best work happens in these
periods of obsession and intensity they
don't have a choice but to get it done
because their survival is at stake now
on to time blocks and breaks focus is a
muscle and success is reserved for those
who train it identity Vision projects
and deadlines all narrow your attention
on the present moment from the big
picture to microscopic action time
blocks take that a step further
narrowing your attention and making it
easy to get into flow so what I would
recommend you do is just set a timer on
your phone for 45 to 90 minutes you can
start with 45 you can start with five
you can start with 10 start with
whatever start with something because
like building a muscle in the gym it's
going to take time for your focus to
actually grow after that timer goes off
take a break go on a walk engage in
active rest rest your mind don't think
about work or set an intention for your
next work block and allow your
subconscious mind to munch on potential
ideas does as you're on your walk as
you're cooking food as you're doing
something just get up get out of your
chair stop burning your eyes with blue
light just enjoy yourself it's like a
rest between sets at the gym you're not
going to you can't keep benching until
like once you hit failure you can't go
past failure like if you actually hit
failure because most people train like
little now the next after time
blocks is leverage so doing the right
things I'm going to save you a lot of
pain choose a career that allows for a
4-Hour workday start a oneperson
business become a value Creator use the
internet to do what you love learn the
skills that allow for this evolution is
the process of solving problems that
reverse entropy labor work and long work
days are a massive problem people hate
it so social media the internet and
artificial intelligence were born AI
will solve the problem of overwork
potentially in this lifetime especially
if we solve the problem of Aging what
I'm saying here is that you are better
off banking on the the creative ability
of your mind then you are going into a
labor work job if you want quick cash
then yes that is actually a very good
option right now the future and to earn
unlimited because your intelligence is
scalable infinitely then you need to
choose work that allows for a 4-Hour
workday and you need to contribute your
time energy and focus into the aspects
of reality that you want to see flourish
now your work should consist of two to
three if not more if you can handle more
but start with two to three lever moving
tasks that move the needle towards your
project and the project moving the
needle towards your vision for the
future some people can handle more tasks
some people can handle less there are
actually nine priority tasks spots in my
planner the fosi planner which I wrote
in this morning I just wrote out my
tasks and I write my notes for the day
at the top as I'm sitting here at work
now the next thing is routine or
becoming efficient you have a routine
even if your routine is no routine and I
discuss this in depth in my video the
daily routine that changed my life for
habits that most people ignore routines
are how you condition your mind to run
on New systems if you want to solidify a
new identity you must start stick to and
refine a specific routine that
encourages the growth of that identity
for the first month building your
project will feel uncomfortable you're
supposed to feel over overwhelmed with
this it means your mind is expanding
into a new identity slowly then all at
once everything flows with ease you
begin making exponential progress you
move from intensity to consistency and
let the results compound last we have to
wrap this up with rest which is the
secret of the greats the clever man may
work smarter not harder they say but the
creative man doesn't work at all that's
a quote from Alex Su Jang kimp pong from
the book rest now I've always had some
form of aversion towards Western work
culture which is just filled with
80-hour work weeks high pressure
environments and little time for rest
and Recovery it just never seemed right
to me why would I want to waste my
entire day knowing that 2 to 3 hours in
my work quality would suffer because
focus is finite and this has been a
talking point for a long time now for
from not only me but other people like
Alex and the book and people like Sam
Alman who are open about how long they
work and how they use that work it's
starting to become welln in the Creator
economy remote work and just the new
economy in general ancient Romans
ancient Greeks Steve Jobs Charles Darwin
and an infinite list of Visionaries
strategists and innovators attributed
their success to surprisingly low work
times writers from multiple domains like
Hemingway and Tarantino would spend the
majority of their days lounging by the
pool spitting game with girls and doing
everything aside from what they deemed
work work for one to 4 hours then stop
this is arguably the most difficult part
of your day at the end of my work
sessions I go to the gym that is my hard
transition from work to rest and when I
get back to my morning focused work my
mind is just refreshed and the writing
flows so much more seamless and the rest
of my work feels manageable and I can
get it done on a consistent basis that
leads to exponential results over time
when the focus does compound I hope you
enjoyed this video this one these are
always my favorite topics to make let me
know what you think of the hair probably
growing it back we'll see unless I go
bald the art of focus is available on
Amazon first link in the description to
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fun enjoy your day thank you for
watching
bye oh my God the comments are going to
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