TLDW logo

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

our writer if you want to learn the most

valuable skill of the 21st century which

is high impact digital writing if you

want to learn how to turn yourself into

a business check out digital economics

just like subscribe look at those have

fun enjoy your day thank you for

watching

bye oh my God the comments are going to

go crazy over this one

Loading...

Loading video analysis...