Why “The Art of Focus” by Dan Koe ain’t for the faint hearted

If you are not familiar with Dan’s content, and you have been introduced to him through this book, it can literally change your life.

Introduction of Dan Koe

“There doesn’t seem to be a more worthwhile endeavor to dedicate your life to than to see what you are capable of.”― Dan Koe, The Art of Focus

So, Let’s talk about the author of this book first. You may know him already because I talk about him from time to time. He has an significant impact on my initiative to start creating content.

Well, I would guess he influences people. Dan really doesn’t put himself up too high on a pedestal. Pushing for the best way to live fully across mind, body, spirit, and work.

But I guess it paid off in ways he never pictured.

He's been hitting the gym since 14, a habit that taught him the worth of the long haul.

At 18, he dived into the freelance and social media business world.

These endevours sharpened skills that later clicked together.

Dan's big break came with a web design agency job, thanks to his coding skills and a bold move to drop out of college. He soaked up their process, then struck out on his own to build a six-figure web design business.

2019 was the year Dan started sharing his wins and insights, dabbling in sales funnel freelancing, weaving in self-growth tips, and advising creators. He launched Modern Mastery, a product/community he's gearing up to help people in self-improvement.

Dan's a familiar face on Twitter. Twitter folks know him pretty well.

He has his purpose in place, and he rather would want to be praised by his quality of work and how his mind works than any surface based metric like income, glamerous lifestyle or possesions.

He is known for teaching & embodying his “4 Hour Work Day” Philosophy, with an high emphasis on creating systems and automating processes:

— write 2 hours, & do other stuff 2 hours.

— differentiate between creativity & productivity

— stop after 4 hours

— go on a walk for the rest of the day (or gym)

Another part of his philosophy is the “you are the niche” approach. Double down on your curiosisties, capitalize on their market size.

You love cakes? write bout cakes.

You love Women? write about women

& combine them both to write about women shaped cakes.

… something like that!

I bought his 2 Hour Writer digital course & his book (The Art of focus) in audio format. — two solid products.

The digital 2 Hour Writer course introduced me into writing online. Since then I earn a living from writing. Because writing is incredible.

— I guess, it worked.

The two hour writer is a solid course.

— I recommend.

Maybe I will do another reviews about this course.

But this loveletter is about his latest book “The Art of Focus”:

This book is dense.

Reading through it, in the beginning, had to make 1 week breaks in between. This book is not for the faint hearted. It is confrontational — And I am a person that has been “red pilled” with the age of 14.

So I knew what was going on. Still this book will open your eyes in many ways.

I can imagine it being scary if you’re still muggling around.

The book embodies a unique blend of spirituality and practical advice for entrepreneurs.

It’s a deep dive for mastery of time and resources. Shifting your mindset towards your brightest future.

The Essence of the Book

What sets Dan apart is differentiation to the hustle culture.

His 4 Hour Work day is not a novel thought — it was known by the masters and artists of the past that your mind works best with intense focus and intense rest. Inspirations and new ideas have to have space to be planted within the mind soil.

Every Idea wants a body.

But his approach is new in the way that he goes into the entrepreneurial space with that mindset, going against the grain of all the “hustle culture” that preaches that “more is more”.

It is a truly healing shift of perspective.

— Yes, this book has the potential to heal.

From a male mind framework this explains logically why it is important to rest like a cat & execute like a cat (sleeping whole day and being active for like 2-4 hours). The deeply spiritual nature of the book is within this message.

He bridges the gap between business and spirituality through philosophy. He uses philosophy as a medium of wisdom, while wisdom is the result of experience. And experience is a prerequisite of being successful in business.

Also Koe balances practical business advice with spiritual wisdom, aiming to bridge the gap between "woo-woo" spirituality and tangible success.

He always talked about that he is interested in spirituality, has incorporated sprinkles of it here and there, but this book is deeply spiritual this time.

I think in his letters & Youtube videos he winded down his spirituality and translated it into business matters because that is his purpose:

to give anchor to the “wuwu” spirituality movement that is happening
to show the broader audience that you can be spiritual & practical (purpose & profit)
but partly he purposely winded down that channel of him in his letter writings (which is top of his funnel, so the reader has to get “warm” first to get into the esoteric stuff):

One of his customer profiles (wildly guessed), is someone, who is the typical analytical thinker, is intrigued by spirituality, but can’t get his mind around it; because his logical frame. And through Dans practical & philosophical approach finds a bridge to spirituality.

The male mind needs an anchor and a practical reason; why he should use something like spirituality. — Our confontation with spirituality is mostly through girls talking half ass knowledge about astrology. What we forget though; astrology is just as hijacked & dogmatized as every other system of knowledge.

As an astrologer myself I can say: astrology is a language, not a science.

You wouldn’t say spanish doesn’t work, just because you don’t understand it.

Astrology is the patternization of subjective life. It tries to put life cycles and archetypical expression in patterns. Pattern comes from paternal, which is the father. With pattern recognition, intelligence is measured.

— So in ints essence, astrology is very masculine. We will get to that in another loveletter episode.

Beyond Focus: Unveiling Modern Enslavement

As we said, The Art of Focus is a deeply spiritual book; not because he talks about consciousness, but he shows the sovereign way of being an entrepreneur.

Diving into the book's examination of modern-day mental enslavement and the commodification of attention, he pinpoints how we are enslaved by distractions.

— The physical shackles don’t exist. They are mental.

Our ability to focus is gone.

Thats why we are miserable.

“If you don’t know what you want, you will be told what you want, and you will believe it.

If you don’t create a purpose, you will be assigned one.

If you don’t create a career, you will be assigned one.

If you don’t create a hierarchy of goals to invest your mental energy in, you will be assigned one,
like climbing a corporate, religious, or status ladder just to realize you’ve wasted 80% of your life.”

― Dan Koe, The Art of Focus

He shifts your mindset about selflessness and healthy self-centeredness as keys to personal and collective liberation.

It is not that selfishness leads to misery, but being selfish leads to the ability of being selfless.

This novel thought of selflessness and selfishness being 2 poles of an spectrum, creates the urgency to be both at different times.

To live out this dicotomy through executing paradoxes.

That is a big sign of someone who has seen the purpose of duality and can think above it.

New Regeneration of Entrepreneurs

With that, he is the channel of a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Koe aims to reach a wider audience, blending practical business strategies with emerging spiritual and metaphysical concepts.

To concentrate so much on your own development, that you become a magnet for people to get a hold of your approach. They get intrigued by it.

Work less, worry less, earn more.

This is where metaphysics and sovereignty meet. You nurture yourself, and in the process you turn into a magnet.

This is the power of a feminine approach. Thats why I said it is healing. It has a regenerative approach. Instead of doing 1000 cold outreach e-mails, you rest enough and put your learnings out there through self inquiry. After years, the people will come to you, instead of you reaching out to them.

That is something reflected in his ridicouslisly simple funnel structure too. Everything leads to the newsletter. And the newsletter is the wellspring of all content generation.

It’s such a simple yet effective component of his strategy.

In that context, he calls himself a modern renaissance man. He is the “make your products & systems go full circle” guy.

His approach of a 4 hour work day; prioritizing rest, and making your life enjoyable has a regenerative component.

he is a digital regenessaince man.

And his book has the potential to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs who value both purpose and profit & good rest.

And we get to why that was so important for me specifically in the next section.

Critique: A New Direction with Room for Growth

book's structure doesnt really feel like a coherent storyline of some sort. It just feels like a dry manual sometimes.

Its definelty apart from the content of his newsletters, but you can also feel that this book is made from his newsletters, which are in general ca. 2000 words following one topic.

Maybe thats why this book feels a bit disjointed.

There is not much of a “red line “ following it through.

And regarding this topic; I have one honest objection to share with you.

Anybody can write a book whenever they want at whatever age.

But are you able to write a book with 27 years of age that is gonna have substance?

Don’t get me wrong, He is the same age as me, and I wish I could be at level to to publish a book, but I think the lack of red line in the storytelling is a symptom of a rushed project.

Something feels “rushed” about this book. As if he said to himself he promised to publish a book before being 28 years of age.

My mind constantly compares this situation to the example of Gordon Ryan. Being so overly successful in the realm of No Gi Submission Grappling with the age of 27 & publishing a book about it.

But then having constant health setbacks because he took steroids for too long & can’t get into his regenerative state. Being infested with loads of parasites. Having stomach problems all the time. His Bio said “suffer in silence” for years & all he did was writing about his pain.

Now he is still 28, but looks like a retired old man.

But he earns a shit ton of money. He elevated the Jiu Jitsu Competition game to new heights in terms of earning capibilities. I guess this is a strategy to retire early. And I respect it.

But: not everybody is built for it though. Obviously Again, I wish I could retire my parents at my age!

But I wouldn’t necessarily choose Gordons way.

I struggled with health setbacks since my childhood. And health is everything for me.

That’s why this book helped me on many levels to understand how important rest is for the quality of life, my ideas and my output. And I want to retire my parents, but not in a wat to later on not be vital enough to play with my kids. It’s a long term game.

Some people live life backwards.

And I was one of them.

It teached me to stay patient. To do things slowly. That health issues are deep & they need deep work. And getting back to my point here:

The “rushed” feeling I get, when I read this book, is something untypical for Dan.

You would think that writing a book should be the complete opposite of rushed, and maybe it was not rushed, but it feels like it.

And reading the bad reviews on this book, some people agree with that.

All in All…

I think this Book get’s a more bad rap than it deserves.

If you are not familiar with Dan’s content, and you have been introduced to him through this book, it can literally change your life.

Even me, being warm with his writings, can say that it had an significant impact. It is more philosophical and spiritual than usual. And people seem to be a little put off by it. They are surpised. And sometimes people don’t want to be surprised, especially if they are loyal fans who “expect” some sort of content.

I think that is due to Dan’s fault. He always vaguely mentioned that he is spiritual, but mostly used philosophical metaphors to underline his points on business and lifestyle design. Maybe, if he would have got his audience more warm with his spiritual side, it would have been a smoother introduction of this side of you, Dan. Thank you for writing this book. Your impact is important for a new way of life, which has yet to come alive fully.

It is a blessing, and a good introduction into what yet has to come.

Best,

Tarkan

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