"It's refreshing to see such a practical application of philosophy and entrepreneurship for the everyday individual." – Kieran Drew
TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR FUTURE WITH THE ART OF FOCUS
Focus is the currency that runs the modern world. Reclaim your attention to change the direction of your life.
❝Dan's book has a rare ability to meet readers where they are and take them on a personal journey to growth. His video game analogy–particularly the idea that we can all reset and start our game over at any point in time–will encourage every reader to consider what they truly want and provide them with a framework to go out and get it.❞
Sahil Bloom
To The Curious,Look around.We are on the brink of catastrophe.A dystopia of excessive pleasure, comfort, and a false sense of security as to how successful you will be is no longer just a relatable movie scene.Since birth, you were bottle-fed ideas, beliefs, and a default path that lead to nowhere good.Wake up.
Hit snooze 4 times.
Stare at your phone.
Roll out of bed.
Make coffee.
Sit in traffic.
8 hours of unfulfilling work.
Sit in traffic... again.
Argue with your "significant" other.
Walk the pet.
Watch TV.
Pass out.
Repeat.Sound familiar?How does it make you feel?Seriously.Pause for a moment.Possibly for the first time today.It’s no wonder why most people feel anxious, overwhelmed, and have a cloud of meaninglessness hovering over their heads at all times.Focus is the cure.Focus is how you wake up from the dream nightmare of the masses.Focus is how you conduct your own adventure so stop hurling toward a dead end.Take the first step into the unknown.Your ideal future awaits.
❝In 'The Art of Focus,' Dan Koe masterfully reveals the game of life. Koe emerges as a modern philosopher and pragmatic guide, showing readers how to be main characters and level up. It's a book about seeing straight, aiming right, and the art of winning - inspiring, tactical, profound.❞
Ben Meer
YOU'VE FELT IT BEFORE
The pull to become your highest version.
Do you want your time, attention, and life changing experiences stolen from you?Are you okay with sitting by being a slave to distractions that have been laid out like breadcrumbs, leading to a life of drained pockets, zapped neurochemistry, abysmal energy levels, and the gradual destruction of anything meaningful in your life?Are you okay with continuing the never-ending search for "safe," "secure," and pleasurable experiences that leave you with the opposite feelings?This is the life of the modern human.
You think you have control over your life, but you know that most big decisions (like getting a job) were made by the pressure of society, your friends, and family.
You don't have clarity on how to achieve your ideal future. So you continue down the same path as everyone else.
You know you live in a time of vast opportunity but haven't done anything about it. You know that the education system won't prepare you for the future.
You feel that life is meaningless and bland. Your days are filled with responsibilities that aren't important to you.
You can see that the average individual seems miserable. So you question, "Why don't they do anything about it?"
You've felt it before.The pull.The call to greatness.A silent yearning for more, but not in a materialistic sense.Can you feel it?Or is your focus limited by the intellectual structure you call home? By who you think you are?You are being attracted to your highest version, and the depth of your core can sense it.Be warned.It will be a painful journey.It will require faith, sacrifice, and a new perception of struggle.The Art of Focus is how you find meaning, reinvent yourself, and create your ideal future.
❝You no longer have to feel stuck in a high-stress life with time-consuming work you don’t enjoy. You can design the life you want, and Dan gives you the tools.❞
Justin Welsh
THE GOOD LIFE IS A PUZZLE, NOT A FORMULA
210 questions that are answered in the book.
PART 1 - FIND MEANING
1. Am I crazy? Or is everyone else?
2. What is the state of modern society?
3. What does a mindless life look like?
4. Who’s to blame for your current life situation?
5. Who is Dan Koe, what is his story, and why should I care?
6. How does silent observation shape who you become?
7. What will your life look like if you don’t question your childhood?
8. Do you want your time, attention, and life-changing experiences stolen from you?
9. How does the “default path” in life resemble a dystopian movie scene?
10. Are all modern luxuries bad?
11. Why do people despise work when it is a necessary part of life?
12. How can a new definition of “focus” help you make better decisions toward personal success?
13. What is the main metric that determines your everyday quality of life? And how do you control it?
14. How does the mind interact with reality and what are its limits?
15. Why do most beginners fail multiple times before seeing success? And how do you avoid it so you don’t quit altogether?
16. What is the supreme law of the Universe that controls every area of our lives?
17. How can we think about situations in a way that leads to the best results?
18. Why am I overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed more than ever?
19. What is the fabric of reality and how do I use that knowledge to my advantage?
20. What is a tool I can use at any time to increase my enjoyment in this moment?
21. How do I solve any problem in my life without external advice?
22. Why am I in this life situation? And what minor change can I make to get out?
23. How do I avoid cutting myself off from profound discoveries (unlike the majority of the population)?
24. How do I stop being so judgmental and reactionary?
25. What mindset will allow me to accept situations as they are so I can begin making real progress?
26. What is the difference between knowledge and understanding?
27. How should I approach life to make the most of it?
28. What are the 3 pillars for transforming all aspects of your life?
29. What is the one “habit of habits” that determines my quality of life?
30. What are the building blocks of my worldview? How do those influence every action I take?
31. How can I leverage what makes me human? What is my edge?
32. How do I tap into the spectrum of internal and external focus to better navigate life?
33. What is the currency of the modern world?
34. How do I avoid getting trapped in modern slavery?
35. What is mental energy? How do I invest it toward my goals?
36. How do I avoid common distractions that throw me off track?
37. Why is destruction the only option if I don’t invest my mental energy?
38. How am I living on autopilot to achieve the goals society assigned to me?
39. How has “happiness” as a metric been distorted? Why does it make me unhappy?
40. Why are societys promises of a certain and secure future a big fat lie?
41. What is the path of the value creator? How do I become one?
42. How do I limit my potential by identifying with a static ideology?
43. How do I avoid the mindless path in life that most people take?
44. Which state of mind leads to flow, deep work, efficiency, creativity, relaxation, and peace?
45. Which state of mind leads to feeling lost, overwhelmed, uncertain, stressed, anxious, and annoyed?
46. What is “the middle way” in life?
47. What is the ultimate perspective that you can adopt (to live in the highest state of consciousness)?
48. How do you live the best life?
49. How are we going to use the term “Universe” to find meaning in life?
50. How do I increase my level of mind to realize that everything is connected?
51. What can the ocean teach us about the impermanence of life?
52. How can I notice this profound insight in my everyday life (which I often perceive as mundane)?
53. How can I perceive situations in a way that eliminates negative thoughts?
54. How do I live in accordance with nature?
55. Why do I feel terrible when I isolate negative aspects of reality?
56. What can stories, songs, and games teach us about increasing enjoyment in life?
57. How do I find meaning in the sea of modern meaninglessness?
58. How do holidays, political seasons, and daily routines lock us into a cycle of negative emotions?
59. Why do people avoid struggle? Why do I struggle more when I avoid it?
60. How can I understand that the conflict, or climax, of my personal story is the most meaningful?
61. How do I act regardless of how I feel?
62. How do I make good decisions even when I hate my current situation?
PART 2 - REINVENT YOURSELF
63. What is your human superpower? How has it been stripped from you by society?
64. Why, as humans, do we act? How can we use this knowledge to make better choices without effort?
65. What composes my identity? Who am I? What is my purpose?
66. How is “the self” a mental construct that determines my future?
67. How do humans survive and reproduce on a conceptual, rather than physical, level?
68. Why does my identity lead to my suffering? How do I suffer better?
69. How do I stop being an emotional on-and-off switch?
70. What is the difference between humans and animals? Why does this distinction matter?
71. Why am I still in pain when my life is magnitudes more comfortable than my ancestors?
72. Why do I feel bad when I set a goal but stop making progress toward it?
73. What is the one question we must answer to live a good life?
74. What are the requirements to change who I am? Will it be painful?
75. How can I change myself without launching into a black hole of despair?
76. How do I identify and work toward becoming the highest version of myself?
77. What is my purpose right now? How will my purpose evolve as I do?
78. What happens if I only chase material pursuits? Are material pursuits bad?
79. What can video games teach us about navigating our personal success?
80. How do I create a “character” that will win at the game of life?
81. What aspects of a game hold true in real life?
82. How do I choose a profession that suits me but still makes money?
83. What game has society created? Why do the masses play it even when it is unfulfilling?
84. How do I break free from the societal game and become the main character of my own?
85. How does society brainwash us to fit like a cog in the social fabric?
86. What can we learn from evolution to begin solving painful problems in our life?
87. What is a “non-player character” and why don’t they have control over their life?
88. How do I realize I am a modern slave? How do I escape?
89. If most people are slaves by the time they turn 18, how do I turn my life into a conscious personal creation?
90. How do I create the “rules” for my own game and why are they important for maximum life enjoyment?
91. How can I turn mundane situations into meaningful ones (with one simple perspective shift)?
92. What are the limits I’ve imposed on myself? How do I remove them?
93. How do I launch into a season of pure progress, clarity, and flow?
94. What is the skill-challenge match and how do I use it to achieve my goals with ease?
95. If I am bored or anxious, how do I turn that situation into an enjoyable one?
96. How do I stop being so reactive to other people’s stupid choices?
97. How do I filter through distractions and discover what is important?
98. Why is life like a movie scene? How do I become both the director and viewer?
99. Why does everything seem so negative? Is it all as bad as I see it?
100. What is the “lens” I am viewing life through and how does it determine the automatic choices I make?
101. Why do I have less control than I think? Why do I have less self-control when I attempt to be disciplined?
102. What can a camera teach us about unconscious, subconscious, and conscious states of mind?
103. How do I “collect” consciousness to raise my level of mind?
104. What is the counterintuitive way to make better decisions without effort?
105. If every situation is a mind game, how do I play to win?
106. How do I turn knowledge into understanding to better achieve my goals?
107. How can I deconstruct situations, take what’s useful, and bring deeper meaning to life?
108. What is my potential? How long do I have?
109. How is building a billion-dollar company as easy as learning to walk?
110. Why must I forge my own path if I don’t want to end up the same as everyone else?
111. What is the path of mastery? How do I begin my journey?
112. Why does the quick-fix mindset destroy the lives of the masses?
113. How do I overcome periods of immense difficulty in my life?
114. Can I do nothing with my life? If I do, where does it lead?
115. How do I identify and overcome the pain in my life in the best possible way?
116. What is the spiritual materialism trap that most new-age people fall into?
117. How do I use an “anti-vision” to clarify what I want out of life?
118. Why is having a vision, strategy, and creativity the key to becoming a highly paid-individual?
119. How do I leverage human behavioral patterns to take back control of my life?
120. How do I construct a hierarchy of goals to bring peace and progress to my life?
121. What problems do I solve first? Superficial or metaphysical?
122. Is selfishness a bad thing? Should I even try to be selfless?
123. What actions do I take on a daily basis to actualize my ideal future?
124. How does the concept of psychological time add suffering to my life?
125. Why do most people stay the same their entire life? Why do they get trapped in a loop of negativity?
126. What is “tactical stress” and how do I use it to make a leap in progress?
127. How do I avoid living a meaningless, surface-level existence?
128. Why is curiosity the driving force in my personal success?
129. How is everything an “iceberg of opportunity” to be explored, appreciated, monetized, or mastered?
PART 3 - CREATE YOUR IDEAL FUTURE
130. How has the internet leveled the playing field for wealth generation?
131. Do I need money, a degree, or an optimal geographic location to get the best opportunities?
132. How has human laziness created this comfortable society? And why is it a good thing?
133. Why does it seem like everyone is losing their minds?
134. If one persons labor cannot scale, how do you remove the cap from your income?
135. Why are people losing trust in formal educations ability to secure their future?
136. What are the glaring problems with the current education system?
137. What is the new education system that few people have caught onto?
138. If the school system trains people into the social fabric, how do I escape and do what I want?
139. How can I become an authority in almost any skill with the power of the internet?
140. How is our curiosity stripped from us during our first 18 years of life? And why is curiosity our superpower?
141. How do I find “zip-files” of knowledge online to speed up my chances at success?
142. What is the creator philosophy and how do I adopt it to do what I love?
143. Why does the “secure” path provide the least amount of security?
144. Why will the future of work be play?
145. How do I leverage my psychology to build a meaningful career?
146. How is happiness a skill? And how do I practice it?
147. How can I use the principle of impermanence to tap into a peaceful state of mind?
148. Is there value in materialistic pursuits? Or should I retire to the woods and live alone?
149. Why does “work” spark anxiety when it is a necessary aspect of life?
150. Will I be happy if I retired early, lived in a tropical setting, and didn’t work for the rest of my life?
151. Why is absolute freedom a bad thing? Isn’t that what everyone wants?
152. How do I begin to discover, create, and pursue my lifes work?
153. What is the optimal lifestyle? And is there such a thing as work-life balance?
154. Why did the most well-known creatives and visionaries only work 4 hours a day?
155. What steps can I take right now to start living my ideal lifestyle?
156. What are the 3 activities that will bring the most fulfillment into my day?
157. How do I schedule intense bursts of deep work to make a years worth of progress in a month?
158. Why is 4 hours of focused work better than 8 hours of distracted work?
159. How do we leverage our survival instincts to work less, but better?
160. How are distractions the catalyst of entropy in your productivity system?
161. Should I become a specialist or generalist to succeed in todays world?
162. What is specialized generalism and how do I become a digital renaissance man?
163. Why are we experiencing a new Dark Ages? Why are the masses trapped in this negative space?
164. Why is attention a necessary prerequisite for success in business, relationships, and life?
165. How do I craft a valuable message that captures attention in an ethical way?
166. How do I know if the skills, interests, and expertise I have are truly valuable?
167. What are the evergreen skills I should study to display my value in public?
168. How do stories, games, and psychology help me do what I love for a living?
169. How do I get people to see the value I have to offer on the internet? With or without sacrificing my privacy?
170. What is the true meaning of business? If I don’t resonate with that word, how can I view it if it is the only way to do what I love?
171. How do I learn modern skills, that continue to change, so I can adapt to the money landscape?
172. Why do most people quit their dreams after 2 weeks?
173. Why is creative problem solving the skill of all skills and how do I practice it?
174. Does money really matter? Why is money so important in todays world?
175. How can I think about success to help me push through the low points of the journey?
176. Why do feel fulfilled working on my own thing versus things that are assigned to me, like school and work projects?
177. What will happen if I don’t know what I want out of life? How do I generate that clarity?
178. What is a practical way to adopt a higher perspective to be able to perceive the problems in my life? How do I make better decisions from this perspective?
179. How can the scientific process help me see results in all areas of life, especially in my creative work?
180. Why is memorization a terrible way to learn knew information and skills? What is the best way to learn?
181. What are the various roles that dopamine plays in our ability to learn new things?
182. How is learning a natural by-product of self-improvement and vice versa?
183. What is the philosophy of “the builder” and how do we use it to navigate a world of information overload?
184. What is the difference between beginners, intermediates, and experts in the way they learn, apply, and filter information?
185. How do I ensure that I remember everything I read, watch, or listen to? Or at least remember the important parts that will serve my future?
186. Why is self-experimentation the only way to solve your problems for good?
187. Why do how-tos, prescriptions, and assigned methods always lead to failure?
188. How do you stand out in a world of copycats by solving your own problems?
189. How do I think about the problems in my life in a way that guarantees I achieve my goals?
190. What can bodybuilding teach us about the nature of learning and success?
191. How is everyone an entrepreneur? I know I have value I can provide to others, so why don’t I just get a job to help me do that?
192. If building projects through self-experimentation is how you generate true value, how do I make a living from those projects?
193. Why is entrepreneurship the only logical option for long-term thinkers?
194. Can everyone sustain their desired lifestyle by doing what they enjoy for a living?
195. Why does modern business seem so shallow? How do we bring depth and purpose to our financial pursuits?
196. Why do people become financial slaves when they adopt the mindset that “money doesn’t buy happiness?”
197. Why do people climb corporate ladders in their careers? How can we leverage that knowledge while building our own thing?
198. What is the one-person business that has emerged from technological evolution?
199. How much can I earn as one person at this point in time? What tools allow me to earn a living?
200. Is this just another get-rich-quick scheme? Or is it the foundation for the future of work?
201. What are the 3 pillars of your business that mimic the patterns of the Universe?
202. What can I start selling now to earn an income? How do I increase that infinitely?
203. What niche do I target? Or do I not target any niche since business has evolved with the new world?
204. How do I leverage my self-development to ensure my business is profitable?
205. How is business, or creation, spiritual reproduction? How am I replicating my self in my products, writing, and speaking?
206. Of what magnitude is this responsibility? Is this the purpose of life?
207. How do I choose the chaos I allow into my life? How does that create clarity?
208. How do I use business to do good and raise the collective consciousness?
209. How do I tend to the ideas in my mind like a garden? How do I tend to the ideas that I spread to the minds of others?
210. How do I tie all of the information from this book into a holistic life philosophy that leads to maximum enjoyment?
❝The Art of Focus is a literal step-by-step guidebook to creating the ultimate vision for yourself, your business, and the impact you want to make in this world.My favorite part is the idea of The New Rich. It's not just about making money but having control of your schedule and creating things that are fulfilling in your life.If you're someone just getting started or even someone who's been in business for quite some time this is a great book to guide your journey to being the best version of yourself.❞
Dan Go
CLARITY IN A WORLD OF DISTRACTIONS
Avoid overwhelm, anxiety, and not knowing what to do with your life.
The future belongs to the focused.The Art Of Focus is for ambitious individuals that want to:
Take back control of your life so you can find meaning, reinvent yourself, and create your ideal future.
Become an independent thinker so you have the mental skill to navigate even the darkest moments of life.
Take advantage of new opportunities because skills not learned in school are the source of income not found at a job.
Work less and earn more with the 4-hour workday and one-person business philosophy.
Maintain mental clarity so you don't fall into a trench of negativity and continue attacking your goals.
The Art Of Focus is available as a physical book, digital book, and audiobook – best read from all mediums to enhance your reading experience.
❝Dan's book is the best one I've ever read on focus. Many people overlook this important skill and don't realize it prevents them from joining "The New Rich."This book helped me reclaim my attention and convinced me to immediately do a dopamine fast. It also helped me understand that the boring fundamentals that I stick to daily are a superpower I should cherish.Attention is the new oil. Reclaim yours so you can join what Dan calls the digital renaissance.❞
Tim Denning
Inquiries - author@thedankoe.comCopyright Koe Enterprises
