Human beings can process 126 bits of information per second (per my research, Google says different, oh well). That adds up to 185 billion bits of information throughout our entire lives (on average). These bits of information are stored somewhere in our brain. Through consciousness, we order this information. That is, what we are conscious of gets stored. We are conscious of what we bring our attention to. What we focus on. There is more to this, but the point is that we are limited in the amount of information we can be conscious of throughout our lifetimes.
I would consider this a crucial player in human potential — if not the main metric for human potential. While most give 15% of their conscious attention to showering, bathing, grooming, cooking, and other necessities — most also lay around, watch TV, scroll memes, and numb their mind with useless activities. Throwing their potential down the drain.
Last week we discussed Ken Wilber’s holonic theory. How we are beings that must develop ourselves in specific areas and pass through the 3 developmental stages — having our skill in that area become art. Ken has mentioned this, but the statistic above solidifies it. Human beings can process 185 billion bits of information through conscious development. This limits the amount of areas we can truly develop ourselves in. This also means that others are limited in the same manner. Everyone will develop themselves in different domains of life — per many philosophers and ancient teachers, this is what brings happiness. The act of not doing so brings unhappiness.
That is, having a vision, goal, and consciously working to actualize those things is what works — “find joy in the process.”
From Nietszche:
“Happiness is the feeling that power increases — that resistance is being overcome.”
From Csikszentmihalyi:
“The mark of a person who is in control of consciousness is the ability to focus attention at will, to be oblivious to distractions, to concentrate for as long as it takes to achieve a goal, and not longer. And the person who can do this usually enjoys the normal course of everyday life.”
If we think of this in the context of a game — like World Of Warcraft — you tap out at a max level. There is only so much experience you can gain. There is only so many “points” you can give in a specific trait on the skill tree. If you do not play the story or participate in various parts of the game, you will not max out your level (or potential). If you spread your points too thin, you will end up having little power compared to others that distributed their points wisely.
Mindset, focus, ordering your mind, avoiding distractions, and other sayings that imply using your limited consciousness to develop awareness and pursue a hierarchy of interest-based goals is one of the master keys to overall life enjoyment.
This is a lesson in itself that I will talk about in a future letter. You will never have access to another person’s state of mind. You will never understand how they have controlled their consciousness. You will never understand the hierarchy of goals they are pursuing that brings them happiness. Just because somebody doesn’t lift, start a business, improve their health, and all of the stuff I talk about — does not mean they are not thoroughly happy. One that follows their dopamine-induced rabbit hole explorations in vegan eating may be happier than me due to their ordered consciousness. Judgement is useless. Assumptions are useless. Expectations are useless. Do what’s best for you and let others do what’s best for them. Only teach when others want to be reached. “The lips of wisdom are closed except to the ears of understanding.”
If we want to take it further, The 3 Pillars in my future book are focus, energy, and experience. Focus, in my eyes, is conscious attention. Energy, whether you believe it or not, is held in everything around you. Positive or negative. What you focus on breathes life / energizes whatever it is you are “paying” attention to. This energy is reflected in you, dictating your experience. Experience, per Csikszentmihalyi, is stored information based on what you were conscious of. This experience will form the foundation of everything going forward.
I’m rambling….
How The “Creator” Economy Is Accelerating Our Development
I was having a talk with JK Molina the other night and we were discussing the need for creativity in the development of business. Think of it like this… through specific knowledge — that is, courses, coaching, apprenticeships, and other forms of online education — people are packaging up and simplifying ~10 years of information, experience, and failures into a simple and actionable roadmap for success in a specific domain of life. Books, articles, videos, podcasts, etc. Consume them, but have a project to tie ideas back to and invoke pattern recognition.
You could say that this information has been condensed or compacted. A zip file if you will. Our brains can now process what used to be 10 years of information much faster. Instead of this information taking up ~5 billion bits of our conscious attention, it takes up ~10 million bits. Meaning that we are “creating” solutions to problems, busting through the limits of individuals’ personal and professional development, and opening up room for them to do the same.
It took me 5 years to see success with freelancing. After I packaged up everything in my first eBook and sold it — others saw success within months. Now they can see MORE success in less time, package up their learnings over 1-3 years, and pass down their teachings. Leading to exponential development in particular domains. Also allowing for quick development in multiple domains. Computer programming used to be extremely specialized. Now their are frameworks, education, and ways of learning that can get you a high-paying web dev job in 6 months without a degree. This will only continue to accelerate — especially for those in tech and those that dare to pursue creative work.
My point is, we are compressing the amount of information that needs to be processed. We can learn more than those before us thanks to creators and tech. We do not have to specialize in a specific area. In fact, we are drastically limiting ourselves by specializing in one thing. One becomes valuable through specialization, and irreplaceable by becoming a modern renaissance man. By enhancing their specialization and opening up room for creativity by learning complimentary areas. A solopreneur can thrive because they can learn marketing, sales, a marketable skill, email marketing, create content, edit videos, run ads, build products, generate leads, etc. By compressing, systemizing, and productizing this process throughout your lifetime as a creator — you can make $1-$5MM as a one-person operation. A small team adds more firepower, of course.
Do you see the power and necessity of becoming a creator? You are quite literally “raising the collective human consciousness” while doing what you love. By creating novel solutions that rapidly increase the domain-specific development of individuals. While at the same time increasing your own development even moreso due to teachers learning more than students. You open up room for further innovation if you are consistently producing / creating content, products, services, and simplified ways of understanding.
Side note: I am honestly surprised of how much of a creative “fusion” this newsletter is. I would not have been able to make these connections without being a creator, and that is exactly my point. You have to go through the developmental stages, utilize the specific knowledge available (self-education), and become a creator to further enhance, connect, and simplify that knowledge through value production.
Specialization Is A False God
Remember from last week how we discussed the pre-trans fallacy? The developmental stages of going from pre-rational, rational, and trans-rational? In essence, how this meme is true for every aspect of life?
The “jack of all trades” or Renaissance Man used to bring one success in older times. Then came the age of specialization. Now, for those that see the opportunity and seize it, the renaissance times are coming back — mainly in the online world.
Let me ask you a question. What is my niche? What is my specialization? Can you give me a straight answer? If you told me “online business” or “self-improvement” or “philosophy and spirituality” or even “fitness and health” I would not agree. My brand is a synthesis — an interconnectedness — of the areas I have chosen to develop myself in. My niche is “all of the above” which is the precursor for creativity. Not limiting myself allows me to connect with those that are developing themselves in similar areas. Not limiting myself opens up room for pattern recognition, allowing me to connect the dots and bring knew, novel perspectives on any given topic. It allows myself and my products to separate themselves from the sea of commodities.
Now, specialization is important at the start and can serve very useful long term. This is the difference between becoming valuable and becoming irreplaceable. Jack of all trades master of none VS jack of all trades master of ONE. Specializing in one area while taking advantage of modern innovations that allow you to develop yourself quickly in multiple domains gives you leverage. Your development in sub-domains will only aid in your effectiveness in the development of your main domain.
The Experience Model For Modern Business
The world is shifting. As technology advances, we are slowly becoming more human (if you use it wisely). It is opening up room for more creative pursuits and the ability to earn a massive income doing so.
In comes my notion of The Experience Model to thrive in the creator / attention economy.
The amount of information you process throughout your life determines your conditioning, programming, beliefs, biases, perceptions, identity, personality, skill level, and the rest. Where and how your attention is placed (or manipulated) determines your experience. Your experience is what will serve as the foundation of your creations. That is your content, products, and services. Your potential will become your brand. That is your vision, goals, and values. Nobody can replicate this “niche” and you are not limited to the products you create. They will be profitable as long as you understand the Evergreen Skills.
Do you see everything coming full circle? Personal growth = business growth.
One thing to think about in terms of content creation: can you capture peoples attention through novelty, make them aware of a specific interest they want to pursue, fill their limited consciousness with compact and valuable information, leading them towards a better life? Above all, that is the key to a personal brand or creator.
You craft your own vision, goals, and values — work towards them, and attract followers that you lead toward this better life. Your vision is the desire outcome for you and your followers. Your goals are what you are working towards. Your values are the areas that you & your followers are developing themselves in. All of these form your content pillars. When it comes time to create content, you bank on your experience. The lessons you have learned that consistently get more creative as you develop yourself in these areas. You teach from your mistakes, insights, and successes as you blaze the path towards actualizing your vision. It is a highly fulfilling line of work. People follow you because you are the confident and authentic leader towards a better life.
In comes creativity. How do we incorporate it into our life and business for maximum, rapid advancement? By building off of the ideas and specific knowledge that are already created. You bring clarity to your vision when you follow and emulate other leaders or aspirational archetypes. Like that saying, “every good coach has a coach.”
As a side note and reminder, this is more of a philosophical take — if you want my simple and straightforward business, social media, and performance systems to build a multi-six figure business as a creator, join MMHQ here.
How To Live (And Earn) In Accordance With Nature
The first step is awareness. Awareness of your conditioning and programming. Given time, you heart and mind open. You revert to your child-like state… or should I say you transcend your adult-like state (pre-trans fallacy) and unlock the gifts of confidence, curiosity, and creativity.
Through curiosity, you pursue the areas of development that truly interest you. You build momentum through pattern recognition and dopamine. You begin making connections from different domains — and unless you transcend to creator (child = creator, adult = consumer, childlike adult = creator) you cannot fully develop yourselves in those areas. You are not teaching, leading, and doing the things necessary to reach the next stage of development.
By pursuing YOUR interests in accordance with nature (your intuition), you become a “niche of one.” You build out your “personal monopoly” of a brand. You live in accordance with the evolution (nature) of the internet. You flow (and profit) with the overall development of the universe. This is what you are supposed to do. You haven’t realized it because you are out of touch with your being — and you do not have an anchor of becoming.
How you choose to fill the 185 billion bits of information is going to be vastly different from others. Sure, some similarities will be shared, but competition is irrelevant at this point. Your “niche” is the manifestation of the billions of bits of information that you have stored throughout your life. In short, you have more to share than you think — all you need is a hierarchy of goals pertaining to growing online, educating yourself on branding, marketing, and sales, and maintaining momentum.
It’s easier than you think. The only thing standing in the way of your progress is yourself. Your unconscious identification with the mind. You already have everything within you — all you need to do is embrace your innate curiosity, let it be your guide, pass down your experiences, and document the journey via content, products, and services.
Of course, there are more technical details, but I’ve produced hundreds of newsletters, MMHQ articles, podcasts, courses, videos, trainings, and posts about those already. Everything you need is already out there on the internet. You may be blind to them because you allow distractions to capture and hold your attention.
Wake Up.
Dan Koe
