I’ve been riding motorcycles for most of my adult life.
My first “car” at 16 years old was a motorcycle. (A CBR250R for my fellow enthusiasts).
I eventually graduated to a Yamaha R6 after a year or so. (A much faster sport bike). Ended up going through 2 of those.
Last year, before moving to Austin, I was riding my Yamaha R1. (Even faster, like… too fast… but it fit my tall body).
After being in Texas for a few months, I had the itch to get on a bike again.
My roommate (also my YouTube editor) wanted to learn how to ride.
So we went and picked up a used beginner bike for him to learn on.
He purchased a Honda Rebel 500.
I ended up purchasing this beauty.
Now, I could talk all day about how riding a bobber is SO much different from riding a supersport, but that’s not what we are here to learn.
(The motorcycles will make sense soon, I promise).
The Importance Of Learning
I have some issues with the modern education system.
Don’t get me wrong… it has some great aspects to it — everyone should be on a similar page in terms of how we operate as a society.
But in terms of living as nature intended?
It’s a horrible solution for helping people find, learn about, and make a career out of something they care about.
The modern education system works against our psyche that is wired for survival.
It pushes us to “learn,” memorize, and get trained into a job that has nothing to do with what we spent learning and memorizing.
The other thing… mass education will never be able to keep up with the digital economy that continues to evolve at an exponential rate.
Only those that know how to pursue their curiosity, learn fast, and become “tool-independent” will end up on top.
By leaning into your nature — your survival-wired brain — you will begin to reap the benefits of doing so.
Learning is how you become more aware, conscious, and skilled in the game of life.
When you start playing a game for the first time, you learn:
- The rules of the game
- The mechanics and controls
- How to win the game
You are curious about how fun the game will be.
You go through a tutorial video or read the rule book.
You test your limits as a level 1 player and quickly realize that you have a lot of work to do.
You start asking yourself questions:
- Is this game for me?
- Is it actually worth my time?
- Will I even have fun playing this?
- Are my friends playing the game?
- How many people are playing the game in the world?
- How much time, money, and other resources will this consume?
Asking questions is how you determine if it is worth adopting this new activity into your life.
You have other things going on, no?
You have routines, lifestyles, social events, habits, errands, and other things that could be impacted by playing this game on a consistent basis.
If playing that specific game isn’t perceived as more “fun” or more “valuable” or an activity than the other games you are playing, why would you make a constant in your life?
This is where a lot of people fall off.
They stop playing the game while they are still level 1.
Learning is how you uncover the depth that life has to offer.
When you first start learning a game (or trying something new in life) you may not like it.
It may not make sense to you just yet.
Maybe you “hate” going antique shopping with your wife on Sundays.
It’s not that you hate it. It’s that you don’t understand it.
It’s not a game to you, it’s a nuisance.
All you see are boring old antiques that serve no purpose in your life.
To your wife, however, antique shopping is a fun game that she is a high level in.
- She has fun trying to find the “hidden gems” in the antique shop
- She understands history to a point where she can appreciate the antiques
- Her father was a woodworker and it brings back memories of him when she see’s rocking chairs
She is curious to dive deep into the inner workings of the game.
She has clarity on how to play the game through experience.
She makes connections to other past or potential experiences that the game presents.
She fabricates a challenge in her mind to engage in the game on that day.
She raises her consciousness to see the web of interconnectedness the game presents.
But you… you haven’t even started playing. You don’t see it as a game. You fixate your focus on the tip of the iceberg and assume that everything under the water serves no purpose.
You aren’t giving yourself a chance to find your “why.”
Do this enough and you won’t see past the tip of the iceberg of life itself. A shallow existence.
You will find yourself ready to quit before you even leave the tutorial.
At level 1, you can only assume or predict what exists in levels above you.
At level 100, you have a birds eye view of the levels under you.
The Art Of Doing Whatever You Want
Whenever I talk about “doing what you want” I always get the same responses.
“You mean if I wanted to jump off a bridge I should???”
“You mean if I want to be the next Hitler I should?”
“You mean it’s okay if people are mass murderers?!?!”
Wake the fuck up. Stop it. Have some common sense and think critically about what you are saying.
This brings up the difference between conscious and unconscious living.
If you were conscious of the widespread impact of what “becoming the next Hitler” would lead to, you wouldn’t want to do it.
If you did it anyway, good. That’s how you become aware of your blindspots and work to change them.
If you were conscious of your immoral actions and how it displaces the balance of the collective system, you would work to change them.
You would want to improve… if you were conscious.
Mid Koe Letter reminder: readers can join Modern Mastery for $5 here. MM contains 170+ life and business strategies, live trainings, and step by step roadmaps from people who have built sustainable and passionate one-person businesses.
Doing what you want is a matter of living in accordance with nature.
From a psychological lens, this has been studied well.
Two of my favorite models come to mind.
Steven Kotler’s 5 Intrinsic Drivers and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s flow model.
We’ve talked about these many times before, so I will spare you the rundown.
In short, there are specific ways to manipulate your attention or frame your focus with the result of a more enhanced experience.
Chemicals like dopamine, adrenaline, and norepinephrine squirt into your brain to reward your pursuits that stem from your nature.
- Developing your skill set
- Mastering your craft
- Pursuing your vision
- Working towards your goals
- Living by a code of values
- Living in the moment
- Hunting for your survival (entrepreneurship)
- Harnessing your creativity (nature is creative)
- Raising your level of consciousness (game XP)
Everyone has a “pull” to pursue a higher version of themselves.
When you pursue your curiosity, fulfill your basic needs, gain a degree of geographical freedom, and consistently make progress — you are psychologically rewarded.
It. Feels. Good.
Busting out of the trenches of struggle.
Conquering the challenge.
Winning the battle in the ever-unfolding story of life.
Reaching the peak of the mountain.
Feeling the energy in the drop of a song.
It’s all the same.
Push pull. Wu wei. Yin yang.
Cycles, chapters, phases of life.
Life mimics nature, lean into it.
Another way of saying that:
The system is rigged, so learn the system so you can maneuver yourself within it towards optimal outcomes.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
(Scratch that, don’t hate the game, appreciate it)
The Life Enjoyment 5
Back to the motorcycles.
I’ve been paying very close attention to how my roommate is learning to ride his motorcycle.
After I noticed the curiosity and clarity phase — I started noticing
This newsletter was initially going to be about learning.
I’ve decided (at this very moment) to pivot towards enjoyment (what learning leads to).
I’ve started developing a meta-concept that pairs perfectly with The Creation Pyramid.
It combines the spiritual, psychological, and philosophical teachings that I’ve found to cross over when it comes to life enjoyment. Not only occasionally, but on demand. That is, once you understand the parts of the system. The aspects of the game.
I call it The Life Enjoyment 5.
All five “C’s” of enjoyment are both tools and tells.
You can use and combine them to increase your enjoyment of day-to-day existence.
Or you can become aware of them when you are doing things you genuinely enjoy.
This reminds me of Eckhart Tolle’s 3 Modalities Of Doing
- Acceptance
- Enjoyment
- Enthusiasm
Which are great tools to be at peace with whatever situation you are in – but that’s just it…
Every situation brings vastly different variables to the table.
I love Eckhart and his modalities served me well, but there is more.
My purpose with this is to build and create from his work (as well as others) to bring a more powerful concept to the table. One that allows you to become aware of the depth and opportunity that life has to offer.
The LE5 is not linear, they happen as they happen. Non-sequential.
Curiosity
What do you feel pulled to do?
When you feel the pull, what limiting beliefs arrive?
From there, pause and question.
Don’t let your monkey brain think that your survival is at stake.
The death of a belief is not death itself — even when it feels eerily similar.
Questioning is how you open up new mental pathways to explore.
Questioning is how you expand your consciousness by diving down the rabbit hole of infinity.
Questioning is how you dictate what you need to self-educate on next.
This is difficult at first, but is usually catalyzed by the question:
“What if?”
What if I learned that skill?
What if I traveled no matter the cost?
What if I committed to starting that business?
When we went out to purchase the motorcycles, we got absorbed in all of the different models, the purpose they serve, and the minor differences.
We were both curious.
What would our days look like if we had this new mode of transportation?
That triggered many other questions, which begin to tie in the other tools of the LE5.
As you can guess, that has opened up a new world to explore and experience (not just on the road).
We’ve met new friends that have bikes and effectively expanded our network of high-level individuals in Austin.
We’ve felt compelled to explore backroads and get out in nature.
The list goes on.
Clarity
The cause of most modern problems is clarity.
Anxiety, uncertainty, fixed mindsets, closed-mindedness, and the rest are all due to a lack of clarity.
This deserves an entire article, and is the backbone of The Creation Pyramid, creativity in general, and Intelligent Imitation.
Relating to motorcycles, here was the process:
- Immerse
- Imitate
- Innovate
Devan, my editor that bought the motorcycle with me, used me for a few things:
- Education — I ran him through the tutorial of playing the motorcycle game (the basics, mechanics, and/or fundamentals of riding).
- Coach — I revealed his blind spots AS he was riding. I helped him eliminate problems as they arose.
- Resource — I gave him other “mentors” to study and material to read to speed up his learning.
Whether you are learning a new skill or struggling with a specific task…
Clarity comes down to structure, information, and surrender.
Information is abundant and potentially overwhelming, yet necessary.
Structuring that information (or ordering consciousness) is how you start to “outline the puzzle.”
Surrender and rest usually piece everything together.
Like when a writer brainstorms 15 headlines, puts his pen down, and goes to lay out by the pool (this is actually a thing, most writers get most of their work done during rest).
Or when a programmer can’t figure out a bug, but the perfect solution comes to them when they are in the shower.
This can be applicable to motorcycles, but the “surrender” aspect comes into play with longer commitments. Starting your business, improving yourself, making the most of life, etc.
Connection
In psychology there is a phenomena known as pattern recognition. There is also the “construct aware” stage of ego development along with systems thinking as a whole.
Connection stems from the ability to zoom out, see the big picture, and recognize patterns, models, constructs, and connections.
This is best illustrated as the “aha!” moment (or a series of these moments).
Along with curiosity, connection raises dopamine in the brain.
It causes excitement. It makes you want to share what you are learning. Most of the time you can’t help but tell everyone about your new motorcycle and everything you’ve learned about it.
Referring to Steven Kotler’s 5 intrinsic drivers, connection can also be seen under the lens of purpose and passion.
When you connect what you are learning with something else that has real world utility, you start to cultivate passion for the purpose that your new skill holds. (like solving a big problem in the world, starting a business, or direct application to your life right now).
Challenge
Challenge is encoded in the system.
Challenge is what kicks you into flow.
Challenge is what eliminates boredom.
We are so afraid as a society to take on new challenges because they threaten the comfort we’ve been conditioned into.
If your work, life, or self isn’t challenging you on a consistent basis, I can assure you that your life won’t be interesting. I can also assure you that you aren’t making much progress.
Again, this brings up the importance of consistent self-reflection and setting new goals.
- Set a challenging goal
- Gain clarity by breaking it down into smaller goals
- Act with intention by aligning all aspects of your life (mind, body, spirit, business) with those goals.
If you get anxious or start overthinking, you need clarity. You need to learn, practice, and teach to increase your skill that revolves around that goal.
If you get bored or aren’t engaged with the task at hand, you need to set new goals that match your skill.
Consciousness
We will discuss consciousness more in the coming weeks.
Consciousness is about depth and appreciation. Love.
For now, start seeing beyond the surface.
Take on the challenge of becoming curious in understanding all of the connections that any given situation presents (so you can gain clarity).
While most people perceive a motorcycle as a purposeless death machine — you can make the conscious choice to see beyond that and break out of your unconscious, conditioned emotional reactions to life.
Dive deeper.
Appreciate the entire process it took to create that motorcycle.
Appreciate the opportunities it opens to those who ride it.
Appreciate the game that people have chosen to play.
Seek to understand by dissecting what you see into smaller parts. Then dissect further.
Seriously, stop what you are doing, think of a motorcycle, and start to dissect downward and construct upward.
With your mind, dissect the motorcycle into it’s parts, where those parts came from, who was involved, and keep going deeper until you reach the base elements that we use to build physical material.
With your mind, construct a potential reality that would be conducive to your vision if a motorcycle was involved. Can you meet new people? Can you adopt a new hobby into your life?
This is impossible to do if you are a slave to the unconscious thought patterns that keep your mind closed and narrow.
Continue this dissection and construction process as you go about your day to day life.
You can do this with anything. (Even the screen you are looking at). A n y t h i n g.
How do you think I create content?
How do you think I create an income via unconventional methods?
How do you think anyone creates in general?
Pause, dive deep, and appreciate.
Raise your consciousness.
Dissect and construct.
Think.
You can use the LE5 to identify, understand, and solve problems across multiple domains using everything we just talked about.
This is difficult to understand until experienced.
My advice:
- Save the LE5 graphic to your phone.
- Study it’s parts and let your curiosity run wild. (Dissect and construct — create)
- When you are learning, start to notice the different aspects of this concept.
- Notice how you feel and question why you feel that way.
This will allow you to understand yourself on a deeper level and start to replicate those results.
When you find yourself in a bad mood, use the LE5 to your advantage:
- Question why you are in a bad mood (curiosity)
- Set a goal to reverse the bad mood (challenge)
- Reverse engineer it so you know what to learn (clarity)
- As you learn, observe the excitement that fills your mind as you make new discoveries (excitement)
- Remain conscious during this entire process.
This is a huge topic that we will continue to apply, dissect, construct, and understand.
Until next time my friends,
— Dan Koe
What Happened This Week
I uploaded a podcast that gives an overview of consciousness and the role it plays in creativity.
A new YouTube video titled “Why You Won’t Change (How To Reinvent Yourself)” just went live.
Inside Modern Mastery, I uploaded my simple and intuitive process to building out profitable digital products.
