The fourth Writer's Bootcamp starts on March 4th.
And… we are adding a bonus call at no additional cost.
Kortex AI v1 is almost ready to release in the coming week. That means that by the end of the bootcamp, more AI features will be in, and we will go through idea generation, tweet, thread, newsletter, and editing with AI lessons and prompts. This should be the cost of the bootcamp alone, but you get it as a bonus.
If you want to:
- Create your niche of one based on your personal interests
- Turn 1 idea into 7 days of content (posts, threads, newsletter)
- Repurpose those to all platforms (including YouTube)
- Templates to organize your writing and avoid "not knowing" how to start
- A curriculum that you receive lifetime updates for as we continue to make it better than it already is
It's a lot. An entire audience building masterclass. So be prepared for an intense 5 weeks (6 with AI stuff.)
Enroll here before March 4th.
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I shave my head every so often.
At first, it was out of fear of going bald.
I shaved my head to rip the metaphorical band-aid of golden locks from my head to get used to the look I was "doomed" to have.
I also believe that too many guys are dependent on their hair for their self-confidence, but that's aside the point.
Turns out, I wasn't going bald, my hairline has always just looked like the top of an iPhone (as Ian—a Kortex engineer—so gratefully illustrated) and I was paying too much attention to it.
Now, I know this can sound cheesy, but shaving my head has become symbolic for shifting into an alter ego. A sub-identity that allows me to achieve goals fast, with pure focus, like a warrior going into battle.
A way to make myself so vulnerable that I have no option but to be okay with it. It's a forcing function for focus when things need to be done. And honestly, it's becoming my favorite look (on some days. On others not so much.)
In fact, this is the secret weapon of Kobe Bryant. His alter ego, "The Black Mamba" was something he adopted during a difficult period in his life. It reflected the mindset he wanted to embody on the basketball court.
We'll dive into the psychology behind it soon.
In my own life, I often oscillate between the warrior and monk archetypes.
War mode and monk mode.
Many are familiar with monk mode. It's become a self-improvement tactic where you disappear from the world, remove distractions, and practice some form of asceticism where you reject worldly pleasures in the pursuit of personal development.
War mode is the opposite.
You attack your goals. You simulate a hunt. You say yes to everything. You expose yourself to massive experience. You overwhelm your mind with chaos and force yourself to expand into a new identity. You become the person who can bear a massive load of responsibility. Someone who doesn't crack under pressure, because that means death.
I use war mode as a means to take my mind, body, and business to the next level, and it works surprisingly well.
The problem with modern life is that it's too comfortable.
People work on simple tasks they hate all day, never challenge themselves creatively, and think they need a "break" from work.
Personally, I think most people would benefit from more work than they would more rest.
One, because rest, for most people, is synonymous with a pleasurable escape from boredom rather than a deep recovery session from stimulating work.
Two, because the average person lacks periods of pure intensity toward a meaningful goal.
They lack true balance: contrast.
Meaningful work and meaningful rest.
Both with pure focus.
In the macro (years), meso (months), and micro (days).
Not the middle path, but the path of high highs and low lows.
Catastrophic failure and blissful success.
Those are where the most profound lessons are learned, and if you're floating in the middle, life becomes a blur of boredom and anxiety.
Too many people simply want to escape the stress and mundaneness of every day life, so they think more rest or a fancy vacation will do it for them.
I'd like to propose another solution.
To go a little insane.
To flip the switch overnight.
To transform into an entirely new person.
Let's learn how.
The Alter Ego Effect – Stepping Into A New Identity
The alter ego is a bridge between who you are now and who you are meant to be… The alter ego allows you to step outside yourself and see the bigger picture.
– Todd Herman, The Alter Ego Effect
I wrote a paper in high school English class.
I don't remember why we were supposed to write this paper, but I do remember what I wrote.
In a nutshell, I wrote about how I am not the same person around other people.
I am a different person in class, at church (when I was forced to go), with my friends, with my parents, and when talking to people online—usually while playing Call of Duty, Halo 3, or League Of Legends.
Why would I speak to my parents, who would probably disown me, if I spoke to them like I spoke to the stupid little f*ck that sniped me across the map within the first 30 seconds of search and destroy?
What surprised me is that my teacher, Mr. Wright, agreed with me.
He pulled me aside and mentioned that he does the same thing, but didn't like talking about it because it could make him seem inauthentic or two faced. I'm paraphrasing here.
The reality is, humans are shapeshifters.
We are creators. Generalists. We adapt to situations to survive and thrive.
Our mind has the unique capability to change it's perspective—thus changing the landscape for where your attention goes—but so few people have practiced this skill.
You already do this every day. You bring forth different qualities of your identity to act your best in different situations. But once you learn to control this power, you can do the impossible.
This is why so many people struggle with discipline and confidence.
They get trapped in a mind clouded with self-doubt and insecurity.
They fail to step out of that little box and view it from an entirely new angle.
So they drown.
Their goals, dreams, and ambitions sit on a bookshelf and collect dust.
That business you want to start. That social life you want to have. That body and mind you want to build. They all nag at you as you go about the life you don't want to live and continue to make the chaos in your mind worse.
In comes the alter ego.
A concept coined by Todd Herman, the author of The Alter Ego Effect.
Martin Luther King Jr would wear non-prescription glasses to become a "Distinguished Intellectual" for his talks.
Kobe Bryant, who turns into "The Black Mamba" because it is fast, smooth, and terrifying.
In a similar vein, strongmen competitors like Eddie Hall imagine his kids being crushed by the weights he's lifting. He says that there is absolutely no way he can lift that record level weight. That no human could do it. But when he really believes that he's in a do-or-die situation, he taps into a supernatural level of strength.
Why does this work?
When you adopt an alter ego, your mind starts to focus on how you should act. Your finite mental energy—about 50 bits of conscious information per second—is consumed by the shift in attention. You don't have the bandwidth to give energy to your self-doubt and insecurities.
The point is this, you only have so much attention to give. And when you give it all to doubt and insecurity, that becomes your world. You become what you focus on, but it takes effort to expand into a new mind that allows a shift in focus.
So, we need to:
- Create a mental frame to focus our attention away from self-doubt and fear
- Create a new identity to expand into with repetition and learning
- Create a plan so our attention is narrowed further and we live in the flow state
When you give this process time, your life changes in innumerable ways.
Here's exactly how you create an alter ego to jump into when it's time to perform:
1) Vision – What Do You Want?
First, we need an attention anchor.
We need something that pulls your attention away from doubt and insecurity.
You need a sturdy mental house that you built, not someone else. A house you can decorate and live in when outside conditions get harsh.
Now, this can't be any old goal or New Years resolution that you set because everyone else is or you feel a tiny bit of motivation. It must have gravity. It must be meaningful. It must be something you want to dedicate your life to.
But none of that comes in an instant.
Your vision is something you start like you do anything else.
It sucks at first. It feels inauthentic. But you need to get something on paper so you have something to improve.
As you make progress, you notice things that you thought you wanted, but don't anymore. So you iterate. You add brush strokes to your vision. This never stops. It's a painting you keep adding to.
You can start with this template I use, The Simple Life Planner (free), or simply write these down on paper or in your favorite notes app.
- How do you want to look, speak, and be perceived? Why?
- What environment do you want to live in? Why?
- What impact do you want to have on others? Why?
- If money is a reflection of the impact you have, how much money do you want to make?
- What can you see yourself getting really good at and being known for? Why?
- What do you want your average day to look like down to the detail? Why?
This is a starting point.
Remember, you add, subtract, and refine it as you make progress.
But what if you aren't motivated to start?
And what if you struggle to even get moving?
2) Clarity – How Do You Make Progress?
A lack of self-confidence is brutal.
You can't stop questioning your actions and can't find any sustainable source of motivation because it's always clouded over with doubt.
The truth is, a lack of self-confidence comes down to a lack of clarity.
The first half of the clarity equation comes down to perspective. We've solved that with a vision that gets stronger with faith. The second half of clarity comes down to knowing what to focus on.
Luckily, this isn't a matter of luck.
It's a matter of strategy.
In other words, you need a plan.
Your vision can seem so far away, like a north star.
A plan is a guess—that starts out dumb and becomes educated—that narrows your focus on what steps move the needle forward.
Because optimal experience depends on the ability to control what happens in consciousness moment by moment, each person has to achieve it on the basis of his own individual efforts and creativity.
– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
When your attention narrows on a task, distractions become more difficult to register in consciousness. But if you don't know what to do next, and next, and next… it starts to fall apart. If the next task is hard, you get anxious. If it's easy, you get bored. Then and there, your attention splits out of your vision and chaos starts to sink in.
Let's create a plan.
First, break down your vision into palatable milestones.
If I want to make $1 million a year, then milestones could be your first $1, then $10,000, then $100,000 and so on. You probably aren't going to leap to $1 million without making your first $10K. And what you must do to get to $10K is going to be much different than getting to $1M.
Second, write out exactly what you have to do to reach the first milestone.
For the example, I would have to start a business, obviously, to make my first dollar. Specifically one that aligns with the rest of my vision and interests. So in my case, it involves writing.
Now I have atleast some clarity. I can start learning what other writers have done as beginners to get started.
Third, write out exactly what you have to learn in order to do that thing.
For starting a writing business, I'd need to learn marketing, sales, content creation, and how to create a product or service.
If I focus on the first $1 milestone, I could create an ebook, charge $10 for it, and promote it on social media to the small audience I've been building with content creation.
Fourth, list out what the daily tasks that actually get results. Not just busy work.
For a writing business, that means posting high quality content. Like Devon Eriksen, a self-published science fiction author.
I've seen other authors complaining about how social media isn't a good sales channel, but then you look at their profile and they're just posting links to their book. How the f*ck do you expect to build an audience with that? Why would they care about your book when they know nothing about the ideas inside?
You need to post your beliefs, opinions, and teach people about your interests. They don't care about your book first. They care about you first. Then they purchase your book (or any other product) because they like you.
You can, and should, get as granular as possible with your plan.
But like your vision, this is simply a first iteration that you add to with time.
This is why most people don't follow through.
They get stuck on something like "I don't know what business to start" instead of just starting any because the skills that comprise one business transfer over pretty well into any other one you pivot into. This applies to more than business.
It doesn't matter where you start. You'll probably change direction like everyone else. What matters is what you learn by starting so you can keep going.
It's okay if you don't know what to do yet.
It's okay if you feel overwhelmed.
You're changing your life.
Of course it's going to feel like swimming in the middle of the ocean.
Expecting it to just "come to you" is some residual social conditioning from parents and teachers telling you exactly what to do… and look where that's led to.
That's what we need to discuss next.
How to reprogram your mind.
3) Identity – Who Must You Become?
What would Jesus do?
Heard that before?
Turns out, that question can be the singular source of a good life.
I'm not a Christian, but I get the point of the question.
Jesus Christ, the person, is symbolic for someone who achieved a high stage of consciousness. In some circles, they call this "Christ Consciousness." They didn't have the word "consciousness" or "awareness" back then, so I can only imagine how much more clear their message would be interpreted if they were here today.
We talked about these stages of ego development in a past letter, so I'll spare you another detailed explanation of them.
Instead, I want you to create an alter ego more conscious and developed than you so you can adopt their perspective to thrive in what-used-to-be difficult situations.
Your alter ego is who you become to achieve your vision and execute your plan.
As Einstein supposedly said, "you can't solve a problem from the same level of mind that created it."
So we need to tap into a higher level of mind to overcome the struggles we face in the pursuit of our goals, because most of your problems aren't problems, they're a lack of perspective (and thus awareness/consciousness).
Here's what I want you to do:
1) Choose 2-3 aspirational archetypes that have achieved what you want to achieve.
As I'm building a startup, I often study people like Steve Jobs because their aura is undeniable. I also learn directly from people like John Hu and Vitalii Dodonov who are grateful enough to help me and answer my questions.
For meaning and spirituality, you could very well look to Jesus Christ or Gautama Buddha.
The beautiful thing about the internet is that you can literally just follow these people and read their mind.
2) Write down the qualities you need to adopt to achieve your goals.
Your job is to study and understand what qualities made these people so exceptional.
Steve Jobs was articulate, creative, and high agency. Buddha was mindful, calm, and sharp.
These are the qualities you are going to "jump" into when it's time to make progress.
3) Give your alter ego a name.
This can be anything. A name of a person. A name of an animal. Just make it something descriptive of the identity you want to adopt. I've thought of myself as Goku going Super Saiyan when I'm trying to hit a new record in the gym.
Now, creating an alter ego isn't some silly practice.
It's not a "mask" you put on that disappears once you take it off.
It is a vessel for identity change.
Every time you embody those higher qualities and make progress toward your goals, your identity expands to higher levels of skill and complexity. This is personal growth in a nutshell.
You are reprogramming your mind to perceive situations from a more developed lens, because you are becoming more developed.
But you don't become more developed by sitting around and saying "Yeah I'm Goku! Lets go lift some weights!"
You develop yourself through committing, learning, building, and persisting.
How To Go War Mode
You aren't where you want to be because you haven't put yourself in the situations that would force you to get there.
The Art Of Focus
You don't need motivation or discipline when you are the person who would take certain actions.
To change who you are you must educate, practice, and experience new information to reprogram your mind's faulty wiring that was installed by society.
You must rip yourself out of the environment that is keeping you the same.
You must force yourself into places you don't belong until you do.
You must channel what you learn into a project moves you toward your vision.
Take your alter ego and go war mode.
Remember, war mode is different from monk mode.
You attack your goals. You simulate a hunt. You say yes to everything. You expose yourself to massive experience. You overwhelm your mind with chaos and force yourself to expand into a new identity. You become the person who can bear a massive load of responsibility. Someone who doesn't crack under pressure, because that means death.
Commit – Shave Your Head
You don't have to shave your head, especially if you're a woman.
But the point still stands:
Do something physical that is representative of your commitment that you can't turn back from.
Too many people in todays society want to "try" changing their life without consequences. It's no wonder why they rarely achieve anything. They have too many plan B's. They aren't fully invested in their vision because they're afraid to leave the comfort that will always prove to end up more uncomfortable than committing to a life you want.
Buy new clothes. Burn your old ones. Sign a lease on an apartment you can't afford so you are forced to make your business work. Get on the plane across the country with a few dollars and a plan. Put your last few dollars into marketing for your business. (Money doesn't buy happiness, but it buys the ability to make mistakes which leads to growth which leads to happiness.)
Tactical stress.
Do the thing that makes your self-doubt real.
Because right now, it's all in your head. It's going to be a lot scarier than the reality of it.
Like a goldfish, you only grow as much as the tank you are put in. So put yourself in a new tank.
Learn – Embrace Chaos
You need 2 habits:
- 30-60 minutes of learning. The most important thing you can do when the world is changing rapidly is learn. New skills, new technologies, new paths in life. Dedicate time to finding the ideas you can channel into your work.
- 30-60 minutes of building. If you want any form of work, money, or the ability to sustain a better life, you need to create something valuable that other people want. You already spend most of your time building for someone else, you can set aside some time to build your own thing.
But we don't stop there.
Learning goes far beyond just reading books and watching tutorials.
Learning is a fundamental human drive. You learn from your everyday experience. But you don't learn in the known. You don't learn in the mundane every day routine that you've fallen into over the past few years.
When things get static, you need to change something. Anything. You need chaos. You need novelty. You need the experiences and ideas that fuel forward progress. Build something new. Test test test. Rip apart your daily routine. Do anything but the same thing.
Build – Mind, Body, Business
If you don't know what to build, start with the only things that matter:
- Mind – how you interpret risks and opportunities to make better decisions.
- Body – how you look, feel, and are perceived by others.
- Business – how you contribute value to the world.
You live with your mind and body, it should be considered your full time job to study them, master them, and not be controlled by them.
Your mind and body allow you to transform the world and help others. Business is the modern way to package up the creative ability of your mind and give it to others in a way that allows you to sustain your ideal life. Your health and energy are your capacity to invest attention into your life's work without getting distracted.
Your mind, body, and business are the singular priorities that will lead to your vision becoming reality.
Create a project for each.
Adopt a training program.
Start the business.
Acquire knowledge in the pursuit of both.
For those asking, "What about relationships?" don't understand that by developing yourself you improve your relationships by proxy. You become less of a leach. Your cup overflows into theirs and you no longer need them to pour into yours.
Expose Yourself To Massive Experience
War mode is a period of intense growth.
It doesn't last forever.
Maybe 2-3 months.
You only have so much you can give before you burn out.
So give it everything you have.
Say yes to everything.
Talk to new people. Accept the invitation. Launch the business. Ask for help. Fill your mind with so much chaos that even if you crack under pressure, you come out a more developed individual. Fly too close to the sun and land on the moon.
I promise you.
You will look back in 12 months and have no idea how you came so far.
After a period of recovery, do it all over again.
Growth isn't linear.
It comes in short exponential bursts of progress.
The good thing is, once you practice it, you can choose to set up the right variables to encourage this period of growth.
I'll see you on the other side.
– Dan