The Newsletter That Made Me Stop Everything (And Why You Should Read It Too)
I just read something that made me close my laptop, grab a notebook, and spend an entire day questioning everything about my life.
Dan Koe published a newsletter called “How to fix your entire life in 1 day” and it’s one of those rare pieces of content that actually lives up to its title.
I’m not going to recreate his framework here - you should read the original. But I do want to talk about why it hit so hard, and more importantly, how it applies directly to the financial patterns I see destroying people’s wealth-building potential every single week.
Because here’s what I realized working through his protocol: most people’s money problems aren’t actually money problems. They’re identity problems. Belief problems. Unconscious pattern problems that no amount of budgeting or investment optimization can fix.
Let’s dig in ↓
Your Money Problems Aren’t Money Problems
Here’s what makes Dan’s approach different from typical productivity or self-help content: he doesn’t give you another system to follow. He forces you to excavate the unconscious beliefs that make you need the system in the first place.
And when I applied this lens to money, everything clicked.
I’ve watched countless high-income clients struggle financially despite having more than enough resources. They know what to do - save 20%, invest in index funds, max tax-advantaged accounts, avoid lifestyle inflation. They’ve read the books. They understand compound interest.
But they still can’t do it consistently. And they beat themselves up for “lacking discipline” or “being bad with money.”
The problem isn’t knowledge. It’s not even discipline. It’s that their unconscious financial identity is running a completely different program than their conscious goals.
The Identity You’re Protecting Is Keeping You Broke
Dan talks about how all behavior is goal-oriented, even when those goals are unconscious. This is devastatingly true with money.
You say you want to build wealth, but you can’t stop spending money to look successful. You’re not lacking willpower - you’re pursuing the unconscious goal of social validation that was programmed into you decades ago.
You say you want financial independence, but you stay in the high-paying job you hate. You’re not lacking courage - you’re pursuing the unconscious goal of safety that your parents drilled into you through their own financial anxiety.
You say you want to save more, but you obsessively check your accounts and panic during every market dip. You’re not lacking education - you’re pursuing the unconscious goal of control in a world that feels fundamentally unsafe.
Your conscious mind says “build wealth.” Your unconscious mind says “stay safe” or “look successful” or “don’t risk failure.” And the unconscious mind wins every single time until you make it conscious.
What Dan’s Protocol Actually Does
The framework Dan provides isn’t comfortable. It’s designed to create dissonance - that gap between who you think you are and who your behavior reveals you to be.
For money specifically, this means confronting:
The financial life you’re actually building (not the one you tell yourself you want). If nothing changes, where will you be in 10 years? What does that version of you regret? What opportunities closed? Be specific and brutally honest.
The unconscious financial beliefs running your behavior. What did your parents teach you about money through their stress, their fights, their choices? What did your peer group condition you to believe success looks like? These aren’t abstract questions - they’re the operating system determining every financial decision you make.
The identity you’re protecting that keeps you stuck. “I’m not good with money.” “I deserve nice things after working hard.” “Rich people are greedy.” “I’ll never be wealthy like them.” Which story are you clinging to? And what is that story costing you?
The financial life you actually want (which might be completely different from what you’ve been chasing). Not what sounds impressive. Not what your parents want. Not what your peers are doing. What do YOU actually want your relationship with money to create?
Why This Matters More Than Any Financial Strategy
You can have the perfect investment allocation. You can optimize your tax strategy. You can know exactly how much to save to retire early.
But if your unconscious identity is “I’m not the type of person who builds wealth” or “Money is stressful and shameful,” none of that technical advice will stick.
You’ll self-sabotage. You’ll find excuses. You’ll get partway there and blow it up. Not because you’re broken or lazy, but because you’re unconsciously protecting an identity that doesn’t align with wealth-building.
This is why some people making $80K steadily build seven-figure net worths while others making $300K stay broke. It’s not the income. It’s the identity.
The Question That Reveals If You Need This
Here’s how you know if this work matters for you:
Do your financial results match your stated financial goals?
If you say you want to build wealth but your net worth hasn’t meaningfully increased in years - you need this.
If you say you want financial freedom but you feel more financially stressed now than five years ago - you need this.
If you say money isn’t that important but you constantly stress about it, compare yourself to others, or make decisions based on how they’ll look financially - you need this.
The gap between what you say you want and what your behavior creates is the gap this protocol fills.
What I’m Asking You to Do
I’m not going to recreate Dan’s framework here. That would miss the point entirely.
What I’m asking is this: go read his newsletter. Actually work through the protocol. Spend 1-2 hours on it.
Set aside your phone. Grab a notebook. Answer the uncomfortable questions. Create the anti-vision of the life you’re avoiding. Build the vision of what you’re moving toward. Break your autopilot patterns. Synthesize the insights.
And as you’re doing it, apply every single question to your relationship with money:
What financial dissatisfaction have you learned to tolerate?
What’s the financial life you’re unconsciously building if nothing changes?
What financial identity are you protecting that’s keeping you stuck?
What would your financial life look like if you became the person capable of building real wealth?
The protocol works because it forces you to see the gap between who you think you are and who your behavior reveals you to be. That dissonance - that discomfort - is where transformation starts.
Bottom Line: Knowledge Isn’t Your Problem
You don’t need another article about index funds or savings rates or the 4% rule.
You need to excavate the unconscious beliefs about money, success, and worth that were programmed into you before you could think critically about them.
You need to create visceral awareness of the financial life you’re accidentally building versus the one you actually want.
You need to fundamentally shift your financial identity before any tactical advice will stick.
Dan’s framework does this. Not just for money - for everything. But when I applied it specifically to financial behavior, it revealed patterns I didn’t even know I was running.
One day. Uncomfortable questions. Brutal honesty about the financial identity you’re protecting.
See you next week.
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