Yesterday Creates Tomorrow: Dan Sullivan's Most Productive Experiment Yet

What if building a better future starts by focusing on today, not tomorrow? In this episode of Capability Amplifier, Dan Sullivan and I discuss his time experiment that helped him eliminate future-based anxiety and unlock a profound sense of productivity and calm.

Instead of stressing over the future, Dan committed to creating a "great yesterday" every day. This shift in focus reduced his mental scatter and distraction, something he personally attributes to ADHD tendencies, while helping him become more conscious and present, getting more done with less effort.

Dan walks me through the mental shifts he experienced, how he tracks daily progress through a unique point system, and why staying in the moment is the key to both personal and professional growth. We also get into how Ai is amplifying Dan's creative process, and how this simple method can help anyone stuck in the anxiety of what's next.

The core message is clear: create a great yesterday, and you'll unlock your best tomorrows. This goes beyond productivity - it's a way of being that eliminates distractions and allows for peak creativity and clarity.

In this episode, Dan and I break down:

• Dan shifted his focus from future worries to present actions, creating calm, clarity, and momentum.
• Creating a great yesterday builds a foundation for today and tomorrow, replacing distraction with intention.
• Dan's point system tracks conscious actions throughout the day, turning small wins into compounding results.
• Nostalgia traps you in the past and blocks you from embracing what's possible right now.
• Ai accelerates creative action, helping us speed up decision-making and idea execution.
• By mastering time, Dan's method has given him freedom in time, money, and relationships.
  
  Note: The experiences shared in this episode reflect Dan Sullivan's personal observations from his own time experiment and daily practices. Nothing in this conversation constitutes medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are experiencing symptoms related to ADHD or any other condition, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
  
  

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Introduction to creating a great yesterday

01:11 – The power of simple tools

03:09 – Dan’s 63-day time experiment

05:02 – Focus on today for a better yesterday

06:22 – Creating consciousness in daily activities

08:52 – Nostalgia vs. creative momentum

10:15 – The impact of focusing on the present

12:30 – How Dan's scattered thinking quietly disappeared

14:00 – Why the point system works

16:00 – Tracking conscious actions for momentum

17:30 – How nostalgia limits progress

19:10 – The role of Ai in amplifying creativity

21:00 – Ai as a creative multiplier for entrepreneurs

23:00 – The freedom of time and what it brings

24:45 – Dan’s final thoughts on his experiment and method

Discover More

📘AiAccelerator Book: https://www.MikeKoenigs.com/AiBookFree
🎉 Referral Party: https://www.MikeKoenigs.com/RPFree
🌍 Your Next Act: https://www.MikeKoenigs.com/YNAFree
🚀 Private Experiences: https://www.MikeKoenigs.com/PEFree

🌟 Follow Mike
🎙️ Podcast: http://www.MrBz.com/CA
📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/koenigsmike
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekoenigs
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/koenigs
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikekoenigs
🚀 X: https://X.com/mikekoenigsreal

Creators and Guests

Host

Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach

Dan Sullivan is founder and president of The Strategic Coach Inc. A visionary, an innovator, and a gifted conceptual thinker, Dan has over 40 years’ experience as a highly regarded speaker, consultant, strategic planner, and coach to entrepreneurial individuals and groups.

Host

Mike Koenigs

Mike Koenigs helps business owners and entrepreneurs get paid for BEING, instead of DOING by becoming Transformational Business Influencers, authorities and thought-leaders to create impact, income and a great lifestyle.

What is Capability Amplifier?

Join the eternally curious, interested, and interesting hosts, Mike Koenigs of the SuperPower Accelerator and Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach®, to amplify your capabilities, value, status, and authority on the Capability Amplifier podcast. Ever episode focuses on a new mindset, shortcut or deep thinking exercise that will improve your performance and lifespan. Learn more at: https://www.CapabilityAmplifier.com

Dan Sullivan [00:00:00]:
Hi, this is Dan Sullivan and this is our next episode with my thinking buddy, Mike Henix. And I was telling Mike a couple weeks ago about a new way of approaching time used today to create a great yesterday, that in turn creates a great tomorrow. And this is an experiment, time experiment that I've been doing. And Mike, I think this one's got legs. It certainly does. It's certainly got merchandise.

Mike Koenigs [00:00:27]:
So it's definitely either Zen Dan or Dan Zen. And if you, if you haven't witnessed Dan in Zen mode before, this is the episode where you will. And Dan has some super profound thinking that has shifted and made him, first of all, his best 62 days ever. He's experiencing an enormous amount of gratitude and happiness and eliminated his adhd. So if you want to get rid of your ADHD or you know someone who should, this is the episode for you. So let's dive in.

Dan Sullivan [00:01:07]:
Hi everybody, this is Dan Sullivan and this is Capability Amplifier. And I'm here with my great conversational creative partner, collaborator, Mike Koenigs. And we, we really enjoy our time together. And you know, this happened just as an invitation about seven years ago and we've been talking non stop in ways that we never predicted we would for that period of time. Mike, I mentioned to you, and we were talking about this a couple of weeks ago, but one of our great Free Zone collaborators, Leora Weinstein, who's a very, very smart, very, very, very smart guy.

Mike Koenigs [00:01:54]:
Yes.

Dan Sullivan [00:01:54]:
And very deep person. Very deep. And he was talking about a trip that he took to Africa with several dozen affluent parents. And they got there and about parenting in the present, parenting in the future. And at the end of the conference they had a big bonfire and everybody went around and talked about why they thought they're, you know, they really want to deepen their parenting because they want to give their children the best possible future. And Lior was one of the last to speak and he said, well, you know, I don't really know that much about the future and quite frankly, I don't know what my children are going to do with the future. But he says, I consider my job to actually create the best possible past for my children. And if they get a really great past, maybe they'll have the confidence and capability to create their own really great future.

Dan Sullivan [00:02:59]:
And it was a novel thought and I'm looking for novel thoughts. And this thought, I grabbed it and I put it in a compartment of my brain and I said, there's something really, really important way, way beyond the setting that he was in and what he was talking about. And I came up and about two months ago, I started a discipline, and I'm 63 days into it, where every morning when I get up, I say I'm going to spend the whole day creating a great yesterday. And first time it was interesting, but now I'm on a roll and I have 63, 62 really great yesterdays. And I'm noticing it's doing something different to my tomorrows.

Mike Koenigs [00:03:53]:
It is. When we had dinner, I said, dan, that's just astonishingly profound and simple. The whole idea of my job today is to create my very best yesterday because it's going to create a whole bunch of great tomorrows. And I said, we've got to do an episode about that. And of course, you came back with a whole bunch of big ideas. And with your permission, I'm going to ask you some questions about. About this whole process. And I think the first question that I'd say is, now that you've been doing this for 63 days, do you have a something you go to bed with, a thought or an idea or a reflection, or is there something you wake up with that puts you in the right state to create an amazing yesterday or a reflection so you reward yourself mentally with what just happened?

Dan Sullivan [00:05:02]:
Yeah, it's really interesting. And, you know, I'm my own lab animal here, so I'm getting a lot of insights, but they've by far been the two most productive. It was the greatest December I ever had, and it was the great. I just completed the greatest January I've ever had. And. But the interesting thing about it is my ADD has disappeared.

Mike Koenigs [00:05:27]:
Why do you think that is?

Dan Sullivan [00:05:29]:
Well, because I'm not worried about tomorrow. I'm just focusing on the yesterday that I create that in the morning. I've got a great yesterday that's grading the next day. And it's the same job every day. When I get up tomorrow, I have to create another great yesterday. But the interesting thing about it is today's activities are fairly predictable, you know, and, you know, I have routines that are, you know, not work routines, but just how you conduct the day anyway. And I have one thing. I live in Toronto, and it's very cold outside right now, and we have four fireplaces, gas fireplaces in our three levels.

Dan Sullivan [00:06:12]:
And first thing I get out of morning, the very, very nice alarm. It's not an alarm, it's just a notification. Time to wake up. Time to wake up. That Babs has, and she's 2ft, 3ft away from me. And it comes out And I get out of bed and I walk downstairs and I put on all the lights and I turn on the four fireplaces. One in the bedroom, two on the ground floor, one in the basement because we're going to be using all three levels. And I put all the lights on, put the temperature, I go to the thermostat and put up the right temperature and everything and I come back and that starts off the day and then we spend a half hour or so just cuddling and talking about the day and everything like that.

Dan Sullivan [00:07:02]:
And then throughout the day. But what it's increased is my consciousness of what I'm doing every day and what I've discovered something that the importance of any activity that you do during the day is the consciousness with which you do it.

Mike Koenigs [00:07:21]:
Yes.

Dan Sullivan [00:07:23]:
That if you're conscious about what you're doing, it's a great activity regardless of how otherwise it would be seen as a trivial activity. And you know, I make sure I don't cut myself when I'm shaving. I said that's good, you were very conscious, very, very conscious when you're doing it. And I have what I call ADD activated accidents. You know, it's part of my, part of my life, you know, and you know, I have my clothes laid out and we take peptides. So I go and I make sure I, you know, I don't draw too much blood when I'm putting the needle in, you know, and you know, everything like that. But there's a sense that this is all I have to take care of there. There's nothing I don't.

Dan Sullivan [00:08:15]:
I've got my schedule for the day. So I have a wonderful scheduler, Becca Miller, who has me all lined up for the day. I'm a very well managed entrepreneur, Timeways. And I just go about every activity and I, I don't do it constantly but anytime I get the little bit frustrated about something which is a lifetime experience, I say, remember you're creating it great yesterday. And I, all of a sudden I feel very relaxed. So it's an interesting, it's an interesting experiment.

Mike Koenigs [00:08:52]:
I think this, this deserves a T shirt. There's a series of T shirts. Here is Create a great Yesterday. And I could see a whole bunch of these. So this is good. All right, now I'm going to actually ask you the next one which is about. You sent this sentence which is yesterday creates tomorrow isn't about nostalgia, it's about creative momentum. And give me the distinction of what, what nostalgia is to you and how.

Mike Koenigs [00:09:27]:
Just explain what that means.

Dan Sullivan [00:09:29]:
Yeah, well, first of all, I don't suffer from nostalgia. You know, I mean, I've never. I don't have. I'm not a very sentimental. Very sentimental person. And so my sense is. And I work with a great energy expert. Daniel White.

Dan Sullivan [00:09:48]:
Yeah, Daniel. I've worked with him for 20 years. Super. Just. I don't know why he has his capability. I don't know where his capability comes from. But when I first started working with him, I think it was. It'll be 2000, 2006.

Dan Sullivan [00:10:09]:
Yeah, it'll be 20 years in June that I work with him. He say, well, tell me something that's bothering you from your past. And I tell him. And he says, okay, sit there. And he says, can you visualize the experience? And I said, yes. And he says, can you relate to the emotion that you feel about that experience? Because it still bugs me, you know, it's an experience that still irks me. He says, okay, sit quietly. Close your eyes.

Dan Sullivan [00:10:37]:
And he does all sorts of things, but my eyes are closed, so I don't know what they are. And he said, okay, open your eyes. And he says, visualize the experience. I said, I can't. And he said, feel the emotion. I said, I don't have the emotion. He says, it's gone then. Is that.

Dan Sullivan [00:10:57]:
But the interesting thing is that you don't lose the memory of the experience. You just lose the. You lose the trapped energy that's back.

Mike Koenigs [00:11:08]:
The attachment.

Dan Sullivan [00:11:10]:
Yeah. So my memory of the past has actually gotten a lot better because I don't have any negative emotion attached to it. Okay. And when people talk about nostalgia, it's that there's something about the experience that they want to relive again. And my sense is I don't really want to relive the experience. I just want to get. I just want to be freed up from the snag, you know, being sort of snagged and pulled backwards, and I just don't want that anymore.

Mike Koenigs [00:11:43]:
So when I. When I listen to you right now, nostalgia gets in the way of a better tomorrow and ambition. And when I listen to a bunch of old men celebrating their high school touchdown pass from, you know, from 50

Dan Sullivan [00:11:56]:
years ago, I pointed their life. I point of their life they've never had. They've never had. And, you know, but. But it's only being away from the experience that's getting them to appreciate it. And they have a longing to go back. It's like high school reunions.

Mike Koenigs [00:12:14]:
Right on. Nostalgia gets in the way of better tomorrows. And it certainly Interferes with a great yesterday. Yeah.

Dan Sullivan [00:12:27]:
And one of the things I've noticed, I was born before the baby boomers. I was born in 44, and officially it's two years. I think that baby boomers are. The baby boom generation starts nine months after the end of the Second World War. So 1946 or early 1946. And, you know, the boomers were the, you know, the biggest American generation ever. And one of the things I started saying about, I think it was in my 50s, I said, you know, I think there's nothing more disgusting or revolting than a nostalgic baby boomer. I mean, they caused nothing but havoc because they were so big.

Dan Sullivan [00:13:18]:
You know, they. It's the most competitive generation we ever had because the world wasn't ready for them, wasn't ready for the numbers. So they're super competitive and everything like that. I'm in the quiet generation. I was in the first generation that was smaller than the generation before it. Yeah. Anyway, but the big thing about it is that I'm not thinking about things in the past because I'm creating the past with my great yesterdays. So I've got the best.

Dan Sullivan [00:13:50]:
I just completed the, as I said, the best January that I've ever had in the best. So my past is getting progressively better. I said, I wonder what it's going to feel like when I get a year of great yesterdays. So the whole thing is. I mean, it's a mindset and it's a discipline. Okay.

Mike Koenigs [00:14:15]:
Yes. So next question is. So you've got a stack of 63. Great. Well, 62 as of this moment. Great. Yesterday's. You had your most productive January at.

Mike Koenigs [00:14:29]:
Yeah. Months. Yeah. These months so far. And. And you also explained you've got a. A routine. You're disciplined, so that gets you on track every day.

Dan Sullivan [00:14:44]:
No, I. I should add a detail, which is important here. I actually log in the little activities I do through throughout the day, and I get. I have a point system for this. This one. We just completed, you know, a major podcast before we started this podcast. And I just said, this is the highest scoring podcast I've ever done. This.

Dan Sullivan [00:15:07]:
This is going to get 20 points. I said, we covered so much. We created so much new material out. I said, this. This is the greatest hour and a half of podcasting I've ever done in my life. So that's really special. Now, when I started the morning, I knew I had a podcast with you, but I didn't know how spectacular it was going to be. And it was an amazing Podcast so that tomorrow I have the value of the greatest podcast I've ever done as yesterday.

Dan Sullivan [00:15:40]:
So that.

Mike Koenigs [00:15:41]:
That kind of moves into this. This question, which is, first of all, I haven't heard you talk about the plant system before. So I want to put that in a little box.

Dan Sullivan [00:15:51]:
I've got another twist on that. I've got.

Mike Koenigs [00:15:55]:
Just go for it. I'll remember my question.

Dan Sullivan [00:15:57]:
Yeah, so with each of the, like, for example, I turn down all the fireplaces and do the lighting, and that just gets two points. One for the fireplaces, one for the lighting, and then I get one for turning the heat up. You know that. So it's three. I get three points right off the bat. But I went for about two weeks just recording, did this, did this. And there was something unsatisfying about it. I said, you know, I'm not getting the.

Dan Sullivan [00:16:31]:
This is pushing me too much into tomorrow. And I said, I just want to create great yesterday. So what I put, I put the word no in front of no fireplace, no lighting, no heating is. And I say, if I hadn't been conscious, those activities wouldn't have counted at all. So all through the day, I say, no, no, this, know this. And at the end of the day, I said, if I hadn't been conscious about what I was doing today, I would have done all these things, but they wouldn't have mattered.

Mike Koenigs [00:17:08]:
So here's what I was writing while you were describing. This is the consciousness amplifier, the gratitude amplifier. Because while you're creating these conscious memories and your points make it real, but you're really experiencing gratitude, which is amplifying your today experience, and you're already celebrating your yesterday today. Does that seem. Seem right?

Dan Sullivan [00:17:39]:
Yeah, but there was something that, saying, know this, know this, know this, that actually added to the sense of achievement and accomplishment because I was conscious for each. I was conscious for each of those activities. Now, here's the other thing is that's what I'm doing, but the way I'm showing up to members of my team, the way I'm showing up, they said, you know, you. You seem so calm, you seem so cool, and you're so present. We're just noticing that you're so present. And like, I did a introductory zoom call with about 70 prospects this morning, and it was the best I'd ever done because I wanted to create a great yesterday that I did the best intro that I've ever done. So you're looking for peak experiences every day. And I'll tell you a negative experience.

Dan Sullivan [00:18:37]:
We had a huge Snowfall in Toronto a couple of Sundays ago. But it dumped in about six hours. It dumped 2ft of snow on everything in Toronto, including the airport. And they were still two and a half weeks later trying to get rid of the snow. And they canceled thousands of flights. They redirected flights. So we were coming back from our Chicago the, for the, you know, for the workshops. And we finally, we were supposed to get in at around 6:30 in the afternoon.

Dan Sullivan [00:19:18]:
And we got in at the, we finally picked our limo up at 3:30 in the morning. Our bags did not arrive and we got our bags three days later. And all through the experience I said, remember, you're creating a great yesterday. So none of the normal irritation and angst that I would usually express, you know, government run airport, what do you expect? You know? And you know, all my little things. And I just sat there very, very calmly. And Babs, she said, boy, you're, you're really being very cool and relaxed. I said, well, what are you going to do? What are you going to do about this? But I'm creating a great yesterday. So I don't want it on my record that I got suddenly upset at the airport.

Dan Sullivan [00:20:04]:
I don't want that on my, I don't want any written reports that I got really, really upset about it. But I gave myself enormous number of points just by enduring that particular activity. And I got a thought. And the thought was, consciousness is not what happens to you. Consciousness is how you handle what happens to you. Yeah.

Mike Koenigs [00:20:30]:
Okay, I got a couple more questions here and I will tell you. When I came home from the Genius Network meeting and I told Vivian about the creating a great yesterday, what we did is I really made a conscious plan to create a great adventure for the weekend. Where normally I'd be like, I've got a whole bunch of stuff to do, but instead took really two, two and a half really solid free days that were exciting memory creators. I didn't do points. So I want to come back to the points. But first I have to ask you. Well, now I'm going to just do the points. Is your point system real? Are you assigning points and tracking?

Dan Sullivan [00:21:25]:
I have accumulating points for the entire 63 days. Okay, I started small. I started small. But when you're in a point system, you want the point system to always be greater than. Yeah, but I have averaged 39 points for each of the previous 62 days, you know. Okay, okay.

Mike Koenigs [00:21:48]:
And so you've got little points for routines. You got big points for not creating a bad historical record. You Know, not reacting. And you're giving yourself your rewarding points for living in the moment and acknowledging that something is positive, incremental, and you're aware of it. So is there give. So you got 20 points for not losing your.

Dan Sullivan [00:22:21]:
Your, your. Your.

Mike Koenigs [00:22:22]:
Your crap in the airport. You got two points for the fireplace. Like, what are the. Yeah, like.

Dan Sullivan [00:22:30]:
Well, I don't, you know, the points for the fireplace and lights never going to be more than two points because that's in it. But you. But you become more and more conscious of things that you can count, you know, like, you can count and for example, I made a quick meal today. I was between a zoom intro that I had to do this morning, and the discussion about it went long, and I wanted to be prepared for our podcast. So I went back and I made myself a quick lunch and there was, you know, there were dirty dishes. I said, nope, nope. Put them in the dishwasher. Yeah, put everything in the dishwasher.

Dan Sullivan [00:23:13]:
Make sure all the bottles and the packages go back into the cupboard and everything else, because you're going to get points for this. So, you know, there's like a me that's doing it and there's a me that's keeping score.

Mike Koenigs [00:23:30]:
Yeah.

Dan Sullivan [00:23:32]:
Like two points. But it's an interesting thing because I'm noticing my. My thinking about the future isn't going. I glance. One of the things I do every day, I glance at what I have to do tomorrow, which may require preparation on my. On my part and, you know, but not much. But I don't get my. For about the last three weeks, my mind doesn't go any further than tomorrow's schedule.

Mike Koenigs [00:24:02]:
Yeah. Oh, damn.

Dan Sullivan [00:24:04]:
Okay, now I've got a theory about add.

Mike Koenigs [00:24:08]:
Yeah, yeah, give me that.

Dan Sullivan [00:24:10]:
And it's people who attach a lot of motion to future possibilities. And there all these possibilities are competing for your present attention.

Mike Koenigs [00:24:24]:
Oh, for sure. Yeah. So you gotta back.

Dan Sullivan [00:24:31]:
I've cut off. I'll let yesterday create the possibilities.

Mike Koenigs [00:24:39]:
Yeah. God, that's so good. This is my show.

Dan Sullivan [00:24:43]:
This is like Zen.

Mike Koenigs [00:24:45]:
Yeah, it totally is. Like, here we go.

Dan Sullivan [00:24:50]:
Zen in the age of AI.

Mike Koenigs [00:24:53]:
Yeah. Well, I have another formula question, but first I'm going to show you in the background, I told you. We've got Tessa, who's our aiea.

Dan Sullivan [00:25:05]:
Oh, wow.

Mike Koenigs [00:25:06]:
Just sent her a quick message and I said, all right, can you whip up a couple of T shirts? So we've got a couple T shirt designs for everyone who's watching us.

Dan Sullivan [00:25:13]:
That's fantastic.

Mike Koenigs [00:25:15]:
Isn't that great?

Dan Sullivan [00:25:16]:
That's fantastic.

Mike Koenigs [00:25:17]:
Thank God for every today builds in a stack of great yesterdays. You don't have time to predict tomorrow, just create great yesterdays. Yeah, 50 grade. Yesterday's amplifying. Where others rely on motivation, you rely on momentum.

Dan Sullivan [00:25:36]:
That's a fantastic. That's a fantastic statement. Yeah.

Mike Koenigs [00:25:40]:
Yeah. So by the time we're done, we'll have even more and we'll drop them into the show notes. So thank you, Tessa. Great job.

Dan Sullivan [00:25:48]:
It's always good. It's always to get new merch out of a podcast.

Mike Koenigs [00:25:54]:
That's a great idea.

Dan Sullivan [00:25:55]:
New, new merchandise. There we go.

Mike Koenigs [00:25:58]:
Who knew? I love it. All right, so here's the next question I had. So you had how to eliminate your ad add. That makes sense. So that leads back to the hot. You said you're living in the now, you're planning out a day. And the question I had written down before you said that was, you know, do you plan your yesterday? And what about expectations? How are you. All of Your expectations changed 63 days into this process, this conscious process.

Dan Sullivan [00:26:37]:
Yeah, well, you know, the focus has got stronger on just doing today, you know, as best you can. You're doing it. But what I'm noticing is that I'm not rehearsing as much like I'm. I'm a great preparation guy. I'll do that. And I said, no, just get into the experience and just be present and you'll do the right things. So I'm less and less trying to predetermine how I'm going to handle a situation, because to the certain extent, I have a goal for how I'm going to handle anything today. And that is, it's going to show up as a great yesterday if I'm just present, you know, so there's some very definite shifts that are going on.

Dan Sullivan [00:27:27]:
You know, there's, you know, it's, it's very psychological and emotional, but I think, I think I'm. I'm certainly onto something that works for me.

Mike Koenigs [00:27:39]:
Yes.

Dan Sullivan [00:27:40]:
But I. The. When I was at the regenerative medicine conference last week, my actual. My stem cell doctor from Argentina was there as a speaker. And I told her about it the first night we had dinner, and I said, you know, I'm just doing this really interesting time experiment. And she sat there and she said, oh, that's really interesting. So. And then we were all really busy the next day, but the day after, she said, I had the best yesterday ever just because of what you said.

Dan Sullivan [00:28:21]:
She said, I was nervous about a whole stuff, a whole bunch of stuff that's coming up next week and everything. And I just noticed that today I just performed so that today is. Today is a great yesterday. So it's. It's. I think it's simple enough that it's communicable. I mean, first of all, everybody knows what the three things mean. You know what today means, you know what yesterday means, and you know what tomorrow means.

Dan Sullivan [00:28:46]:
You know, I mean. I mean, kids get this when they're about, you know, three or four. I don't know how old they are, but right. Right about the time they start to speak, they also develop a time consciousness. Time consciousness? Yeah.

Mike Koenigs [00:29:01]:
Yeah, for sure.

Dan Sullivan [00:29:02]:
Yeah.

Mike Koenigs [00:29:02]:
I can remember. I can remember the day it started to happen, because I can remember as a father, I'd be talking to Zach, and I'm like, God, I just can't wait until I can have a conversation about the future, because he didn't have time consciousness yet. And I can remember when we started talking about yesterday and today and now and tomorrow, and it was a totally different experience. So I just was remembering that.

Dan Sullivan [00:29:33]:
Yeah. And I remember she learned sign language. There's a school in Philadelphia where a child can learn sign language long before their vocal cords. You know, it's a combination of teamwork between your jaw, your tongue, and your breathing and everything. And Shannon Waller is Shannon Waller's oldest daughter, Madison. And so one day, Madison told a story that she saw a bird in the park that was chirping, and she had the sign language for that. And Shannon responded in sign language. And she said, was that today? And she said, no, it was before my last dark sleep.

Dan Sullivan [00:30:25]:
So it was yesterday. Yesterday. And she knew dark sleep. And light sleep is a nap, and dark sleep is nighttime. Nighttime. And the day after she did that, she started talking.

Mike Koenigs [00:30:41]:
Yeah. Oh, that's great. Yeah, we did the same thing. Zach did signing. And I can remember he did it. And that was. That was super interesting. That was.

Dan Sullivan [00:30:52]:
Yeah, the language. The language conception is actually there before the speaking ability is actually there, so that conceptually, they have the thought, and they're starting to see the distinction.

Mike Koenigs [00:31:08]:
Good. Okay, so I have. I have my.

Dan Sullivan [00:31:11]:
My sleep and. Very good. My sleep has been very good. My.

Mike Koenigs [00:31:15]:
Fascinating.

Dan Sullivan [00:31:17]:
Yeah, my.

Mike Koenigs [00:31:19]:
Super, super interesting. Okay, so here's my last question on this one is. I want a Dan Sullivan question. You. Okay, so let's. Looking back over the past 62 days, if you were looking back over the past 365 days or even three years, what would have happened for you to be satisfied with your progress or happy with your progress?

Dan Sullivan [00:31:49]:
Yeah. Well, I have a great goal to get as many great yesterdays stacked up. I mean, one of the things where you're normally. You're striving for a goal in the future. I'm actually striving for a goal in the past. Like, I'd like to get to the three. I'd like to have my best quarter ever, then my best half year ever, and then my best year ever. And, you know, and my sense is that if I just stay conscious, get up in the morning and, you know, am conscious of doing it, I'll have a full year, a full year's momentum of great yesterdays.

Dan Sullivan [00:32:28]:
And my sense is that I'm going to be even more productive and more creative as I go forward just by focusing on turning today into a great yesterday. So that's what I mean. Yesterday creates tomorrow. That's. That's if I write a book about it. It's called Yesterday Creates Tomorrow.

Mike Koenigs [00:32:49]:
Yes. So then how will. You know that's true? How will you measure this? You've got your point system. What are you using right now to say this is my best year ever? You know, aside from money, you've got your productivity goals. You know, four books a year plus big books now.

Dan Sullivan [00:33:14]:
Big books. I have two big books this year, so. But I got my. We finalized the manuscript of the Greater Game that I'm doing with John. So I zipped through everything that was needed, you know, for the. It goes to press, you know, pretty soon. And then we have my project with Jeff Madoff, which is called Casting, Not Hiring. And we were in the final stages.

Dan Sullivan [00:33:42]:
We had a January 26th deadline, and I. I just was real cool about it. And I did the final edited and I. It took me about 10, 12 hours to go through and just make sure that it looked good, you know, I mean, the writing and everything else. And we hit the deadline. But I wasn't angst about it. I said, no, just focus, you know, spend a couple hours and just for me add to just sit down and focus for two hours. I noticed my focusing is just increasing, and I think it's the not being bothered by the future that's doing this.

Dan Sullivan [00:34:20]:
Yeah, but I'm getting a lot of comments from my team members. They said, boy, you're just so cool. Everything is so cool. You're on time. You're even early with things and everything. So I'm seeing an increase in performance, but I'm not focused on the performance. I'm just focused on having a great yesterday.

Mike Koenigs [00:34:44]:
I love it. Well,

Dan Sullivan [00:34:47]:
I don't know, I've talked to people about it and that. I mean, Lior thinks this is wonderful. Lior who got me off. And he says, you know, I feel so honored that I. I mentioned something to you and what you're doing with it. He says, now I'm starting to do it because you've put it into bite size rather than.

Mike Koenigs [00:35:08]:
Yeah. I think this is unbelievable. Marital therapy. It's an unbelievable way to train your kids and make them more conscious. And it's a great evening conversation that goes way beyond traditional gratitude as well. And I really think there's a profound, profound Zen aspect to this. And also. Yeah.

Mike Koenigs [00:35:41]:
A confidence builder, which.

Dan Sullivan [00:35:43]:
Well, the one thing I'm noticing is the number of people who are trapped in the future.

Mike Koenigs [00:35:49]:
Yes.

Dan Sullivan [00:35:52]:
They can't be with you in the present because they're being so pulled into the field. I mean, I always knew people were trapped in the past, you know, and, you know, and some of it is really requires therapy. It really requires, you know, because you're almost PTSD about something, then you just have a black hole back there and you can't think about the experience because it was too painful at the time. So I'm not discounting that, but my feeling is that the more you develop the discipline of just being in today for the purpose of creating a great yesterday, that yesterday will create a better tomorrow.

Mike Koenigs [00:36:31]:
Yeah. This is Dan's version of Be Here Now. You remember.

Dan Sullivan [00:36:34]:
Yep. That was his name. It was Peter Ram Dass. Yeah. But there was also the Peter Sellers movie where he. Oh, yeah, it was the Chauncey Gardner. Chauncey.

Mike Koenigs [00:36:48]:
Being There.

Dan Sullivan [00:36:49]:
Being There.

Mike Koenigs [00:36:50]:
Beautiful movie.

Dan Sullivan [00:36:51]:
Yeah. And he just presented himself into the presidency of the. He was the president of the. He became President of the United States because he was present. Yeah, yeah.

Mike Koenigs [00:37:04]:
So good. So good. And here's Tessa made one more great Yesterday Comes Naturally. So we'll keep on working it here. Nothing beats real time creativity and making, you know, making something in real time during a conversation. So can't beat the AI to be our creative companion and our momentum maker.

Dan Sullivan [00:37:32]:
Yeah. We should already establish our merchants. Merchandise. Merchandise for Tessa. Because Tessa. Yeah. I mean, she's got the capability. I mean, we're.

Mike Koenigs [00:37:44]:
It's. This is. This is easy. So probably by the time this episode is ready, we could have a merch shop open on YouTube. So check out. Check out the T shirt selection. That'll be another. Another crazy challenge.

Dan Sullivan [00:37:58]:
So I'm going to see what the. I'm going to see what the patent Bureau does with this one because the, the tool that we used for our last podcast, the. The Triple Play, just sat on their desk for about six months because they couldn't figure out. They couldn't figure out how it actually works.

Mike Koenigs [00:38:16]:
It's not easy to communicate. I know. You know, I've described it to people and they're like, what, What? Exactly? And it's like, you just kind of

Dan Sullivan [00:38:26]:
got to be there. Unless you're doing it, you don't understand it, you know, and the thing is, it's one of the ways that I explain it when I first introduced it to entrepreneurs. I say, have you ever been to one of these novelty shops where you see a drawing that's just a bunch of wiggles? And they say, oh, that kind of novelty shop.

Mike Koenigs [00:38:47]:
I'm sorry, I'm just kidding.

Dan Sullivan [00:38:49]:
Yeah, well, yeah, I'm just talking from my own experience there, you know, and anyway. But you start unfocusing your eyes and all of a sudden it's a three dimensional object.

Mike Koenigs [00:39:02]:
Yeah, yeah.

Dan Sullivan [00:39:04]:
A building and everything else. And I think the triple play requires you to just suspend your logical brain, your linear, logical brain, and all of a sudden it works. But what I tell people is if you're running into a wall with it, have your AI combine the two things and create it. And I said, you'll get a good result, but you will not have done the thinking. So nothing really changed in your brain. And after a while they say, no, I just want to do it with my own brain. I don't want the AI. But I said, the AI showed you what the result can be and that can give people the confidence.

Mike Koenigs [00:39:46]:
Yes. Yeah. My attitude is always use your brain for that reason. And sometimes if you're stuck in a little hump, it's back to movement. Beats meditation. And sometimes it's like, gotta get, gotta get something moving. And if you can just trigger

Dan Sullivan [00:40:10]:
the interactiveness of you and the AI. You know, I do a lot of context with perplexity. I say, here's the context, and I want you to, to give me 10 different ways of expressing this particular thought. And then I write out what the thought is and it just comes out like that. And then I get a dopamine hit because I just got a result where I'm constantly getting an interactive energy boost from it. I'll stay with something forever.

Mike Koenigs [00:40:46]:
Yep, that's what I say. Whenever we're doing our three day experiences, our first job is to create an ugly baby. And at least I can say, here's what I don't like about it, or whatever. The creation is. But I gotta start so I can critique something. So even if it's a one, at least I've got something.

Dan Sullivan [00:41:07]:
No, you gotta return. You got. You gotta return. Yeah. I think that it's very important I treat it like tennis, you know, I don't. I don't. You know, I. I've got some master prompts where I can do the entire layout of a new quarterly book and about an hour where it used to take me two, Two.

Dan Sullivan [00:41:26]:
Two weeks to do it. And I just go, yeah, it's 90. Good. And then I fine tune.

Mike Koenigs [00:41:32]:
That's right. I love it.

Dan Sullivan [00:41:34]:
Well, so what do you think?

Mike Koenigs [00:41:36]:
Let's bring this one home. I. I say, first of all, this has been. I will just comment, Mike to Dan, which is. This is actually an. A very fascinating evolutionary breakthrough for you to. To live in present. Because my perception of you has been like, future focused, Dan.

Mike Koenigs [00:42:00]:
And this doesn't conflict with that, but I think it's. It's creating a better Dan than I've

Dan Sullivan [00:42:08]:
known and certainly a better Dan to live in.

Mike Koenigs [00:42:12]:
Yeah. Yeah, Dan Land. Dan world. And I'll. I'll bet Babs would say the same thing total times more conscious before, during, after. So I. And that dinner when you. When you brought it up, it was like, kind of just felt like I just bumped into a.

Mike Koenigs [00:42:33]:
A friendly wall that said hi, and. And I. I took it and used it right away. And I've been using it ever since our day or that. That evening together. By the way, damn fine bottle of wine. Damn fine bottle of wine. Looking forward to more of those.

Mike Koenigs [00:42:50]:
So, yeah, any. Any final reflections as we write?

Dan Sullivan [00:42:55]:
Yeah, I'm just gonna play with it to see where it goes. But it's. It's. Obviously there's some brain changes that are going on with each day that I arrive, and I'm just. I'm just taking note of them. And I've got the quarterly book pretty well structured. And I sent you. I mean, I sent you the Perplexity Outline, and that's pretty good.

Dan Sullivan [00:43:20]:
I mean, I go deeper with each of the chapters and everything like that. But everybody I've talked to has been intrigued by it, you know. Intrigued by it because, you know, I mean, it'll probably just cut down on all the drugs you're taking to deal with the scariness of the future. So.

Mike Koenigs [00:43:42]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you'll. Your. Is it Xanax? Is that the one? Yeah, Xanax.

Dan Sullivan [00:43:50]:
Your.

Mike Koenigs [00:43:50]:
Your prescriptions will go down well.

Dan Sullivan [00:43:53]:
I've got my. You know, we've all got our own thing, so. Yeah.

Mike Koenigs [00:43:57]:
Yeah. No one's judging. No one's judging, Dan. So. Well, once again, this is yesterday creates tomorrow. And if your goal is to wake up and make today your best yesterday ever and earn some points in the meantime, you're going to be a lot more conscious person, and I love it. This has been another fun, super fun episode. Thanks, Dan.

Dan Sullivan [00:44:22]:
Thank you. Thank you, Mike, for that great questions. It.