Hello and welcome to how to take over the world. This is Ben Wilson. Welcome to this end notes episode of on.  Welcome to this Endnotes episode on Mr. Beast. Today I'll be talking about some more of my takeaways from my conversation with him, as well as some more takeaways from just knowing him and being able to observe how he works.

And then I'll also talk a little bit about  my history with him, how it is that he came to be interviewed on the podcast.

And then I'll also talk about my history with him and how it is that he came to be interviewed on the Pat. I'll start off with my biggest takeaway, because that is something that I want everyone to hear.

So that would be for the free version, and then I'll go into, uh, my history with MrBeast, how we came to know each other. And then I'll go through some more of my takeaways. So to start off, my biggest takeaway, the thing that I'm thinking the most about after having done this, and having watched it a few times now.

is obsession,  and specifically how MrBeast approaches obsession reminds me a lot of others. You know, MrBeast himself talked a little bit about addiction. He said that, you know, the way he approaches YouTube is an addiction, and it just happens to be a positive one. and listen to this clip where he talks about,  

How he approaches them, how he deals with those other obsessions that pop up. Take a listen.

Yeah, that's one thing I've found, which I do not recommend to anyone else, but I just like to give into my impulses and like, for whatever reason, work always pulls me back. And so like, if you know, when, when I literally, this is a perfect example.

When I first played Catan with one of my friends, he introduced it to me. We played for 36 hours straight, like, well, I, he didn't, but we played for like 10 hours. And then he wanted to go to bed. So I got another three people to play with me, played overnight. And I got those same people to come back in the morning at like 9am.

We played for like 10 hours. And then we, I cycled through like 16 different people before I finally crashed. Like, and like, sure. I could have played for three hours, gone to bed at a reasonable time, worked all day, then played at night. But. It's like that doesn't for whatever reason that doesn't work for me when I want to do something I just want to do it right and like if I want to play this game I try to just get it all in my system and just burn myself out on it And then when I wake up the next day, I'm like, okay back to work, you know what I mean?

I don't think this is optimal, but I, I tend to be a little more impulse driven. And so I know these are the things I have to do today, but what order it's going to happen, God knows. I'm just, I mean, I, I kind of like, you know, and again, it might not be effective and ideally with not people whose time is super valuable, but if it's like.

You know, I know I have to do these five phone calls, just tell them at any point, Jimmy's going to call, make it where it doesn't go to voicemail or ringer or whatever, and make sure, you know, they have it set where when I call, it just goes through. And I'd prefer it to be like that. So in between meetings or blah, blah, whatever.

I'm like, really, my brain is focused on that. Um, I can just get them done as opposed to just being like, it has to be in this time or this, because you just don't know. I might, my brain might be in a different gear because I was working on a different project and it's just kind of hard to just like gear switch on demand 30 times a day.

I've just found for me.

Which is probably a bad thing, but just giving in to my impulses and doing what they tell me to do has worked well. And when I try to have a regimented structure lifestyle, it's just not fun. And like, you have to have some level of enjoyment if you're gonna like, grind every single day for crazy hours for 20 years straight.

That's something that I see throughout a lot of really successful people throughout history, is they don't have these elaborate morning routines. They don't have these really elaborate or strict schedules.

Probably the most notable example is Leonardo da Vinci, who, you know, often didn't finish things because he only wanted to wake up and work on whatever it was that he was obsessed with. And it's exactly what Jimmy was describing. I'm not saying that Jimmy's Leonardo da Vinci. He's very good at YouTube.

He's not that level of artist, but yeah, you know, da Vinci, uh, there's this great quote, uh, someone's explaining his work style and they say essentially. Some days he would come in first thing in the morning and would just paint all day, like, like, until he passed out at night. And then other days he would come in, take a look at it, and go, no, not today, and just walk out.

Naval Ravikant, a very famous entrepreneur explained it this way. There's a quote from him. He said, quote, the way people tend to work most effectively, especially in knowledge work is to sprint as hard as they can while they feel inspired to work. and then rest. They take long breaks. It's more like a lion hunting and less like a marathon or running.

You sprint and then you rest. You reassess and then you try again. You end up building a marathon of sprints. And I think that quote is great. It really explains, I think, a lot about what Jimmy is describing here and Da Vinci and

a lot of these people.  They just wake up and work on whatever it is that they are obsessed with.

And that's actually how So this podcast got started.

, I was reading this biography of Napoleon. I knew I wanted to make a podcast out of it. I kind of figured what it would be and had some things in my head. But I just really wanted to work on it. And so what I did is I deleted all of my social media accounts. Uh, not just deactivated them, not just deleted them off my phone, but actually deleted my social media accounts.

So that I have nothing to distract me. And then for a week, I just woke up and every day, the first thing I did when I woke up,  I didn't brush my teeth. I didn't shower. I didn't eat breakfast. I woke up, I rolled out of bed and I started working on this podcast. I started taking notes. I started scripting and I recorded and that was it.

And that was what gave me the energy and momentum to get this thing off the ground. And I really think there's something special that happens when you take that approach, when you clear everything out. And you, when you clear everything out and it's the first thing that you focus on and it's what you think about all day and it's what you think about when you go to sleep, if you can find an obsession like that, and if you can clear your schedule and you can clear your life so that you can dedicate that level of focus to something, you get exponential results.

You know, in, in that one week I finished the Napoleon episode. I designed this song, my intro song that has become kind of famous. And I think is a big part of frankly, the success of the podcast. Um, I figured out how to do a podcast, which like it wasn't early days of podcasting, but it wasn't as easy then as it is now to kind of figure out how to do a podcast and get it off the ground.

Um, I did the initial cover art. Like I just, I got the whole thing done in a week. I think I may. Have at least started or may have finished the Steve Jobs episodes in that one week as well.  So anyway,  I know if you have a job, uh, you know, that might not be practical for you. It might not be practical for everyone, but if you can get yourself into a place where you can do that, I promise you the results that you will see are exponential.

Even from just like mostly focus when you can really just dedicate all your thoughts and energy to one thing for a whole day. Uh, it's pretty special what happens. So, uh, that's my number one piece of advice is obsess, obsess, obsess, obsess. Don't worry so much about optimizing every little element of your life.

Just find one thing at a time. I call it meta focus. In the, in the past, like,  yeah, you can, there can be different phases of your life, right? You can have a phase of your life where you don't have as good a balance. Um, you know, maybe you aren't working out as much as you'd like to. But then in a month, you know, maybe you do, you get obsessed with, with fitness.

And so, uh, you, you make up some ground. I, you know, I don't know. I'm not telling you exactly how to do this. All I am telling you is that, is that, pure focus and blocking everything else out of your life will yield special results if you can get to that place.  Okay, let's back up a little bit. I want to tell you a little bit about how it is that I came to know Mr. Beast and, uh, in our experience together. And then I'll go into some more of my takeaways.

This is of course a end notes episode, which means it's for subscribers only. So, um, sorry, you're about to get cut off. If you are a free listener, uh, if you would like to subscribe, go to  takeoverpod. supercast. com. I have that linked in the show notes.  It's 7 a month, but 7 a month, not that much to change your life, which I think it can, , And a reminder, if you can't afford it, if you are flat broke, if you do not have the 7 a month, uh, then email me, I have my email linked up in the show notes and, uh, and just tell me, just send a one sentence saying, Hey Ben, uh, I, I can't afford it.

And I would really like access to the, the premium podcast and, uh, and I'll hook you up for a year. Okay.

So until next time, thank you for listening to how to take over the world

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