Focus requires knowing what you want

Catching clouds and learning from Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast)

Focus is like trying to catch a cloud. The closer you are, the more it drifts away.

Or thats how it can often feel anyway. Ephemeral, fleeting.

I think its because we often don’t really understand what we want.

Steven Covey’s famed quote embodies the struggle: “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing”. Its meaning — don’t lose focus. Easier said than done.

In that vein, one of the most remarkable things to read this week was Jimmy Donaldson’s leaked “How to succeed at MrBeast Productions”.

Jimmy knows what he wants. And makes it crystal for his employees. More in Tech should take notes.

If you haven’t read it yet: do. It’s 36 pages of unfiltered, blunt gold from one of the most successful creators of this era, if not the most successful.

Not convinced? Here’s why.

He provides extreme clarity of focus

He paints a compelling vision for the future and the goal of the company.

YouTube is the future and the goal is to make the BEST YouTube videos possible.

Best is defined by what is most watched by the audience. And broken down simply into the three metrics that matter:

• Click through rates

• Average view duration and

• Average view percentage

Every one of those metrics, for every video, is to be obsessed over, thought through and pushed as high as possible.

He gives a masterclass on retention.

Focus heavily on the first minute of the video to ameliorate drop offs. Surprise and delight. Create hooks and maintain audience engagement via pacing through key moments while ensuring a payoff at the end.

He champions creative problem solving

You can innovate anything if you pay attention to every aspect. Camera angles, pacing, story, jokes, lighting.

Obviously known for using large prize payouts as a hook, he rallies outside of the box thinking to save money: Doritos for a year are funnier and cost less than $10,000.

And finally, don’t be afraid to ask those who have trodden the hard path before you. If you have to make the world’s largest slice of cake, find a consultant who has previously done so. They’re cheat codes.

He explains what great looks like

Content has to excite him. And there is no settling for less — multimillion production be damned, he’ll throw it out.

Why, because that’s what will make the audience happy. True customer obsession defined better than I’ve ever seen elsewhere.

He’s a believer of dogfooding — that you, in this case, the employee should be a fanatic of the videos. Why? Because being a student of the content leads to deep context which makes you better.

You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts. — III. 4

He provides strategies to overcome inevitable obstacles

Push through “no”. Objections are just that, objections. They can be surmounted. Need to buy out an entire Dollar Store for a shoot? Owner says so no? Find employees who are fans of MrBeast. If that doesn’t work, try another store.

Having backup plans and contingencies is a must. And multithreading helps to reduce the possibility of falling behind.

Ownership is key. Making excuses is not. Bottlenecks are your responsibilities to escalate. And for god sake, communicate in the right medium — real-time if something is critical!

He eschews time in seat promotion culture

Gosh this is refreshing. He does “whenever the fuck reviews”. Need pointers on where to improve? They’ll be provided in bullet point form when you ask.

Its clear that the future of the company — defined by your role in it and how more risk navigated — is mutually determined.

Now, as he concludes: “read this all over again because I guarantee you didn’t retain enough.”

MrBeast Productions is not a conventional company and it surely doesn’t intend to be one.

But damned if it isn’t focused.