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MrBeast: How extreme obsession became his unfair advantage

What happens when one person outworks everyone for a full decade; he loses millions on Beast Games, fights Crohn's flares, and ignores his mental health.

MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson)guestSteven Bartletthost
Feb 20, 20251h 43mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 2:42

    Intro

    1. MD

      There's a reason no one makes videos like me, because no one wants to live the life I live or be in my head. They would, they would be miserable.

    2. SB

      Are you happy?

    3. MD

      Um, ah, f- I, I'm gonna be honest, so far, more unhappy than happy.

    4. SB

      Well, has it ever crossed your mind to quit YouTube as a whole?

    5. MD

      Oh, yeah, of course.

    6. SB

      Really?

    7. MD

      Yeah.

    8. SB

      Are you?

    9. MD

      Oh, boy. (sighs)

    10. SB

      MrBeast.

    11. NA

      MrBeast.

    12. MD

      MrBeast. He is the biggest YouTuber on the planet.

    13. SB

      And he's building empires. I mean, is there anything this man can't do? Your business empire is much bigger than most people realize.

    14. MD

      Yeah, I mean, I'm only 26 and we have the largest YouTube channel in the world. And Beast Games is gonna shatter some pretty crazy records and we do nine figures in Feastables. But a lot of that stems from being a very confused child that's not fitting in that feels like a (censored) freak. Plus I really wanted to take care of my mom because when I was 11, we literally went bankrupt and lost everything. Luckily it worked out and it's because I'm really good at obsessing over one thing more than anyone else on the planet. Like, I lost tens of millions of dollars on Beast Games. But it's about making season one as good as possible, and I just really love solving complex problems. Like, how many kids do you think are in child labor in West Africa, just on cocoa farms? It's 1.5 million. And so with Feastables, we're trying to get over a million kids out of child labor. But the ironic part is the more I help people, the more (censored) I get. Like, I've read over 5,000 messages telling me to kill myself. I mean, there's definitely times where I would cry, but if my mental health was a priority, I wouldn't be as successful as I am. This is the price you have to pay.

    15. SB

      But when is enough enough?

    16. MD

      Honestly ...

    17. SB

      This has always blown my mind a little bit, 53% of you that listen to this show regularly haven't yet subscribed to the show. So could I ask you for a favor before we start? If you like this show and you like what we do here and you wanna support us, the free simple way that you can do just that is by hitting the subscribe button. And my commitment to you is, if you do that, then I'll do everything in my power, me and my team, to make sure that this show is better for you every single week. We'll listen to your feedback, we'll find the guests that you want me to speak to, and we'll continue to do what we do. Thank you so much. Jimmy, we've really just only met, and you are already, to me, a bit of a Rubik's cube-

    18. MD

      Okay.

    19. SB

      ... in so many ways. Uh, and I've been trying to piece the pieces together to understand the, the uniqueness of you, because you're so unbelievably unique. We just drove over here in the car, and hearing you speak about the way that you view life and speaking to you yesterday on the phone, I've, I've interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people, and I've never ever met someone who has-

    20. MD

      Wow.

    21. SB

      ... the perspective on life that you have. You're, you are truly unique. What do I need to understand about your earliest years to understand-

    22. MD

      Mm-hmm.

    23. SB

      ... who you are?

    24. MD

      Oh, boy.

  2. 2:42 – 5:26

    What Made MrBeast the Way He Is?

    1. MD

      Um, yeah, my earliest years, I... I'm just stubborn, man. I just never give up. I mean, there was, there's no world where I ever would have quit. I just, I s- I mean, we're just jumping right into it. This is great. No intro or anything, just boom. This is how you hold people. Um, when I was 11, I just said, "I'm gonna be a YouTuber or I'm gonna die trying," and I meant it. And there's, like, even if no one still watched my videos to this day, I would still be going. Um, and so people hate it, but I'm just the most competitive, stubborn person you'll ever meet, and I just never give up.

    2. SB

      And where did that come from?

    3. MD

      I have no idea, to be honest. It, honestly, it feels like it was just in my DNA, in my bloodstream. My mom hated it. Growing up, we'd always argue and, like, you know, she, she has this thing where, like, once Jimmy sets his mind to something, he just never stops. And it would always piss her off because when it was YouTube then she wanted me to be studying or things like that. But I really don't know. It's, it's just always been how I am, and I think a lot of people have these weird tendencies, and they tend to, like, try to, like, uh, unlearn them. And like, I had phases in my life where I was like, "Am I too extreme?" Like, people are very intimidated by me because I just am so obsessed with work and I'm so all in, and like, is this, like, unhealthy? Should I try to be more like a normal human? And especially when I was a teenager. It's a lot easier... It's funny when, when you're making lots of money, it's, like, admirable, it's respectable. It's like, look, those are traits we want, but when you're not successful, you know, you're a lunatic when you have all these traits. And so back then, I'd occasionally be like, "Man, like, should I try to be more normal?" But I just could never do it. Anytime I tried to... I mean, I've, I've mentioned this before, but one of the, like, things that, like, I have a memory of that, like, really is burned in my brain is, like, people... One time, like, a high schooler told me when I was in middle school, like, "All you do is talk about YouTube. Like, do you, like, know how to do anything else? Like, y- you're just like a freak." And I tried to, like, watch South Park, you know, 'cause that's what a lot of people in my school watched to fit in, and I just couldn't. I was like, this is such a waste of time. I don't... Like, I could be working right now. And I tried to do all these things to, like, fit in, and I eventually just, like, stopped talking because I just didn't relate to anyone, and, um, people used to call me "Mute." Like, one of my teachers literally w- asked, like, if I was mute (laughs) like, 'cause that's how little I spoke, because no one in the school I went to was entrepreneurial or wanted to build businesses, and I just didn't wanna do anything else. And, um, yeah, eventually I started to succeed, found other lunatics, and now life's great. But, you know, I like to tell this story when I'm on podcasts because if you have a younger viewer who's in that same spot, you're not the problem, it's your environment, and you just gotta put yourself in a better environment.

    4. SB

      What about your parents, mom and dad? You talk about your mother a lot.

    5. MD

      Yeah. Um, no, I, I don't... (laughs) I didn't get it from them.

    6. SB

      Well, what, what influence did they

  3. 5:26 – 10:05

    The Influence of MrBeast’s Parents

    1. SB

      both have on you?

    2. MD

      Um, well, I don't really talk about my dad much. That's, you know, a long story, don't need to get into it. But my mom, honestly, it was, it wasn't... It's great now, me and my mom have a phenomenal relationship, but on the come up, it was, it was pretty rough because in 2008, they were over leveraged, so we literally went bankrupt. And so they, they, you know, had properties that they used to get other properties, and then when everything collapsed, they lost basically everything. And so my mom was working two jobs and, w- you know, barely getting by, and so we... Like, I, I didn't see her that much because when I was coming home from school, she was doing her second job. So it was a lot because she was a single mom raising us, she's working all the time, you know, um, my...I don't talk about a lot of this. You know, I have Crohn's disease, so I was very sick growing up. My brother also had issues as well, and so, you know, we're not the healthiest kids in our teenage year. She's just trying to get by and take care of us, and then, you know, she comes home and she just has this brat that's being annoying and like, "I wanna be a YouTuber." And she's just begging me, sometimes she would literally cry and beg me to do homework, and I mean, I was... (laughs) I was- I was like... I didn't m- I didn't mean it in a mean way, but I mean, I even one time I literally told her, "If you want my- my homework done somehow, why don't you just do it?" You know, like that's- that's what I told my mom. (laughs) Like, what am I doing? I don't know, like I was just like, "I don't- I don't care." Like, I- I just want to be successful and I wanna build businesses and so it was like... Bless her heart. Luckily it worked out. So now I spoil her, she's great, she has her second home, sh- anything she could ever want, she has, and so the first, uh, thing I did was take c- you know, start paying my mom to take care of her once I started making money 'cause she gave everything to like get me where I am. And I wouldn't be where I am now, but it was like- it was like me and her spoke different languages when I was younger. You know, she- she didn't want me to end up like them, you know, and, you know, get screwed and, uh, not have much money, and like the path I was going down was just basically like, oh, I'm gonna be a homeless drug addict. And like her brain couldn't compute the world I saw and my brain couldn't compute the world she saw, and it was constant friction.

    3. SB

      Who was looking after you then? If she was busy working and you were at home and your dad's not around-

    4. MD

      Yeah.

    5. SB

      ... who takes care of you?

    6. MD

      Uh, I just... Me and my brother. We were just there. I was just making videos.

    7. SB

      You're making videos? Eh- eh-

    8. MD

      Yeah.

    9. SB

      ... what age did that start? The videos?

    10. MD

      I started at 11.

    11. SB

      11?

    12. MD

      Yeah. So I- I- I'm 26 now. I can't really remember life before YouTube. Like, my earliest memories are basically when I started making videos.

    13. SB

      You said earlier, um, you don't talk about your dad much.

    14. MD

      Yeah.

    15. SB

      You don't have to t- tell me about it, but, uh, why don't you talk about th- your father much?

    16. MD

      Ah, don't worry about it. (laughs)

    17. SB

      I know your mom has spoken about him before.

    18. MD

      Yeah.

    19. SB

      And it was a bit of a tumultuous relationship.

    20. MD

      Yeah, exactly. They didn't have the best relationship. I mean, that's a topic for another day. Honestly, kind of a sour way to start it off, but yeah, it's... My mom is great. I love my mom.

    21. SB

      She used to cry asking you to do your homework?

    22. MD

      (laughs) A lot of things. She- she would cry because I wouldn't put money away when we started making money. She would, uh, she thought it was too risky, and... And I mean, the thing is, nothing she w- uh, would say was unreasonable, right? Looking back at it, she was perfectly reasonable in what she was doing. I'm just a deranged lunatic and was way too obsessed with building the business and way too all in. Um, e- like, it sh- it's very cute, one time she, like, when we had... I don't remember, like some month where made like 100 grand and I'm like, "Okay, perfect. Now I can spend 100 grand this next month on videos." And she, like, took like 5,000 of it and put it away for me in my own bank account without telling me, but in case, you know, I ever went- you know, was over leveraged or went bankrupt like they did and, um, I found out about it and, uh, she's like, "Please don't take this money. Just let me set aside anything. Stop spending everything on videos." And I was like, "No, this is perfect. Now I can spend more. Like, this is awesome. Thank you, mom." And like... But to me, I don't- I don't really feel risk. Like, I- if anything, it- like risk excites me and like I- I have very high threshold for it. Um, so yeah, we just- we literally weren't communicating the same language, but I don't remember what age it was, but eventually after I took enough risks and figured it out, my mom just said to me, "You know what? I'm gonna trust you. Like, I have faith." And everything got so much better after that point when like she stopped staying up all night worrying about me and worrying about whether or not I was making the right decision when she's just like, "Jimmy, I trust you. I know this- you think about this all day, like, I'm gonna just follow your lead." And our relationship has been f- you know, perfect ever since then.

    23. SB

      If I had asked 10-year-old Jimmy, "How are you doing?" What would- what would he have said?

    24. MD

      Uh, 10, I don't know, but if you ask me at like 12 or 13, I probably

  4. 10:05 – 10:24

    How Was MrBeast Doing at 10 Years Old?

    1. MD

      would have been like, "Fuck. Like no one watches my videos. I just really wanna be a YouTuber. I, um, I gotta- I gotta make this work."

    2. SB

      Why did you want to really be a YouTuber? Uh, uh, 'cause kids say that-

    3. MD

      Yeah.

    4. SB

      ... but the extent to which you said it and the focus that you had on that particular

  5. 10:24 – 15:05

    Why Did MrBeast Want to Do YouTube?

    1. SB

      goal of being a YouTuber, 'cause there's many things you could have focused on.

    2. MD

      Yeah.

    3. SB

      You could have been a video game player, whatever, but YouTube is a particularly interesting thing because you're on camera-

    4. MD

      Yeah.

    5. SB

      ... people are seeing it, there's a metric which decides how successful you are. Um, was there any element of the on-camera part that was helping to solve for like the feeling of isolation that you- you seemed to have at that time?

    6. MD

      No, I th-

    7. SB

      Just the community?

    8. MD

      Yeah, I think it's more to do with just I- I found out that when I w- at a young age, probably around 11, that there were YouTubers that are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and I was just like, "Oh, that's it." Like, I-

    9. SB

      So some money?

    10. MD

      Yeah, of course, because back- back then we didn't have money and I really wanted to take care of my mom and- and just my family in general, so it was like everything. It was like, this is what I love doing. I- I've never had as much joy doing something as I do this. Plus, I could see a path where I could actually retire my mom, take care of her, pay her back for, you know, all the nights she worked so long so we could, um, live comfortably and things like that. So it's just kind of... The thing is I've... One thing that irks me is when people try to like put someone's motivation into like one little bucket.

    11. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    12. MD

      Like, we're very complex creatures, and like, you know, you have a girlfriend. I- I- I would never say, "Oh, you just like her because she's pretty."

    13. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    14. MD

      But you like her 'cause she's pretty, but you probably also like her 'cause she's smart. You probably also (laughs) um, like her because, you know, she's fun to be around, she likes similar shows, blah, blah. You probably... If we sat here for 10 hours, you could probably give me a thousand reasons why you like your girlfriend.

    15. SB

      Yeah. (laughs)

    16. MD

      So it's like, it's very annoying when people try to put why you like doing a certain job or building a certain business into one bucket. "Oh, you just do it 'cause of money." What if I do it because I like money, and I enjoy it, and it's a way to do this, and it's a way to communicate with people, and community, and these other things, you know what I mean?

    17. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    18. MD

      And I think that's a common flaw we try to do.

    19. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    20. MD

      It's like, it's not that simple.

    21. SB

      I think it's, uh, a lot of people can't understand someone being so relentlessly focused on something with the level of, like, commitment and sustained commitment that you've shown.

    22. MD

      Yeah.

    23. SB

      And so-

    24. MD

      And I don't know how anyone did not-

    25. SB

      You know what I mean? I, I, I agree, 'cause it's very weird, like, how, like, I have in- extreme obsession to the point where, like, I just think about stu- the same... Like, for me, it's much easier to think about something 16 hours a day for seven days straight than it is, like, to, like, gear-shift constantly. I'm, like, really good at just obsessing over one thing more than anyone else on the planet. I've, if I were to say what's my superpower, it's that. I can just obsess endlessly about something, and I can just have the same thoughts over and over and over and over again. It's, it's very weird. Like, it's, it wa- it was, it wasn't like it was work for me grinding YouTube for those 10 years or whatever where no one was really watching it. It's just, like, kinda who I am. It would've had to have been a deep obsession.

    26. MD

      Yeah.

    27. SB

      Because you were doing it when no one was really watching or paying attention, or really when the platform was...

    28. MD

      There was literally a day when I was, uh, 19 or 20, uh, where I got, I woke up, joined a Skype call with my friends, and where we, like, were reverse engineering, you know, why certain videos do well or whatever, and I remember that call being over 18 hours long, and then I hung up, went to bed, woke back up the next day and instantly got back on the call and picked back... Like, that was the level of, like, w- hours we were putting in. I mean, I didn't know anything besides just trying to make it happen.

    29. SB

      Was there anything else that you showed that level obs- of obsession to?

    30. MD

      So at that age, no. From, I would say from 11 to... Well, 11 to 15 it was a mix of YouTube and baseball, but when I turned 15, I got Crohn's, and I went from, like, 190 pounds down to 139. I lost all the muscle I had, and so I was like, "All right, I'm not playing baseball in college anymore." So then I was like, "Fuck it. Uh, it's just all in on, uh, YouTube and, um..." And then up until really Feastables, it was basically just YouTube versus whatever... I never thought I would find, like, this kinda love for build- like, I thought it was specifically video making, but I have found over, like, the last two or three years, just in general, I just enjoy entrepreneurship, and I've been really deeply loving getting, like, obsessed with Feastables and other things. And so... Which was very weird. Like, when I first started a chocolate company, it was, like, kind of a- a side thing, but the more I started to work on it, I'll- I got a lot of the same highs I got when I was making videos, just in different ways. And so now I'm like, I know way too much about the chocolate industry. I'm like (laughs) ...

  6. 15:05 – 18:15

    Jimmy’s Illness

    1. SB

      help support them at certain times when they had to leave and stuff like that, I got a little bit more aware of what it means and wha- how it impacts you, but could you give me your perspective on that?

    2. MD

      Yeah. So Crohn's disease when, is when your immune system attacks itself. So, uh, yeah, when I was 15, I just started going to the bathroom eight, nine, ten times a day, not digesting any food because my GI tract is, like, uh, literally just attacking itself. It's very weird. Your immune system in your gut thinks your gut is a foreign invader, and so it just starts attacking itself. Which, if you're just using the bathroom ten times a day and not digesting food, it's why you drop weight rapidly, and it hurts like crazy 'cause it gets very inflamed, and it feels like someone's stabbing you in the gut with, like, a knife constantly when it's really, really bad, which is what I had. So I lost 50 pounds, which is crazy 'cause I was already relatively lanky. Um, and we were just trying different medicine, and then eventually I'm on a pretty extreme medicine w- called REMICADE where it just, basically you nuke your immune system, which is why my voice sounds a little off right now 'cause I just go- got the flu, I got COVID six times, I got shingles. Like, I get sick all the time because for me to s- have my GI tract stop attacking itself, we basically have to shut down my immune system. So I have, like, a really weak immune system, so I just get sick all the time. Like, that's why I have, like, random rashes and things like that. So it's like... It was pretty, pretty brutal to be honest, and then it randomly flares up sometimes and just makes you very sick, very tired. Like, I just live life o- on hard mode, to be honest. Like, if someone... Like, if you wake up and you have energy, like, you're already leaps and bounds ahead of me. Like, I, you know... It's, it makes things way more difficult.

    3. SB

      And so you still wake up with some days where you don't have energy?

    4. MD

      Of course.

    5. SB

      Which is really hard to believe for someone who's s- so productive for everybody looking on.

    6. MD

      Yeah, it's, you just gotta really love what you do, I mean, and push through it. It's, uh, it's pretty brutal because then you compound that with always being sick, and I mean, yeah, I, like, I just spent four days in a hospital in South Africa 'cause I got the flu, and it just takes me a lot longer to recover from certain things. So, um, it's brutal, and that's where it's like if I didn't work so much, I would spend more time researching Crohn's because surely there's a better way to stop it than just destroying my immune system, and ideally I don't do that deep into my 30s and 40s.

    7. SB

      Yeah.

    8. MD

      So I see it as a little bit of a Band-Aid, but, um, you know, I've met with the top Crohn's doctors in the world, and so far they're like, "This is just the answer, and you're just lucky your, you know, gut isn't attacking yourself." Um, so, but I don't know. I, I feel like the medicine they give people with Crohn's is kinda silly, and there's gotta be a better way to treat it. I mean, the ultimate solution is they just cut me open and cut out a large part of my GI tract, and then there you go, but, you know.

    9. SB

      It's a, uh, well, I observed in the, the f- team member that I had that had Crohn's just a bit of a mental roller coaster as well because there's an u- certain unpredictability to it.

    10. MD

      Exactly.

    11. SB

      Which makes life...

    12. MD

      Oh, it's even worse when you're filming 'cause you got this huge multimillion dollar set and 200 people waiting on you, and, you know, sometimes you don't know if you're gonna have a flare, but you just gotta go "Fuck it" and just down some caffeine and crank it out.

    13. SB

      I got diagnosed with ADHD.

    14. MD

      You did?

    15. SB

      Yeah. I got diagnosed with ADHD, and it made me think a lot about myself and the way that I am. It's not nece- I'm not the type of person to, like, embody the label or think it really means much.

  7. 18:15 – 18:56

    Is MrBeast Neurodivergent?

    1. SB

    2. MD

      Yeah.

    3. SB

      I am just who I am. Have you, um... Are you in any way neurodivergent?

    4. MD

      Uh, I've been told, yeah, by a doctor I have ADHD. I mean, I'm not surprised 'cause I just sit and obsess over things constantly. But I think, um, I'm, I'm happy with however my brain is wired. I don't really care to change it. Um, I, I, like I said, I think one of my greatest superpowers is my obsession, and I think some people would view that as a weakness. But I just, like, if you just think about solving problems three times more than everyone else, like, you're bound to come up with different solutions.

    5. SB

      That's one of the things y- you mentioned earlier. You, you like solving hard problems consistently. When you think back over the last 10 years of your life and the, the success you've had solving some of these

  8. 18:56 – 20:26

    Core Components That Made MrBeast Successful

    1. SB

      hard problems, if you were to, like, break it down into some core components of-

    2. MD

      Mm-hmm.

    3. SB

      ... um, that you've learned, one of them is obsession that you've said.

    4. MD

      Yeah.

    5. SB

      What are the others?

    6. MD

      I mean, it's all the typical stuff, like you are obviously who you surround yourself with. And, um, luckily I just got around the right people, uh, in my later teenage years because I, I feed off the energy of the people probably around me. It's so obvious. Like, I start to talk like them. I become interested in the things they're interested in. I mean, this is all obvious stuff I'm sure you've heard a bajillion times, so. But, you know, just gotta ... I always have to be protective of the people I'm around, because whatever they say is what I start thinking on, and then that's what I start obsessing over. And, you know, um, one of the best things that happened with Feastables is I just reached out to all the fastest-growing chocolate companies, all the fastest-growing snack businesses and everything, and just became friends with a lot of the founders. And, you know, that's what would've probably taken me eight, nine years to, like, solve. You know, after 18 months, it was probably one of the top 10 people in the world when it comes to-

    7. SB

      Hmm.

    8. MD

      ... running a chocolate company and understanding it deeply just because it's just cheat codes. Um-

    9. SB

      What about detail? Sweating the small stuff. One of the things that I saw, I was reading the, this, the handbook that was-

    10. MD

      Oh, yeah.

    11. SB

      ... leaked on the internet.

    12. MD

      Yeah.

    13. SB

      And one of the things I saw throughout that was this real obsession with the one percents-

    14. MD

      Yeah.

    15. SB

      ... and the small stuff. How do you feel about this, by the way, and all of that stuff?

    16. MD

      I wrote that, uh, wi- with some of my employees when I was probably 22. So there are some things that I'm like, I read and I'm like, "Oh wow, I was

  9. 20:26 – 21:31

    MrBeast’s Handbook

    1. MD

      an idiot." But for the most part, most of it still stands the test of time. Um, and I, I do think it's very helpful. You know what's funny? A lot of CEOs have actually told me that they make their employees read this. Um- (laughs)

    2. SB

      Yeah. Well, it went around all of our Slack channels. We all-

    3. MD

      Yeah.

    4. SB

      We all read it. (laughs)

    5. MD

      Yeah, which is funny 'cause I'm like, "Damn, I should make an updated version of it so everyone," uh ... But yeah, the thing is, it's, the, the core crux of it is, like, extreme ownership and don't make excuses. And, you know, um, people always ... Yeah, I mean the, damn, I'm getting a lot of deja vu from when I was writing that. It was just a different time back then too, because I just d- I had no idea what I was doing when I was 21, 22. And I just found that I was constantly telling, like teaching the same, or teaching people the same things over and over again. And it was always just like, take extreme ownership, take accountability. Like, sure, I guess it was outta your control, but it could have been in your control if you just thought through it more, if you just really cared. And that's what I was just trying to convey in it.

    6. SB

      And the other thing that comes through in this, but also all of your work, is just this idea, something that I've learned from you just from speaking to you on the phone yesterday, that nothing is impossible.

    7. MD

      Yeah, exactly.

    8. SB

      And watching Beast Games

  10. 21:31 – 24:16

    Extreme Ambition

    1. SB

      over the last couple of weeks, but also speaking to some of your team, there's clearly this through line with everything that you do of, like, extreme, what appears to me to be extreme ambition.

    2. MD

      Mm-hmm.

    3. SB

      And it doesn't appear-

    4. MD

      Yeah.

    5. SB

      ... to be extreme ambition to you in the same way that it appears to be extreme ambition to me.

    6. MD

      Yeah, I mean, it's just, I mean, w- is, does physics allow it? Then yes, it's possible. It just, is it, do we wanna put the time in? I mean, it's, I, I feel like people over-complicate a lot of things. Um, yeah.

    7. SB

      And is that something you've trained over time or have you always thought that?

    8. MD

      No, I think I've just ... Uh, it's a good question. I've never, I don't know why, but when people tell me I can't do something, I, and I don't know where this came from, it makes me just wanna do it more, to be honest. If you tell me I shouldn't do something, that's fine. But if you tell me I can't, then I just, it's everything in my body just wants to go, "Fuck you. I obviously can. I just, I don't know if I should, but I can." And then I, I don't know. It's like the, the, the thing is, like, to go viral, you have to do something that's never been done before. I've told this story before of like, you know, if you're driving down the road and you see a cow, who cares? It's a fucking cow. But if you're driving down the road and you see a purple cow, you're like, you've never seen that before and it's something you weren't expecting. You're gonna go, "Holy shit." And you're gonna go tell your friends about it. You're gonna remember that. You'll probably even think about it randomly once every couple years. "Why the fuck was there a purple cow?" And it's like, it's the same thing, just one was a little purple and it, like, you can apply that same, like, uh, analogy to ideas. Like, when you're scrolling through social media to find a video to watch, there's things that, you know, have been done before, you've seen. It's, you know, roughly similar to stuff before. You're just gonna scroll past it. You'll never think about it again. Just like you'll never think about a fucking cow on the side of the road. And then there are ideas that are like the purple cow idea, which is what I try to do, which are things that make you go, "What the fuck? I've never seen that." Like, "I, I have to click this or I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight because, like, why is this video ... No way they did this," right? But those typically are very hard, and usually, to get that purple cow effect, they've never been done before. And if something's never been done before, there's usually a reason 'cause it's very fucking hard.

    9. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    10. MD

      So you just kind of have to train yourself to, like, not resent very difficult, complex, hard, original problems and actually run towards them because those are the ones that, you know, tend to have the more of the purple cow effect where people have to watch it. And viewership is very exponential. It's way easier to get 50 million views on one video than it is to get a million views on 50 videos, right? And so, um, and because it, like, kinda goes exponentially and it's, like, you know, pretty winner take all in the top videos, like, you just really have to lean into that purple cow effect, if that makes sense.

    11. SB

      Makes perfect sense. If you, if you were to distill then, say we were coming up with a new how to succeed in MrBeast production handbook now, what would be the, the, the top five? If I was applying for a job with you-

    12. MD

      Yeah.

    13. SB

      ... what five

  11. 24:16 – 27:04

    Characteristics Needed to Be Successful

    1. SB

      fa- characteristics would I need to demonstrate to be successful?

    2. MD

      You gotta be very coachable, because whatever I teach you today is gonna change, you know, a year or two from now. Always learning, always improving, coachable, um-A big thing for me is you gotta see the value in working here. Like, you really... I just, I don't... This isn't like a, a job. This is a career. Like, if you don't, (laughs) you know, realistically see a world where you're working for me in 10 years, then, um, it's pretty hard for me to invest into you at the level I want. Like, I'm not... I don't like training someone for six months, they work here for a year, and then I lose them. What I like is I train someone for a year, and then I get nine years of dividends on the backend where they crush at their job, and I'm constantly paying them more because they're becoming more valuable with time. Like, that is like the eighth wonder of the world, is investing heavily in an employee, and then they stick around for a decade. You know what I mean? It's like, there are... Some of my top guys that I spent three or four years in the trenches with training and working with, you know, they're... Like, uh, Tyler, who writes a lot of my videos and directs them, I, you know, probably talk to him five, six hours a day every day for four f- yeah, around four years. And now, because I can't spend a- y- he spends 100% of his time writing the videos, directing the videos, obsessed over that. Whereas I could theoretically max spend 5% of my time. So, he's gonna naturally just shit on me on it, because he can spend way more time on it, and it's like... So, you know, I have full faith in him. But the dividends that I get off of him after all those years of pouring all that time and effort into him, and now he knows exactly how I think, what I value, that I don't even really have to communicate with him. Sometimes I can just show up to film and, like, I just trust that it's good. You know, and I have a bunch of people across all my businesses like that, that it's like, great. And if, you know, in a world where Tyler's still working here 10 years from now, I mean, the amount of value out of someone like that is unfathomable. It is quite literally the eighth wonder of the world for a business. And it's like, that's what I want, but you only get those kinds of people if they see the value for s- you know, working for you. And so they have to, like, deeply believe, like, "The more valuable I become to this company, the more I'll be rewarded." And they, like, actually want to dedicate their life to the business. So, that's very important, 'cause if I really don't get that vibe, then it's not fair to both of us, 'cause I'm not gonna invest in you like I should because I don't think you're gonna be here in 10 years, and then you're gonna feel that and it creates... So, uh, coachable, uh, sees the value, um, obviously obsessed. I, I don't... I just don't like working with mediocre people. I, I mean, I really just can't stand it. It's the fastest way to make me depressed, um, is if I have to work with someone who's just not all in and just loves what they do. Um, and it's just a lot of, you know, stuff like that, that I'm sure if you listen to, like, a Steve Jobs interview or something that he talks about. It's just the, the typical traits, obsessed, coachable, all in, sees the value.

    3. SB

      And what is the single worst trait?

    4. MD

      Mediocrity. I mean, it's just like, 'cause they're not bad enough where you fire them, but not good. The problem is, like, I mean, and you see it in full effect,

  12. 27:04 – 28:48

    The Single Worst Trait in an Employee

    1. MD

      great people just love working with great people. They do. And there's something about being around great people that pulls some kind of animal out of you that just makes you want to do more and push more and believe things are possible and... I don't know, when you put me around a bunch of other successful entrepreneurs, I just turn into a different human than if you put me around, I don't know, a bunch of people who are just running small businesses and don't really care and don't really have much ambition. I'm like two completely different humans, and you see that same thing in full effect. You put a bunch of A players around more A players, they just build off of each other. But you like put two or three C players amongst a bunch of great people, and they'll start pulling them down. They'll start making them not wanna work as much and make work not as fun. And so everyone knows, get rid of the C players, right? Obviously, get rid of people who aren't all in, blah, blah, blah. It's the ones that are like, they're not an A player, but they're not a C player, so it's kinda hard because you still feed off the energy, and if you get enough of them, it just drags the overall culture down. So, those are like the worst. Um, I mean, and not everyone can be these like world-ending monsters that, you know, there are a lot of mundane things like, you know, I mean, the book controller in accounting, I mean, probably doesn't have to be the best in the world.

    2. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    3. MD

      But, you know, when it comes to like the mission critical things like making videos and things like that, you like, just the great people gotta be surrounded. Like, that's one of your number one jobs as leader is just to make sure your great people are working with other great people, 'cause that's like, that... Like, the number one reason why people leave jobs isn't money, you know what I mean? It's, that's like number four on the list. Don't ask me the list of all, I don't remember. I just know the number one thing is, do they enjoy who they're working with? And people leave f- their job because they hate working with people way before they'll ever leave because of money.

    4. SB

      Have you ever been frustrated that the people you've hired don't match your level of obsession?

    5. MD

      No, 'cause I just find the people that do.

    6. SB

      Are there people that do?

    7. MD

      Oh, yeah. I've, there's

  13. 28:48 – 29:41

    Do You Get Frustrated When People Can't Match Your Obsession?

    1. MD

      so many people in my, uh, business, um... I mean, obviously you have to take care of them, pay them well. Like, they're, they're not the kind of people that will just make the s- standard rate. But, um, yeah, like people like Tyler, Clitzner, Russ, and you know, even people on our editing team, I mean, they're putting in most weeks same hour- same amount of hours as me, and they're all in, see the vision. It's like, it's hard to find those kinds of people. But, um, you know, when you do, you gotta treasure them and recognize that they're unicorns.

    2. SB

      And you have almost 500, roughly 500 people?

    3. MD

      Uh, probably, uh, I think the production company we're around 300, Feastable's around 100, and then probably another 40, 50 scattered amongst everything else.

    4. SB

      Most founders that I speak to describe scaling headcounts as th- the kind of worst part s- part of the job.

    5. MD

      (laughs)

    6. SB

      More people, more problems, right?

    7. MD

      Yep. That's a, that's an understatement. Yep.

    8. SB

      Especially with someone l- like you, who's a creative at heart and who h- is very focused and obsessed on, I guess, the show and producing. As you say

  14. 29:41 – 32:56

    MrBeast’s Thoughts on Hiring

    1. SB

      often, the, um, "I, I wanna produce the best videos we possibly can."

    2. MD

      Of course.

    3. SB

      And then all this other shit comes with it-

    4. MD

      Yeah.

    5. SB

      ... which is like (laughs) HR, which every founder I speak to hates.

    6. MD

      I mean, yeah. Uh, the, the worst part is I just have this very once in a, um, a just very rare opportunity where I have so much attention and so many people watch my content and, and I wish I had... I just wish I had more experience building businesses. You know, I'm only 26 and this is my first real business of... Every, every employee milestone we hit, it's my first time hitting that, right? Like, when I hit 100 employees, that was my first time getting there, and this, tha- this was my first time going from 100 to 200, 200, 300. And like, with what I know now, I could have done it so much faster, obviously. And it's just, you know, it's a little brutal because like, y- like, s- scaling Feastables from, you know, zero to 100 was way easier than doing my production company 'cause I've been through the wringer before and I learned a bunch and I get better with time. And I, it's just the mo- honestly, the most annoying part is just ignorance, right? Like, 'cause a lot of things, mistakes I make, I look back and I'm like, "Oh."... yeah, I probably should have brought in people with more experience working at a larger company earlier here, I waited a little too long here, I probably should have..." And it's just, like, brutal because if I had known these things, I'd be way further along. But, I mean, that's just how you learn, just gotta make 10,000 mistakes.

    7. SB

      Every founder says the same.

    8. MD

      Yeah.

    9. SB

      Every founder I've spoke to says the same, they're unknown unknowns.

    10. MD

      Exactly.

    11. SB

      They don't even know what came before.

    12. MD

      And it's just like... So that's where, I mean, my big thing recently has just been trying to find people who have successfully scaled businesses and, like, bring them into my organization to learn from them, because I'm just so tired of, like, being like, "Fuck, I should have known better, but I didn't, because I've never done this before." And so I'm trying to find a lot of great people who have been through it so they can, like, kind of mentor me along the way, so I make less mistakes, which has been really good. Um, we brought in a new C-suite recently. Um, I, it's, like, always a hard balance, because I try not to... In the past I th- I've, like, you know, decisions are kind of like pendulums, and I have a, a, a problem where I, like, I'll identify something and I'll over-correct the pendulum one way, and then I'm like, "Oh, no, I should have just stopped in the middle."

    13. SB

      (laughs) yeah.

    14. MD

      And like, my over-correction of the past was like, corporate people try to build too many systems and they kill innovation, and so I was very anti, like, people with too much corporate experience, 'cause they're gonna just destroy all the creativity. But, you know, that's why we're making so many organizational fuck-ups because we don't have anyone who's actually built a business at this size. And so, you know, the pendulum was on the right and I swung it all the way to the left of no corporate, and now I think we're in the healthy medium where, you know, obviously the people in our C-suite and the leaders should have lots of experience managing people at this size and scale, but it's just finding the right people who can do it and build systems in a way where it doesn't crush creativity and they actually value the product over ease.

    15. SB

      Th- The Diary of a CEO might... I'm on a t- a TV show called Dragons' Den in the UK, and, um, my stuff is significantly smaller, it's like a percentage of your, of your viewership.

    16. MD

      Uh-huh.

    17. SB

      But even I am slightly terrified with hiring people, because it's quite clear to me that there's a huge incentive for anyone that I work with to say that I did something bad.

    18. MD

      Yeah.

    19. SB

      And in the early days of my first business, um, what happens is the journalists go to everyone that works there-

    20. MD

      Yep.

    21. SB

      ... and they ask them, "What was he like?" You, you have the same problem.

    22. MD

      Yeah.

    23. SB

      You have the same conundrum, where anyone has an incentive that works for you, when they leave, so many different incentives to throw an, an

  15. 32:56 – 37:28

    Dealing With Negativity

    1. SB

      arrow at you-

    2. MD

      Yeah.

    3. SB

      ... on the way out the door. How, how do you contend with this?

    4. MD

      Yeah, I mean, you hit it on the head of, uh, you know, I have four, 500 people right now, but we've also worked with thousands of people in the past. And so I think it's just what comes with it, but at the end of the day, you know, as long as what we're doing is moral and ethical, like, like you said, they are gonna throw arrows. But, you know, I, I'm just a problem solver. It's like whenever I see the metaphorical arrow, I just go, "You know, what's the problem? And if we did something wrong, how do we fix it?" Or, if it's not an actual problem, it's just rumors, I mean, it is what it is. And so, yeah, I think it just comes with part of it. Um, I mean, it sucks and it's unfortunate. But you also have to think, like, most people don't like their jobs too, and so it's not like this is even specific to our industry. Like, you know, just go ask 100 random Americans of, of all the jobs they worked in their life, how many did they deeply enjoy and do- would they have nothing negative to say. So I think it's just part of it, you know. Um, it's almost like a pastime for a lot of people just to, like, trash talk their old jobs or whatever.

    5. SB

      Mm-hmm. Um, has any of that stuff ever got to you? Any criticism of any-

    6. MD

      Oh, of course, yeah. I mean all, all s- criticism all the time does. But, I mean, the thing is, independent of that kind of stuff, it's just like, I mean, I, for... (sighs) We are averaging like 200 million views a video. Like, you know, like, uh, most of it unique viewers. Like, we're talking like 2+%, um, sometimes 3% of humans alive watch every piece of content I put out, g- you know, depending on how well the channel's doing. And so, like, that means, like, you could, I could upload a video and then with, uh, 365 days later you could grab 33 random humans anywhere on the planet, especially 'cause we do dubs... You know what's even crazier is our, you know, YouTube's not in China, so that's like two to 3% of humans alive excluding China. Um, y- or China's mixed in there, but if you just take people excluding China, it'd be more like 3 to 4%. Um, but you could just grab 33 random people on the planet and one of them on average would have seen that video because the views are so fucking high. So yeah, I mean, there's a lot of criticism that's thrown at me. And the thing is, you know, since our stuff's so global, sometimes, you know, it transcends culture and not everyone views everything, and so everyone has different opinions and stuff like that, which is why it will drive you crazy at our scale if you try to make people happy.

    7. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    8. MD

      'Cause even if 99% of people are deeply happy, which is an insane hit rate. Like, if you make a piece of content, 99% of people that watch it love it, that is wild. Which, that kind of stuff doesn't happen, but in our case if just 1%'s unhappy, that's two million people, which is more than anyone else even gets on vide- views on videos. So, uh, which will feel like an insurmountable amount of criticism and feedback. And it's very easy to, like, trick your mind into thinking, "Damn, everyone hates me," because you just, you know, focus on the 1% instead of the 99. So I just c- came to the point where, you know, I just have to have my own internal guidelines of like, do I think what I'm doing is good? Do what I think, you know, is moral, ethical, do, do I believe in what I'm doing? If so, fuck it. Like, I'm never gonna be able to make everyone happy. So I... And if you just, you let the whims of the internet kind of decide what is okay and what's acceptable and, and when you're being bad or good, then you, you, you don't have a spine, you don't have a backbone, you stand for nothing and, and it, it will just destroy you mentally. Um, and so, I mean, I don't know what age I was when I kind of got in that mindset but I just was like, "I'm gonna decide and I'm not gonna let the internet decide, you know, what is okay and what's not." And then ever since I got to that point, you know, if people criticize me for something and I'm like, "I don't agree," then I have, like... It's easy for me to just go, "Oh, well, I don't agree. Not gonna make everyone happy. I believe what I'm doing is right," and, um, just move on.

    9. SB

      The brain isn't, isn't designed for, for this, though.

    10. MD

      No, it's not.

    11. SB

      This is what I've come to learn, so I do the podcast, it goes well, I'm on, uh, uh, uh, y- uh, it feels like at, at the start everyone loves me-

    12. MD

      Yeah.

    13. SB

      ... and then I get further down the line and it feels like everyone fucking hates me.

    14. MD

      Yep.

    15. SB

      Because they j- a- you get attacked from... You can never do anything right, especially if-

    16. MD

      I've, I've probably read mess- like, comments or tweets or-I've probably, o- in my lifetime, read over 5,000 messages or comments or something telling me to kill myself. I mean, you know what I mean? You know, just like, i- and what would possess someone to tell you to, like, leave a comment where it's like, "Fucking kill yourself." You know what I mean? So, agreed, like, you're... We were not meant to receive this kind of feedback from basically anyone, anywhere in the world. You know what I mean? Just all c- con- you know, consistently, day in and day out for, for my, in my case now over a decade.

    17. SB

      Has it ever really got to you?

    18. MD

      Oh, yeah, of course. I mean, it, it does all the time. Or it used to all the time. I, like I said-

    19. SB

      What does that mean in reality? If I'm a fly on the wall in one of those moments where you can recall

  16. 37:28 – 43:33

    Has Negativity Ever Gotten to MrBeast?

    1. SB

      it really getting to you.

    2. MD

      I mean, back in the day, but I wasn't as confident in my ability to, to be successful and, you know, when you're probably 20 and you're hiring all these people, you're... You know, I, I have high-risk tolerance, but I'm reinvesting every dollar I make. I, I'm, you know, I'm hiring my friends from school. I hired my mom. Like, these people I really care about are depending on me, and then, you know, I upload a video and it does bad, and then people, you know... It, I pour all my time and effort into it, but, you know, maybe it doesn't come across as well, like, the v- and, you know, some people might have interpreted it as lazy, and you read a comment being like, "Wow, what a fucking lazy, like, I thought you made great videos." Or, "This, this video sucked." And, and you read that and the video's underperforming, and you're like, "Fuck, maybe I am being too reckless." And, you know, there, I mean, there's definitely times where I would cry, you know, just because I would just be like, "Fuck, am I, like, not doing this right?" Or, like, "They don't understand I put a lot of time into this," or, or whatever. "Why, why..." You know, sometimes you're like, "Fuck, does the algorithm hate me? Am I being suppressed?" Or whatever, back in the day. Um...

    3. SB

      When was the last time that happened, that feeling of...

    4. MD

      Um, yeah. Pro- there was, like, a, a month probably last year where I, I felt a little bit of that just because, um, you know, just sometimes occasionally the rumor and drama mill gets spun up, but you just gotta snap out of it, and like I said, just go, "Do I believe in what I'm doing? Do I..." It's like, it's hard because, you know, any time I do anything good, it's, you know, people are always, like, uh, they try to... We're, we're, like, conditioned in America now. When someone does something good, there's always some ulterior motive. And I've, I've always been straight forward and just said, "A world where I help people is just better than a world where I don't." Like, I don't try to come up with this crazy, like, story of, of how, you know, someone helped me when I was younger and now I, I just wanna give back and cry- and just like, yeah, I can make viral videos and I think a world where I do viral videos that help people are better than one I don't. You know, I just kinda ... That's my answer.

    5. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    6. MD

      Um, but it always does suck when people try to just like, I don't know... The, the, it's funny, the more good you do, the more people think you're secretly evil, and it's like, "Why can't I just help people 'cause it's fun?" (laughs) You know? So, occasionally those will get to me and I'll just be like, "Guys, you don't even know me." Like, and like, you would think sometimes you'd read, like, when I build wells in Africa or help blind people see or things like that, you would, you would read some of these things online, you would think I'm Hitler. I mean, it's crazy like how people portray it. And I just, I don't know, I wish people would just understand, like, in my opinion, a world where I help people is just more fun than a world where I don't, and it's really not that deep.

    7. SB

      The people around you, how does it impact them?

    8. MD

      Oh, how does, uh, the drama and that kinda stuff impact them?

    9. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    10. MD

      Um, to be honest, in my case, it, it, I don't think it hits them that hard because most things usually fall on me and people wanna go after me because I'm the guy that does good, the quote unquote philanthropist, so usually I'm, like, the one that gets thrown under the bus quite a bit.

    11. SB

      Hmm. It's funny 'cause I s- everyone that knows you, knows you.

    12. MD

      Yeah.

    13. SB

      Whether they're really successful people or people that you work with that I've spoken to. Everybody that knows you, knows who you are.

    14. MD

      Mm-hmm.

    15. SB

      And it's, it's remarkable to me that, um, someone who has done so much good in the world, I've looked at your philanthropy, I know what you're, you're doing with Feastables and the ethical sourcing of that. When I see someone that's done so much good in the world still be misunderstood (laughs) it almost makes, it almost makes me realize that I should never fight it.

    16. MD

      Yeah, I mean, the ironic part is the more I help people, the more shit I get, to be honest. Like, it's, it's so funny because, you know, like, the same day I'll, uh, drop a video where I'll, uh, uh, you know, uh, help a thousand blind people see, some other YouTuber will drop a video where they just bought a new mansion and it's like, everyone's like, "Yes!" (claps hands) "Get that mansion! Good job!" And then they'll be like, "Fuck you for curing blind people, Jimmy. Fuck you. You're using him." And I'm like-

    17. SB

      (laughs)

    18. MD

      ... "No, I just want to inspire people to do good. I mean, I can buy a mansion if you really (laughs) want me to."

    19. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    20. MD

      Um, so, it is funny. I... If you're trying, this is a weird sentence, but if you're trying to be liked, I actually don't recommend you, like, help people. Like, I actually think helping people will make the internet like you less than if you just, like, buy nice cars and do, like, the, the typical influencer path. It's 'cause they, we're just so conditioned in America to see it as, like, a shield and, like, no one actually does good 'cause they just find it fun, apparently. Um, but, I mean, I don't care. I, like I said, it's just more fun than if I didn't, so, I mean, people can shit on me for helping people. I don't, I don't, it doesn't bother me anymore. Um, but I wouldn't recommend you get into it if you wanna be liked 'cause I, I think it's negatively correlated now.

    21. SB

      Interesting.

    22. MD

      It is so fascinating. It is... I swear to God, man. Like, (laughs) pe- it's, it's, it's, uh... There... I could just, uh, I don't know, do these, like, uh, $1 versus videos where I compare, like, a $1 boat to a billion dollar boat and all these other things and not help people and I would just get way less shit. And it's, it's so funny 'cause no one bats an eye when I post that, but when I give hundreds of thousands of people in Africa clean drinking water, it's like all hell breaks loose. I'm like, "Guys, I'm just trying to bring attention to a cause. I don't really..." But the thing is, I'm just gonna keep doing it and, I mean, I think in my case most people have realized I'm not gonna stop, so they're just kinda over, you know, getting mad at me and they're just like, "All right. Jimmy's just being Jimmy."

    23. SB

      I think when the wind blows as well, what it does is it helps you to really understand why you're doing what you're doing and understand yourself.

    24. MD

      Mm-hmm.

    25. SB

      And so f- when I've been attacked for, like, the people I, I interview or whatever it might be, it's actually made me refocus on what my principles are.

    26. MD

      Yeah.

    27. SB

      ... because you have to be really anchored to them.

    28. MD

      It's like I said, you, you have to know where your line is and as long as you're on the right side of your line, then it is what it is. People on Twitter can say whatever they want. And I, I think, like, that's the only way to really survive at this scale without going crazy, is you, you have to determine where the line is, not let the internet.

    29. SB

      Workaholism.

    30. MD

      Yes.

  17. 43:33 – 47:04

    Workaholism

    1. MD

      Hmm. Well, the... I don't know about the last seven days, but in general, we, uh... So we're filming a video where we're doing the... I'm visiting the five most deadliest places on Earth. So one of the places was a safari in South Africa, so I flew to South Africa, um, to spend time in a cage surrounded by lions. Sick content, it was really good. Um, which that was a bitch to get to. And then I got the flu, and so spent a couple of days in the hospital there. Um, and then we were going to go to Snake Island to spend time there, then the World's Deadliest Road, and then we have a couple other places, but that got postponed. So instead, got outta the hospital, went to Florida, filmed with Aaron Judge. Then I went to... Or no, went to North Carolina. We have this guy where I built a gym, and I told him if he loses 100 pounds before he leaves the gym, it has a big red circle around it, I'll give him a bunch of money. So I filmed with him and then worked on the coming up videos, um, that (laughs) it's a lot. And then flew to Florida, filmed with Aaron Judge. Flew here, just landed, filmed with the reunion that you were at with the contestants for Beast Games. We're doing this podcast. What time is it, like 1:00 AM?

    2. SB

      It's just after 1:00 AM.

    3. MD

      Yeah, 1:00 AM, the latest podcast he's ever done.

    4. SB

      Yeah (laughs) .

    5. MD

      Lightweight. I always do my podcasts at 1:00 AM. Um, my last podcast before this was like 4:00 AM, um, like, like a couple weeks ago. And then, uh, we're flying to San Fran to film with Steph. Then we're-

    6. SB

      Steph Curry?

    7. MD

      Yeah, Steph Curry. Then I think I'm going to Snake Island, then the Deadliest Road, um, and then... I, I won't... I'll basically... I don't think I'll be home for another 16 days, so I'm just traveling around filming for the next 16 days. And then, um, yeah, I guess then I'll get home and then they'll make me film at home (laughs) .

    8. SB

      How does everything else in your life fit into that in terms of like the gym? I know you've been working out a lot.

    9. MD

      It's been brutal. It's gone to shit the last couple of months. It's, it's, it's really killing me, to be honest. It's... It was, like, so much easier when you're... Bro, if you don't travel constantly, l- life is so easy when you just wake up in your own bed and, like, w- waking up in your own bed and working 15 hours in, you know, your office or whatever, so easy, compared to like all this fucking bullshit where I'm like, "I don't know the time zone I'm in, I don't know what place I'm in, I don't know where I'm going in two days." It's like, like... (sighs) I mean, some days I'm going to bed at 10:00 AM, other days I'm going to bed at 5:00 PM, and it's like, it's a mess. It's really... And I, I used to put up with it and, and it just like... and figure out how to do the training, but it's just... I don't, I don't, I don't know. I need to, uh... Truthfully, whatever's a priority, you'll get done. I just need to make it a priority again 'cause it... I really do miss it. It's just this... The hard part is putting, putting Beast Games in the mix 'cause I was already like basically working, you know, whatever, every hour my eyes were awake. But then Beast Games is such a monster of a project and I have to maintain the same YouTube upload schedule and then I do a lot on Feastables now, and then I have a couple other businesses. So I, I just... Honestly, something had to give, and sadly it was working out, but it's fucking stupid. So I need to like reprioritize my life where I can get... I mean, it just only needs to be 45 minutes five days a week. It doesn't, doesn't need to be hard. But the bigger problem is I'm just not sleeping like I used to because we, we got so much going on. And so when I hit it hard in the gym and then I don't get enough sleep, then that causes pretty extreme fatigue the next day. So it's like I gotta fix sleep first before that. But yeah, it's, uh, got a lot going on, to be honest. I'm dying (laughs) .

    10. SB

      How are you feeling?

    11. MD

      Uh, right now, honestly, fine. I'm jacked up on all the caffeine.

    12. SB

      But I mean, just in, in this feast- you know?

    13. MD

      The flu's not helping. It's, it's making everything like 30%

  18. 47:04 – 47:36

    How Is MrBeast Feeling Right Now?

    1. MD

      harder, so... You know, y- it's like life's like a roller coaster. There are gonna be moments where, like right now I'm gonna answer this negatively, but I don't want someone to think that's indicative of like, oh, every a- every time you ask me this, it's gonna be it. But because of the flu and the lack of sleep, I mean, I'm struggling at the moment. Just a lot of grinding. Um, a little happy 'cause we just dropped the ending of Beast Games, so it's like a little bit of emotional high, but after this I'm probably gonna go crash, be tired as fuck in the morning tomorrow, which I hate. Um, but yeah, I would say I'm on like the lower end. I, I could use a couple good days to bring the energy back up.

  19. 47:36 – 48:45

    Ads

    1. MD

    2. SB

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    3. MD

      (laughs) Yeah, I don't... Well, the thing is... Here's the problem. Like it's, uh... If my mental health

  20. 48:45 – 52:06

    MrBeast’s Mental Health

    1. MD

      was a priority, I wouldn't be as successful as I am. I mean, and that's just like a sad fact. Um, like I obviously never would have buried myself alive for seven days, seven days in solitary, seven days on a deserted island, seven days blah, blah, blah. Um, it's like, you know, being consistently uncomfortable and like cons- being able to consistently suffer over long periods is like arguably one of the deepest modes. Like there's a reason no one makes videos like me, like not even close, because no one wants to live the life I live. I mean, there, there are months where I'm-You know, I think there was one year where I was flying, like, 200 days, like, I was on a plane. I mean, it was, it was a fuck-fest. But, you know, to get these videos done, and, and I do everything. And it's like, you know, when I, when I wake up tomorrow, and I'm gonna be pretty fucking tired and feel like shit, I wanna go ... You know, I, something I always tell myself is, "How you feel right now is why no one else does what you wanna do, or does what you do. And if you push through this, that's just even, you know, more of a reason why no one will ever be who you are." And so, it's like, I think being able to push through unhappiness and do things you don't wanna do consistently, year after year, over the course of a decade, is like, the ultimate advantage. Like, I mean, I, I think we'll hit a billion subscribers, and, uh, I don't think anyone will be anywhere near close. Because like, once you make a couple of million dollars, why would you live the life I live? Like, why? Why would you not take weekends off? Why would you not just film locally, even if it means less views, so you can be on the right time schedule? Why would you not, you know, prioritize your sanity and that kind of stuff? It makes no sense, but that's why no one else does it.

    2. SB

      You spoke to Colin and Samir, two guys that I met recently, um-

    3. MD

      Yeah, they're great.

    4. SB

      ... in LA. They're great, great guys. Um, you said to them, "I'm miserable a lot of times. I have mental breakdowns every other week."

    5. MD

      Yeah. I think those have gotten a little better. Mental breakdown sounds extreme. It's more I'm like, "Fuck! Why am I doing this? This is so fucking hard." Um, 'cause it's just a lot, man. You're just going constantly. It's like ... 'Cause, uh, what's funny is, I think I said that years ago. But that was back when all I was really, was doing YouTube. Now I run this chocolate company and we have the show and we have a couple other stuff, so ... I think the, the hardest part really is gear shifting. Like, and so I try to bucket these things correct. Like, if, if I'm on set, you know, and I have a 15-hour film day, like, ideally, the things I'm doing in between filming are, like, related to main channel, because I'm in the frame of mind of that. And that's one thing that's really helped me not feel like my head's gonna explode. Like, if I'm in Chicago at the Feastables office and we're going through Feastables marketing, like, and then you come in and you go, "What do you think about this bit for this coming up main channel video?" Then I have to, like, shift my frame of mind. And then, like, that constant gear shifting, yeah, I, it, like ... It'll make my fucking head hurt if I'm, like, bouncing around too much. I ... And it also is just very not core to who I am. I love obsessing over certain things, and I find, you know, obsessing over things within a business isn't ... Like, switching back and forth between marketing and product in a same business is pretty easy. That's a long way of saying, like, one thing that's helped with that is, like, just really, um, organizing my schedule in a way where it allows my natural state of mind to, like, obsess over a certain business, finish that, then move on to the next one. Whereas before, it used to be like 30 gear switches a day, and that, that's just miserable. It's just not even fun, to be honest.

    6. SB

      I heard, um, Elon Musk, who I know is someone you s- you spoke about quite often and also someone that I speak about quite often.

    7. MD

      Yeah.

    8. SB

      I heard him say when he was on Joe Rogan that, "You wouldn't wanna be in my head." And I think Joe Rogan asked him

  21. 52:06 – 55:32

    Is MrBeast Happy?

    1. SB

      if he was happy or something, and he doesn't even, like, consider the question to be important.

    2. MD

      Yeah.

    3. SB

      So two questions there. Do you think the average person would like to be in your head? And secondly, are you happy?

    4. MD

      Uh, well, no, the average person does not wanna live the life I live or be in my head. They would, they would be miserable, because they're just working all the time and they, they would probably just ask themselves, "Why am I working all the time?" (laughs) "Why don't I, why don't I do literally anything else?" I mean, 'cause they're ... I mean, obviously I'm not a robot. There are times where I'm like, "Fuck, I really wanna play this strategy board game," or, "I wanna do this thing." And I'm, I look at the schedule and I'm like, "Oh, maybe I could do that in four days." And you, you know ... And it, the, the hard thing is, is r- you really have to, like, be delicate with the framing of your mind. Because it's very easy in moments like that to go, "Fuck, I'm like a zoo animal." Like, "I don't, I don't have free will. I'm like a little robot to my businesses." And like, um, and so you have to, like, be very careful. And sometimes those emotions take over, and especially 'cause I'm a very defiant kind of guy and I'm like, "But I really wanna do this thing, but I can't 'cause I gotta go film this video, and I gotta do this, and I gotta speak at this conference, and I gotta do this networking thing, and blah, blah, blah." And so, um, yeah, I think most people, when that feeling comes up of like, "Am I just a fucking animal?" Like, "Do I have any free will?" They would probably get very depressed, and it's ... But I've been able to, like, work through those and, and just, I always try to ... You know, your brain, you just, it's, you just gotta control your thoughts. Be like, "Well, this is the life I chose. This is, you want success, you want to change the world, you want to do this and this, this is the price you have to pay. You should actually see this as a good thing, because this is why." Which is why I'm very, uh, diligent about how I frame things in my mind. Like, "This is why no one else will do what you will do, and this is a good thing. This is, what you are feeling right now is your moat. It's, you're lucky it's hard. Push through it and you'll be happy you did." You know, and so that's kind of how I try to view it. Um, but no, I don't think most people would be happy living my life. They would be like, "Oh, let's just grab a couple of million dollars and be happy." (laughs)

    5. SB

      Are you happy?

    6. MD

      Uh, it depends what day you ask me. Right now, I'm having a good time. Um, other ... You know, when I was, had the flu in Africa, sitting in a cage with lions? Fuck no. (laughs) So ...

    7. SB

      What's your baseline? How would you describe your baseline?

    8. MD

      Probably, uh, this year, probably so far more unhappy than happy. And it's just, there are just things you gotta do that just aren't fun, you know? But I, I think ... I, I really deeply enjoy working on Feastables and I'm trying to spend more of my time building it. The problem is, it's just, y- uh, it's just opportunity cost, because I'm the only one who can be in front of the camera and film. And that's what's, like, brutal, especially with Beast Games, is I'm just filming so much. It added so much shit to my yearly filming, like doing this giant show on top of already having the largest YouTube channel in the world and I was already filming some months 25 days a month. So I'm just ... Like, that's just the rough part, is because it's like it just all rests on my shoulders, and if I don't film, there is no content. Like, the channel just literally ceases, like, if I stop filming. And so, you know, I, I have found more and more that I'm finding more joy in entrepreneurial things and building businesses, and I, I, I do think I'd be happier if I could spend more time doing that. But it's just, like, weird, because I could literally hire anyone in the world to do that.

    9. SB

      Mm-hmm.

    10. MD

      Whereas I can't hire anyone to replace me on camera.

    11. SB

      I always wonder, s- someone who, um, is doing so well on a platform like YouTube where the algorithm's always changing-

    12. MD

      Mm-hmm.

    13. SB

      ... so many YouTubers I speak to say that they get burnout eventually. They get, like, creative burnout and they-

    14. MD

      Yeah.

  22. 55:32 – 58:01

    Has MrBeast Ever Wanted to Stop YouTube?

    1. MD

    2. SB

      ... and they just, like, delete their channel. You've seen a lot of it recently over the last couple years where YouTubers hit 10 million and they just stop.

    3. MD

      Yep.

    4. SB

      Has that ever crossed your mind to stop?

    5. MD

      Oh, of course. I mean-

    6. SB

      Really?

    7. MD

      ... all the time, but-

    8. SB

      Seriously?

    9. MD

      Yeah. But I, I mean, I l- I've... This, I feel like that's what half this podcast has been about, about how I don't wanna do things, but I push through and do it. I think they're just reasonable humans. Like, they, you know, a lot of them are chasing a goal of like, "Oh, I just want this money so I can take care of these things." You know, it could be noble things, like retire my mom or just not have to worry about money, and then they go, "Well, why would I suffer now? I'm good," yeah.

    10. SB

      When was the closest you came to quitting?

    11. MD

      Oh, I don't know. Probably countless times. I mean, all... When I was in solitary confinement for seven days, I mean, that was fucking miserable. I mean, I did quit a video, uh, I've quit a lot of videos, like-

    12. SB

      No, I mean, as a, as a creator.

    13. MD

      Um, I mean, I guess I never truly would've quit. I mean, my biggest thing would be I just would've quit for, like, a week and been like, "Fuck, let me sleep nine hours a night and, like..." Um, but, like, I spent the fir... We, we did a video where we spent seven days on a desert island. First time we filmed it, on day two, I woke up on the beach and I had literally... I didn't know sand fleas were a thing. I had, like, 700 bug bites up and down my legs, all over my body. I was sunburned. I was like, a little bit of me was like, "Damn, am I gonna die? Like, this is crazy how much, like, bug bites are everywhere," and my skin was so red and I w- I couldn't see straight, and so I ended up quitting on day two, um, which is brutal 'cause you spend all this time and money and you have the crew out there and you flew out there and, you know, it's, it's opportunity cost. It's like, that's a seven-day window we could've got a video and uploaded it and now we don't. Like, it's qu- You know, canceling a video like that is literally the worst thing that could happen from an opportunity cost perspective, and that was like... You know, when you have moments like those and it's like, "Fuck, like, this isn't even fun. Fuck this shit." You know? But ...

    14. SB

      But what about Y- YouTube as a whole? 'Cause, uh, eh, I feel like YouTube is like throwing coal into a train, that you just have to keep throwing it in there once you've started.

    15. MD

      Exactly.

    16. SB

      You just can never stop throwing it in.

    17. MD

      No, you're running on a treadmill cranked up to the max-

    18. SB

      (laughs)

    19. MD

      ... especially if you wanna be a top tier creator like me.

    20. SB

      Yeah.

    21. MD

      And it's just like, who, who can stay on the treadmill the longest? 'Cause it never slows down. If anything, you're making it faster. Um, but no, I mean, I don't think there's ever unironically a time where I actually would've quit. It just... Breaks probably would've been nice.

    22. SB

      (laughs) And when you think forward at that treadmill, can you see yourself doing it for the next two, three, four decades, or-

    23. MD

      Oh yeah, of course. I don't have any intention of ever stopping.

    24. SB

      Okay. Um, love, something that came into my life a couple years ago.

    25. MD

      Yep.

    26. SB

      You announced, I think over Christmas time, that you had proposed. I think it was B- like, Boxing Day or,

  23. 58:01 – 1:00:28

    MrBeast’s Love Life

    1. SB

      or New Year's Eve or-

    2. MD

      Yeah. Eh, it was on Christmas Day.

    3. SB

      Oh, Christmas Day?

    4. MD

      'Cause h- 'cause her family was in town, so I proposed.

    5. SB

      Ah, okay.

    6. MD

      Yeah.

    7. SB

      How does that fit into this craziness?

    8. MD

      She's literally... I... You could probably count on your hands the amount of, uh, people on the planet that actually would make a good partner for me, and she's just, she's just one of 'em. She really understands that work is what, you know, is what I live for, what keeps me going, and she supports me and she understands how important it is and... It's, the big thing is hanging out with Tia, my fiance, is, is so frictionless. We play the same video games, we watch the same shows, we're very interested in the same things. She loves learning like I do, so, um, you know, it's exciting to see what, you know, um, lecture she listened to online that day or, like, whatever weird book she's reading and she just like... Everything about being around her is very frictionless, which is great because, like, obviously I don't have much time at the house and so, like, the last thing that I need is to come home from work and there be friction, and so we don't, we don't fight. It's, I, you know, I... Sometimes I'm like, "Wow, this is, like, my best friend. This is... And she's hot. This is great." You know?

    9. SB

      (laughs)

    10. MD

      Um, and so it's like, it, it feels weird sometimes.

    11. SB

      People... Uh, uh, I mean, anyone in a... Listening now that's in a relationship, I guess the question they'd be thinking is like, when do you spend time together?

    12. MD

      Uh, mostly at nights. Um, and, uh... That, but the beauty is she gears her schedule around mine, so like, she's, she'll work when, um, I'm working and then she'll just travel with me and so a l- honestly, a lot of it is on planes, a lot of it's in car rides or, you know, an hour before bed or in the morning, that kinda stuff. But it's like... 'Cause there are pockets of breaks on set and things like that, so it's just... You know, having s- it's, it's really hard to find someone who is intelligent, actually has their own hobbies, things going for them, independent, that's also willing to mold their life around mine and not see it as a demeaning thing, because like yeah, if she was just like, "Well, I have this thing going on and I have to prioritize my life," I would never see her. But because she's willing to, you know, mold her life around mine, uh, and my work schedule, that, that, you know, is, that's everything. Um, and it's rare that someone's willing to do that while, you know, being as, i- in my opinion at least, from what I've seen, as intelligent and independent as she is.

    13. SB

      Parents always message me and say, "Steve, wait till you have kids."

    14. MD

      Oh yeah. That's, I'm... And that's the thing, like, my lifestyle right now is, would not work for kids, so I wanna wait. I want kids, but I wanna wait as long as possible because

  24. 1:00:28 – 1:01:23

    Will MrBeast Have Kids?

    1. MD

      if I'm gonna have kids, I gotta be a great dad. Like, I really, I really, really enjoy mentoring people, I love mentoring, you know, younger entrepreneurs and, like, help, like... I've told this, I think I told this story on Joe Rogan, I helped one of my friends go from like 40K a month in revenue to 400K on YouTube, and I do the kind of stuff like that all the time. I just, like... One of my other friends has a, um, snack CPG brand and I helped him grow it to eight figures in revenue just for fun. I would just call him a couple times a month and it's like, there's something so satisfying about helping other people succeed and so I would love to have a couple kids and just like really mentor them into like, you know, being badasses. But yeah, not anytime soon. Like, I would be so absent if we had kids, so just gotta, like, find that right time in the Venn diagram where I can actually be present in their life.

    2. SB

      And your business empire, I think, is much bigger than most people realize. I imagine-

    3. MD

      Probably, yeah.

    4. SB

      ... the majority of people probably don't really understand the context of business, so they don't really get it. They might see you as a YouTuber or creator,

  25. 1:01:23 – 1:02:49

    How Big Are MrBeast’s Businesses?

    1. SB

      but from the research that I've done you run a-... very, very large business.

    2. MD

      Yeah. I mean, we'll, we do nine figures in Feastables. I mean, we could say that, yeah.

    3. SB

      Nine figures in Fest- Feastables. So the business must be worth several billions of dollars.

    4. MD

      Uh, overall. I mean, you could deduce something like that, yeah.

    5. SB

      I'm not gonna get you to, to, to try and hazard a guess.

    6. MD

      Of course.

    7. SB

      I'm sure you know, but I'm not gonna g- uh, ask you to predict th- b- but (laughs) ...

    8. MD

      The business would be worth a lot of money.

    9. SB

      Are you a billionaire? (laughs)

    10. MD

      Uh, on paper, yeah. But, I mean, in my actual bank account, I have less than a million dollars, so... (laughs)

    11. SB

      Do you pay yourself at all?

    12. MD

      A little bit, but I also, like, I have some assistants and things like that, so it's, like, I try to just pay myself what I spend o- you know, personally a month, just to, like, stay even.

    13. SB

      How, how do you, how do you think about money in all of this? 'Cause most, most people in their lives are pursuing money so that they can chill out and retire, but you seem to be pursuing it purely for the sake of in- reinvesting it back into the system.

    14. MD

      Of course. Money is fuel to grow a business.

    15. SB

      And then you make money from the business, and then-

    16. MD

      To keep growing. Yeah, and then you, you find a business that you enjoy that, you know, is better for mother nature or earth or people, and there you go, you have a fulfilled life. That's my theory. I just don't... When I'm 70, I don't wanna look back and have regrets, you know?

    17. SB

      When is enough, enough? Such a cliché question that I'm asked a, a lot.

    18. MD

      Enough, like, building the business? Never. I mean, I just wanna keep... Like, building a business is like a video game. It's, it's just fun, you know?

  26. 1:02:49 – 1:03:44

    When Is Enough, Enough?

    1. MD

      Like, with Feastables right now, um, you know, we're the largest ethically-sourced chocolate company in America, and, like, it's just fun to, like, look at something that's been done the same way for 100 years and go, "How do we just flip this on its head and fuck up this industry?" And, you know, "How can we pay our farmers a living income?" You know, not use child labor, et cetera, et cetera. And so it's like, you know, I think if I was just doing mundane things like everyone else, probably, I probably would be bored as fuck. If I would just sold chocolate like everyone else, made the same repetitive YouTube videos like everyone else, I probably would be like, "All right. Get me outta this. I wanna retire." But it's not what we're doing. Like, we're changing industries. We're impacting the world. Like, this, this is the point of life, in my opinion.

    2. SB

      You could do so much with the gazillion people that lis- listen and watch your videos. You could, like, start almost any business and it be successful.

    3. MD

      Yeah.

    4. SB

      You could have almost any social impact-

    5. MD

      Yeah.

    6. SB

      ... and it be profound and save a gazillion people's lives. Do you, do you struggle with focus?

    7. MD

      Uh,

  27. 1:03:44 – 1:04:29

    Does MrBeast Struggle With Focus?

    1. MD

      hmm, no. I mean, I do wonder, you know, sometimes should we be doing more? But I, I've really found a good groove with Feastables and very... I keep looking over there 'cause of Feastables sitting over there.

Episode duration: 1:43:14

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