Create the Containers
Reshape real work so useful content emerges with no extra production time
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 98%
Create the Containers is a calendar-and-capture method for turning existing expertise into content. First identify the moments where the expert naturally gives their clearest answers, such as team training, mentoring, or Q&A. Then redesign those moments slightly so useful questions arise and the answers make sense beyond the room. Record the real activity with a lightweight setup and repurpose it afterward. The work remains useful even if no clip is published; content is a byproduct rather than a staged replacement. Martell calls the result “net time no extra time”: the creator does not bolt a second job onto the calendar but improves the form of work already being done.
Origin
Martell credited Sam with noticing which real situations produced his best material and restructuring his calendar and youth sessions to make those moments easier to capture.
Core principles
- 01The best raw material often already exists in daily work
- 02A small structural change can make expertise understandable to outsiders
- 03Capture should serve the real activity rather than replace it
- 04Net time beats adding another production block
How to run it
- 1
Find high-signal moments
Review normal work and locate situations where useful teaching, decisions, or answers already emerge. Favor activities that have value even without an audience.
Pro tip Ask colleagues when you are most useful or quotable.
Watch out Do not manufacture scenes that undermine the real purpose of the activity.
- 2
Reshape the container
Adjust the agenda or setting so participants can surface stronger questions. Preserve the underlying outcome while making the exchange easier to understand.
Pro tip Use a short teaching block followed by Q&A when that suits the activity.
Watch out Content needs must not crowd out the people the session is meant to serve.
- 3
Prompt broadly useful questions
Ask participants for genuine questions that would also apply to others in similar situations. This creates relevance without scripting fake dialogue.
Pro tip Have direct reports write five questions they truly need answered.
Watch out Overly internal questions will lack context for viewers.
- 4
Capture the real exchange
Record with a phone or fixed camera while the normal work happens. Keep the setup unobtrusive and reliable.
Pro tip Automate saving footage to a shared folder.
Watch out Secure consent and exclude confidential discussions.
- 5
Answer for both audiences
Give the participant a useful answer while supplying enough context for an outsider. Remove unexplained references to internal events or people.
Pro tip Restate the general problem before answering.
Watch out Do not make a broad answer so generic that it stops helping the person in the room.
- 6
Repurpose the output
Extract self-contained clips from the captured session and distribute them. The creator's additional time should remain close to zero.
Pro tip Let an editor handle clipping once the capture habit is stable.
Watch out If repurposing repeatedly interrupts the core work, the container needs redesigning.
In the wild
A CEO asks five direct reports to bring questions they genuinely need answered. A fixed camera records the meeting, and the CEO restates each issue in broadly applicable terms before responding. The team gets useful leadership guidance, while an editor later turns the answers into standalone clips.
→ One existing meeting produces both internal value and a library of credible content.
Martell's team changed a youth event from mostly teaching into a shorter lesson followed by questions. Participants were invited to ask the life, habit, or business question they would raise in a coffee shop. The answers helped the young people directly and also produced broadly useful clips.
→ The redesigned event generated stronger participation and highly viewed educational content.
Common mistakes
Adding a second job
Scheduling large extra recording blocks defeats the leverage of capturing work that already happens.
Leaving out context
Internal shorthand makes an answer unusable to viewers who were not in the room.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for leaders, coaches, and specialists whose meetings, teaching, or mentoring already contain valuable explanations.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when the underlying work is confidential or when participants cannot give informed recording consent.
From the transcript
“Sam calls it creating the containers”
“write down five questions that you really need me to answer but ask it in a way that would be broadly applicable to other people”
“I call it net time no extra time”
From the episode
Episode 439: Dan Martell: How to Master Your Time and Turn it into Wealth Today
Dan Martell