Deep Work, Atomic Habits, 4-Hour Work Week... I find it amusing that the people who claim to read 100+ books a year only talk about the same books... over and over again
As a person that does read that much I always laugh at how obvious it is that they are lying, I have forgotten more titles than they ever remembered to begin with….😂 they really do repeat those same books as if there aren’t any better ones out there which is just hilarious
The funny thing is he made a video about how he reads a lot of books every year, only for the video to say he doesn't really read. I forgot exactly what he said he did, but it was kind of like a summary of what the book is about and he was getting called out in the comments
Once this guy gets married and has kids, (if that ever happens that is), all this crap he spouts will go out of the window. Imagine watching Frozen with your kid and skipping it to get to the “interesting” bits. “Gee, thanks dad”. Money is such a huge motivator for this guy, he’s quite arrogant as well. Watched a few of his videos and I’m always left feeling like an idiot, not good for my mental health.
I stopped feeling any kind of admiration I had for this guy when I realized how his ideas are a total delusion for poor people like, when he said that you could study on holidays because there's "nothing to do", my dude some of us have to work WHILE studying, you really think everyone is resting when we have "free time"? And I actually wasn't aware of his "productive" way of watching TV, as a film lover, future film student and someone whose DREAM is to work in that industry that was my last straw.
It seems his general advice might always be tailored for those with little time, such as his original audience of medical students. He just doesn't announce that it's specific to them since it would likely cut off a large majority of his viewers.
There is no hack/no shortcut to achieving your goals. You have to do the hardwork. These people so called GURUs, they start flaunting with their Apple environment devices and tells you what you should do, believe me they just mean to sell their courses. First they will make you think - they will make everything easier for you- 'How to plan', 'How to study', 'How to memorize'...etc. and then when you start following them they will trap you with the thing the want you to see, thing that will make you involved with their videos and make you more comfortable with consuming material rather than doing the actual hardwork. Back in 2019 I also started following them, was trapped, was feeling bad at the begining that why I do not have what they were having or doing. Believe me you need a proper vision, determination and hard work. If you need any support you may watch one or two videos, if it doesn't work talk to therapist. Just don't believe anyone just because they frame themselves as Gurus. --You are listening this from a Doctor who is about to complete his MD within next 6 months, ground his ass to learn coding to make Ai-Based Computer Vision Software for disease diagnosis for his thesis. Remember one thing - If you want to accomplish anything - you need VISION, DETERMINATION and HARD WORK. Period!
I used to watch some of this guy's videos but at times when he only gave useful advice on how to do certain things. I didn't notice it degenerated to a point where he even skips "boring" or "irrelevant" parts of movies, like wtf. Imagine skipping the quiet parts in 2001 Space Odyssey or whatnot, Kubrick would be turning over in his grave. And congratulations to 800 subs! Nice to see your channel growing. Keep up the good work :)
I do that too, but not because of him. I find some movie scenes are pretty boring and irrelevant. It could be in 30 mins but they end up in 2 hours. I don't like Easton my time watching those kinds of things. I would rather skip the part and get to the good ones.
felt the same way!! I feel like some of his habits/practices suck the "human-ness'" out. But I had watched a video fo his where he was talking about always being more of a robotic/un-charismatic person so maybe thats why this kind of hyper-productive stuff is so natural to him?
Generally, following the same line of thinking, it wouldn't be surprising for this guy to announce 'art if useless'. It is frightening to think some people follow his beliefs
Gosh. Thank you SO much for this video. I honestly thought I was the only one who thought there was something a little off about Ali's channel. As a South Asian, I honestly feel like this toxic sense of productivity can be so damaging to our self worth. We have to constantly be doing something to feel like we are worthy or enough. It's something that I am currently fighting and it's one of the reasons I started my YT channel as well. I burnt out and ultimately quit my job.. and now I'm trying to unlearn all of this toxicity to live a more happy and fulfilling life without working myself to the bone. I appreciate you so much!
@@fr0nzp not as much misinterpreted as much as repackaged to become a functional philosophy to nuture the status quo and derive meaning from, without questioning, hardship. It’s oftentimes used to reinforce the idea that one should prevail through hardship, and such action gives both the hardship and the resilience meaning. The problem is, oftentimes this works well to fundament relationships of oppression and exploitation, which is rather convenient. Stoicism searches for meaning in life, that meaning is constructed around an array of values and practices, not just blind endurance, and certainly not meaningless endurance. Stoic philosphy does not encourage the pursuit of financial success at the expense of the present, relationships and etc. Neither it deems unfazed-ness at hardship as a value in onto itself: the stoic demeanor is a reflection of one’s inner tranquility, it doesn’t go the other way around. Of course stoics were not obsessed with productivity. To stoics, their philosophy was most certainly not a method to be a better worker or a more shrewd money maker, quite the contrary: Stoicism is a pre-capitalist philosophy and as such there is no Concept of plus-value or commodity fetishism. The relationship between work and worker was vastly different back then. Books like “the obstacle is the way” do not aclimate or even acknowledge this differences and present stoic demeanor and disposition as the whole philosophy. This books constitute the repackaging and gutting I’m talking about, at large this books are marketed towards entrepreneurs as well as middle and lower classes and the like. They (the books) constitute part of this whole new hustle culture, making stoicism the the validation of suffering and extreme inequality.
@@Abdul-bk5fj I concur that most people aren't stupid as to not understand what is and what isn't meaningless hardship. Maybe tell that to the people who enjoy taking cold showers at 5 am for no other reason than to develop strength of character or resilience. I am not making an argument, I am making an observation regarding how the philosophy of stoicism has been re-appropriated by capitalist ideals and how the whole process has been inverted: the value of stoicism as a practice has migrated from the values and practices it upheld (piety, acceptance, etc) towards the disposition presented as stoic and how such disposition is important for task completion (or goal achievement). I don’t think you understand exactly what my point is, and that is Ok, I’m not having a discussion about stoicism and capitalist philosophies with someone who acts as a snotty brat and doesn’t quite understand what these books and ideas about “hustle” are coming to be. also, who is “we”, who else are you talking about? also, please, don’t insult me. it makes you look bad.
@@tawseeftaher9109 never said not to make money, forget travelling to france, we need to do that to live. What I did say is that productivity shouldnt invade every aspect of your life and its very sad that in this capitalist society productivity has become fetishized to the point where so many people seem interested in "maximizing the efficiency" of leisurely activities, you know, the stuff youre actually supposed to enjoy and the reason you seem to want to make money in the first place.
@@nehemiastoro3406 money isnt everything u re right but its one of the most important thing in life and point is less work more money.Watch it take some effective techniques and leave if you watch all the time same videos and try to do all thing then it become toxic productivity so problem is not ali abdaal problem is your mind
As someone who's studying the same course as Ali did (Medicine at Cambridge), I can't help but wonder how big of a factor that course was. Simply put, the uni likes to heap impossible amounts of work on you during term time, so there's a very strong drive to maximize your productivity. Even on my summer holidays, I found myself slipping into the 'must start working' mindset occasionally. Add that onto the stress of being a UA-cam star, and it's all too possible to see how productivity could have taken a pathological turn for him. Anyways, great video :)
It's about time we call out this toxic hustle culture. It's draining us, not only physically but emotionally as well. Every little form of recreation seems like a waste of time. You get emotionally distressed and burned out. A toxic dystopia meant to serve only those with authority whose only aim is to generate profits.
unfortunately There's Just too Many People who try to get you on there learning band wagon. I didn't like Iman gadzhi or Andrew tate much. But I did like Ali. I just took the crazy stuff with a Pinch of solt. I have without a doubt got value from it. New Books to read. Apps to check out. A way to start youtube and That kind of thing. Typing fast seems Confusing. I don't see aProblem with it but I also think it's a Bit over kill. His Inbox Thing was Absolutely out the window. But some of the other things I did get some value from. I'd say. Just try things that sound enjoyable to you. Enjoy them to your Hearts content. If it doesn't quite work. You can really just start something else you enjoy. Maybe people need Relaxed Productivity where you're not constently Tired and bord of work and Rooteen. I don't know what anyone needs. I just enjoy the content take what I learn lieve and go and enjoy myself playing drums. Learning about my Religion and trying to code cool things
Sadly most of the things you said in this video are true. He let other people work as volunteers for managing his discord server and the first one from 2019 ended up dying because the volunteers got no rights for managing the server and weren´t able to reach him and his team members for several months. His content has changed a bit since moving to London as I guess he learned the lesson that productivity itself doesn´t make you happy. But I think creativity is still something missing in his content. Maybe it´s time for a follow up video about him ? One example for missing creativity: In one of his Skillshare videos Thomas Frank intervied him about his video creation process. There Ali admitted that he rarely wrote the scripts himself, but mostly only gives an idea and an employe does most of the work, he only edits a few phrase before filming. Thomas was so shocked about that you could see that it was hard for him to stay polite, but he asked "Where is your creative contribution to the process?" I didn´t know the answer anymore, but honestly it felt like he tried to get out of danger with some very general phrases.
I’m shocked since Ali seems to take all if not most of the credit for his videos. I don’t know if this is still true though because I stopped watching him over a year ago.
I think this is only a problem if you hero-worshipped the guy in the first place or think there is something inherently superior about rich or successful people. Luckily I don't have that problem so Im okay with A.A. being an 'incomplete' human also. If he hasn't paid others enough that is a problem. The thing that is blatant is he has succeeded by re-selling (repackaged) others work, ie their book 'content'. Its a kind of parasitic ecosystem but hopefully mutually beneficial for the original authors.
Dareios, thanks so much for doing this. This kick back against the hustle culture is necessary. We're human animals, doing human things at human speed. No-one needs to "optimise" our lives for productivity, for god's sake. Our lives, and our lifespan, are all we have.
Ali's focus on speed is of course really offensive. But there are sooooome aspects about that productivity-universe that actually help you in everyday-situations, I'd say. For example, I think that "Deep Work" is an actual good book. I hate "hustle culture" almost as much as alt-right-culture though.
@@fr0nzp You're a good human Dareios. I'm really, truly, loving your work. I don't know about Deep Work. I just think that Millenials and Gen Z have to work in a way that my generation (X) didn't quite have to and I can't offer anything except a vague, lame solidarity.
Watching him skipping around Hunter x Hunter hurt me deep in my soul. It's my favourite anime, and even if brilliant, the story is not the end all be all, the characters (how can you really appreciate them like that?) the music, the techniques used, and simply the flow of it all are the things that make it whole. He seems to have no real appreciation for art and entertainment. Honestly it is worthless for him to watch any kind of entertainment or read because he gets like maybe 1/4 of the overall experience. How can one think that every breathing moment should be productive? That kind of mindset just leads to depression and burnout.
That one video (which has now been made private) actually turned me off his content completely and really gave me the necessary shake to contemplate why I am bothering with 'productivity' in the first place. I would go as far as to say I'm grateful for the fact he released that video.
I’m sure it took you a while to write such a thoughtful comment but I thank you for it. You hit the nail on the head in every paragraph. I always point to the Family Guy episode of Wish It Want It Do It because it shows just how easy it is to become a best seller by “writing” a self help book. Most of the ones I’ve read say the same thing in different ways and people eat it up because they’re made hungry by the people like the subject of this video. I especially like how you mentioned about being self aware and how often we don’t even take our own advice. Kudos :)
2:13 my boy be disrespecting hxh, that shit is so good. Every second of that anime is useful man, you skip character building, world building and like 90% of the content this way. At that point you could just watch a compilation video on youtube lul. Really liked ali adbdaal but this is just dumb, this does make me want to rewatch hxh though
I genuinely was stuck in a loophole of watching his videos and I can’t deny how successful he sounds sells well and unfortunately I forgot what I want to do in my life and my goals, I watched one video then another. Thank you 🙏🏻 it is insane how ridiculous this is, I appreciate your video and it really opened my mind.
Sometimes you just need to use your brains logic and reasoning. Not sure what this guy does with this hyperproductivity. He claims he's making ton of $$ .. but thats what it is.. claims. There are tons of fakes on UA-cam / IG etc. I hope Coffeezilla / Spencer Cornelia do a video on this moron. He was a doctor yesterday .. today he's a UA-camr ... and tomorrow he will be a naked clown giving financial advice lol All his videos has fake repeatitive comments from multiple fake accounts on many of his clickbait videos.
@@fr0nzp Honestly almost everything can be achieved by using audacity (free software) and knowing how to properly use an EQ, compressor etc. without overdoing it. Even a phone recording can sound good through that, while a decent mic obviously helps a lot
There's this weird American mentality that glorifies mindless consumption of content only to benefit your most basic needs. Art isn't for that. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this
The absolute irony of it all is he would a lot more productive and have time to watch tv properly if he didn't spend so much time creating recycled content.
Thank you! It’s funny because even though some of the studying advice and general productivity tips have had a very positive impact on my life, I absolutely agree with all the other shit being completely obsessive and downright weird. - He talks about how everyone has the same amount of time and if you do something, that’s you choosing not to make time. Forget poor working class people who have to work double shifts, they’re just ‘choosing’ not to be productive. - his insistence on “skipping boring parts in lectures” is absolutely infuriating. As well as the speed reading and shit. The cultural landscape that must be his mind…. - the churning out low-grade garbage (cooking productively/ being stoic / sleeping productively). Dude is a great example of how you can start with good intentions and just be corrupted by fame and money.
I'm going to be brutally honest. Ali Abdaal is a genius, but not the type of Genius you want to be inspired by. He's manipulative with his words and with those around him. As someone who's spoken to both Elizabeth and his brother, I think it should be said that he knows how to pull his words off. I think it's unfair to those around Ali, such as Elizabeth. I know Elizabeth is genuine, but I can't speak for Ali's brother since I've had very few conversations regarding Ali's ethics. Elizabeth is a nice and caring person, it's clear she wants to help people and you can tell that from the time she's spent on her videos. I think it sucks for Elizabeth since she's been wound up in a scandal when she meant well. I feel like I should also mention Ali as a person. Ali isn't a "Fraudster" in person, I have to say that. But online, it's clear that he's two-faced and it's gotten to a point where there's no benefit as a viewer to watching his content. To Ali, the viewer is seen as Watch-time rather than an actual person, which I personally think is quite alienating. I think I should also bring up how Ali isn't as productive as he claims. I don't mean to stab him in the back since he could definitely take action for what people say, but Ali is like a majority of people on Earth. Ali knows he's unproductive, the things you see in videos are rare occasions and are set up to mislead the audience into believing Ali has this flashy healthy lifestyle, which is just false.
@@sadburai1She's associated with Ali's shady business practices. This is very damaging to her reputation especially since she didn't even take part in the said practices.
I have searched for keywords about ali abd44l many months before but I've never found content critical of him. There's a certain air from his content that's sooo off but I couldn't put a finger on it. Apparently, I've been chasing 'productivity' (as an ADHD person) all while the popular creators like him have descended to a toxic level deep into hustle culture. Ugh
Ha me too. For being such a huge public figure, the little amount of critique weirded me out as well. There is a gigantic thread on a forum called „tattle life“ (I got banned after I replied to someone posting my video there tho. FUCK) that Ali even addressed in his podcast. However, there is lots of unfair criticism over there that even slightly veers into racist territoriy. I guess people refrain from criticizing UA-camrs as long as they‘re not actively polarizing explicitly. Under this video, lots of people from Ali’s bubble have berated me for putting out criticism at all. Welp
I’ve noticed today how toxic and fake these “productivity” and “self-help” gurus are. I’ve always struggled with social anxiety, and back to the beginning of the year, I was at the lowest point of my life, and I watched plenty of videos of how to overcome social anxiety from those people and just made it worst because what they teach you is what you want to listen, not what’s effective. You can’t just overcome it by changing your mindset, or being positive about yourself, it's a much more deep issue that has plenty of causes, and a step-by-step video just makes you feel more and more depressed because you compare yourself to their perfect and fake lives. One of the things that made me feel better was, besides therapy, quitting watching self-help videos, they are addictive and terrible for our mental health.
It’s a personal mission to overcome, therapy is massively if not the most important. I find his videos very useful but I could understand why people wouldn’t, I definitely wouldn’t use productivity videos to overcome my anxiety issues. It is all about changing mindset, but that can only come from therapy and self work.
My mom sent me videos that basically said "your social anxiety is just you being a coward lazy ass. Just talk to people for fuck sake 😒". It didn't help me. Just like you it made me even more ashamed and depressed. Today I am feeling better (for both my social anxiety and my depression). You know what helped me ? Not these online know-it-all UA-camrs, but cognitive behavioral therapy with a psychologist and psychiatrist. I think it's important to get help from professional who know the subject. Nobody would ask their baker to cure their cancer ...
Yes I can relate, though I have watched productivity videos a long time they didn’t do that much for me until I actually overcame the other hurdles in my life. Then when I overcame them these videos sometimes had worthwhile information but unfortunately most of them are just fluff content:/ One I recently saw and thought was actually genuine and really helped me: ua-cam.com/video/XqdDMNExvA0/v-deo.html I guess if productivity videos are good or bad is a lot more nuanced than the simple genre and with many things aiming for perfection is pretty evil…
Joao, don’t listen to anyone. Just do what you like to do and find the strong ‘why’ reason behind it. Only thing that’s right is what works for you and what makes you happy and your life convenient. Logics alone does not consider all life’s parameters. Solution which works for one doesn’t need to work for you.
He says he's completely focused on being productive. At what? Saying this is a waste of time? He's trying to be a full lifestyle person. Your "productivity" will improve if you don't watch him. It seems like a grift to me. Will his book cut out all the wordy parts?
You are absolutely right. At the end it’s all about the money. 😂 I feel sorry for young people who may believe they will become the next big thing on UA-cam following this type of neurotic emptiness. Ali is a strange case of success… super smart guy, ambitious but… there’s a lot missing too… We are all learning and improving. 😉
I had a lot of respect for him until he downgraded the direct impact made by doctors and put investment bankers donating to charity on a higher pedestal. When you save more than supposedly 7-8 lives, during a pandemic as FY1 aka Intern doctor by administering life saving drugs, making a diagnosis at the right time, assisting in an emergency surgery and putting in tracheostomy tubes; such a statement is like a punch in the gut & downright hurtful!
This thing has been addressed a couple of times already, and if I ever do a follow-up to this video, I will certainly include it. The whole calculation is just stupid as fuck.
Good that you brought up the investment bankers. The dude doesn't know how to invest to save his life, and yet, he gives financial advice. Better listen to Warren Buffett. And no, he hasn't accumulated that much money because he loses quite a bit from stupid investments.
It is interesting, i think viscerally I agree with the concept that it sounds bad to “put down” doctors. Ive not heard his videos much about this to know if he did or not. In reality though its about the “level” or “type” of impact one can achieve with a job For example - a person can save 7-8 lives (plus much paper work, team work together on lives, admit and discharges, busy work etc) in a year as a doctor. Most doctors have minimal spare time and not financially compensated much (esp in UK) to use the money for the second option below. Other option is you are a desk worker like a successful youtuber - make a lot of money, and use that money to donate to charity (or create your own). Your money could contribute to public health programs that lead to millions of kids saved - you may not directly do this but it is indirect and you have the means to do this with a job like Investment Banking. Its all about the type of impact The other fact is, if privileged enough to have a choice, whatever choice you make there will always be someone else of the 7 billion in the world to take the place of the other option (eg if one opts to leave medicine for business, then someone else will likely replace them in the hole left in medicine Less money oriented, this is the same calculus made by doctors who leave hospital medicine to work in Public Health such as at the WHO, they never treat a patient one to one again but may have the chance to have wider public impact
I can't thank you enough for this video. We need more videos critical of "productivity gurus" just like there are plenty of videos nowadays critical of "get rich quick gurus". Unfortunately, Ali's videos (and others like him) prey on people who have actual problems with procrastination and think that there is some magical formula that would cure all of their problems, I know this because I used to be one of those people. I'm not saying Ali is doing this intentionally, but it doesn't help that his videos have clickbaity titles and their content is repetitive af, and all of this is to generate more revenue out of his yt channel. What I came to realize after a long period of research and contemplation that being disciplined and productive - which is what these gurus are all about - comes down to very few basic and obvious principles. You don't need to read 10 books or get a one-month course or what have you to "overcome" procrastination. But of course, Ali and other gurus' income depends exactly on videos of such content, so there is no hope that they'll tell their audience that.
It will be interesting to skim his book if he ever finishes it. I will go on the record to state that he will not finish it because he essentially has nothing to write, and he knows that. There is something darker lurking in him that he doesn't want to confront, and that is where the real book is, and a good one, but he doesn't want to deal with those issues.
@@fr0nzp Mr. Abdaal is turning himself into quite an interesting social experiment, as have many others, but Abdaal's self-experimentation has peculiar twists: tacitly resentful parent-pleasing quirky outcast nerd to reconstructed American Psycho. Even if this conjecture is untrue, someone needs to make the movie.
@@fr0nzp He gets disillusioned quickly. It happened with medicine, and I expect it to happen with the social media influencing game. His body language and facial expressions evoke an increasing level of performative discomfort. Because he is intelligent, confronting his own bullshit will increasingly cause existential crises. This will not disappear with Invisalign, Lasik surgery, rhinoplasty, and Rogaine.
I primarily read fiction and I’m a slow reader which is something I’ve always been a little self conscious about. I recently picked up a non fiction book and it’s crazy how fast you blaze through it. Turns out I’m not a slow reader, I just really enjoy reading and appreciating a work not consuming information as fast as I can like a robot.
I get your point and I agree with some bits. But Ali has really had a positive impact on my life. His videos, especially the ones on study tips have improved my life by leaps and bounds. As for the part time youtuber academy, I have heard him say there's nothing in that course that you can't find on the internet for free. He's transparent about it. And the comments and videos of his students is part of his workshop. Apart from that, I like your critique of him disregarding art. I think he's emotionally stunted and can't understand art. Nice video, btw.
Thanks - I haven‘t read about Ali‘s description of the academy. I think you‘d agree that the website does not advertise the course as if it‘s just some general knowledge you can pick up on the internet. I mean, if you take part in something like that, it certainly boosts your productivity (argh) and accountability in terms of putting out videos frequently. However, I don‘t think it should be „part of the workshop“ to force people to write comments and give them false validation - and hope. The approach just not organic and mirrors his disregard of art in a multitude of ways.
This guy is a show-off, but packages it in giving "advice." He enjoys showing the world how much money he makes. Many self-help gurus are like that: using their advice videos as a covert way to boast. Cole Hastings for example takes every opportunity to show off his physique.
The more videos I watched the more he started seeming more like a productive robot than a human being. I feel like he needs to take a break, sit back and relax for a little while. Touch some grass. Breathe.
Not to mention how they all make you feel incredibly shit about yourself. He recently had a dyselxic on his podcast who says he listens to audiobooks at 4x speed and basically downloads the information, retaining all of it. That fucked with me for awhile. Anyway didnt realize he was toxic just thought I was stupid so thanks for calling him out!
I'm oddly frustrated by a story and choices like Ali's. I guess I just fine it very sad that a capable person finds it more appealing to leave an important and valuable career like medicine (when people are queuing round the block to become doctors, there is a huge need and which cost the country >£250,000 to train him) to spew out increasingly bad ideas and become head of a pyramid scheme of creating more youtubers videos. Not sure how it's possible to disincentive this.
Not trynna defend ali in particular, what's wrong in changing career or joining university for brand value? People do it all the time in different industries or careers. People become doctors for fame, money, status and some only for passion, even if people become doctors cause of passion they still work in corporate hospitals n not in some ngo moreover majority of doctors keep increasing their fees even after making good ROI and achieving financial independence
@@cbazxy2697 "Credibility" is the key word here. I've seen a lot of "quitting the medical field/as a doctor to be an influencer" stories, and they usually end up being a joke later on. Imagine having a high-status occupation (doctor) and being downgraded to a social media marketing person. When he or these folks abandon the Dr. title, no one will take them seriously or actively seek him for medical career advice. Asking a person who quit medic seems less reasonable today, when there are so many doctors out there working their tails off to save lives; doctors who commit over 30 years to their craft are undoubtedly wiser than Ali. Even a common doctor is more respected than a rich, successful businessman or engineer. However, being an ex-doctor is a pity. Even ex-doctors would avoid using that title in real life due to the stigma, the weight associated with the profession.
@@fukunaga-kane your perspective is from those medical field for me i may not got to him for medical advice but i would respect him just like any other human (not if they loose it). Asking someone at a young to get in a career for rest of their life is just unfair.
@@cbazxy2697 So you seriously think there's nothing wrong with doctors getting into medicine to make money? That compromises the trust we have in them to protect public health. Money, resources, and time has been wasted on them that could be used to train good physicians that will save lives.
@@itsgonnabeanaurfromme personally i would like doctors who are passionate to treat me but that not the world we live in and it would be selfish for me to always expect that. They are humans too n they would have their own reasons why they choose this high paying career. As long as they charge reasonably and treat responsibly then i don't have any problem. There's not lot of doctors anyway (according to population)
9:08 damn, shows how privileged he is. People seem to not know he has always had money. Most medtubers do. He didn't MAKE a lot as a doctor but he had family money which is why he could do all that and start up.
I almost never comment, but thank you for this one! I have discovered Ali about a year ago and started to apply his hints and techniques about productivity. In some ways it helped, because I have improved my studying habits and started a new youtube channel, but over time I relized that his approach about "maximising productivity" can be dangerous and you can even feel a imprisoned in the cage of productivity. At the same time I don't agree with his quantitie over quality idea at all. I think, that when you don't pay attention on inovation and creativity of your conntent, you can make a hundreds of videos and waste plenty of time for no reason. Your video came to me at the right time!
Thank you stating this! I completely agree. I discovered him through study tips which actually did make university easier. But he started to switch and I unsubscribed. I think he may have gotten to big for himself and it shows via his videos.
The sentence “You can learn and ability, then you can then resell this this ability to others” is the best. That is the definition of getting a job 😂😂😂😂😂
Great video. Skillshare is such a scam and Ali is the posterboy of it. He's done a "jazz piano" class. Learning jazz piano from a part time doctor with no professional music training. Yeah okay.
Imagine somebody doesn't know jazz piano at all, and then they learn. It's painful for them because they don't know how to play or even where to begin. Now imagine they overcome that! They learn how to deal with the biggest hurdles. Then they explain it to you from the perspective of a beginner. That's the value of having your friend in class explain something to you instead of the teacher explaining it. The teacher can't really reach through to you. The professional has forgotten what it's like to be a beginner! But your friend, the person who also didn't understand, but then suddenly DID understand, they know what you're going through! They understand WHY you don't understand. So they explain it to you in a way that completely makes sense. They speak on your level. Suddenly, you get it. That's the value of peer-reviews and peer-partnerships in learning situations! And that is also why the beginner still also has something to offer to others. You are not useless until you become a professional, you are useful! Stay positive, friend. Best wishes :)
where do people like you come from? i want to find that place and move there. your critical mind cuts through the vapidity of the AA's . I raise my coffee to you. sub'd
I loved watching Ali when I was a grad student! I was encouraged by his tips for studying as he was in his residency. There is something incredibly off about his focus now and he doesn’t come off as genuine. It’s sad. It’s like a case study in something, but I don’t know what yet! The way he talks so fast now is insane and not as fun to listen to. If he had contact with real patients or community impact I feel like his channel would have more substance and natural creativity. His content without the relatable challenges of the “real world 9-5” job is quite strange to me now.
hey i know I’m a year late to the party, but thank you so much, so many of us have been stuck watching these videos as some weird form of addiction without being able to put our finger on what it was that felt so wrong about this lifestyle, it was a big relief to watch this and read all these comments, it has honestly made my day!
Thank you! A very important topic. You somehow managed to call him out on his bullshit whilst being respectful. The crucial thing to teach people is the their worth as a human is not linked to how much they can accomplish in a day, month or even year. They are already enough. I actually have a quote on my planner that says " Its ok not to do it all". This seems to be forgotten in hustle culture. Keep uploading, your videos are fantastic
I don't think I was respectful, I called him an asshole etc. - Glad you enjoy my content though. I can truly emphazise with your hustle culture approach, and I will do my next video in a month on this topic. Hope you'll like it =)
I have found with a lot of these courses they give away all of their content in the free stuff, you just have to do a better job of summarizing it. Very few creators hold out any special nuggets in any of their for-pay classes.
I am very grateful that I stumbled across this video. I got some helpful tips from him when He was still in medical school that greatly helped during my bachelor, and now for my upcoming master I wanted to see what new stuff He brought out. Just so See that his entire channel became a scamshow
Ali provides some excellent advice here and there. But if you follow his channel for too long, you start to wonder: how did geniuses like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs alter the world without the boatload of productivity apps that Ali claims to use every day? I mean, after seeing his "My Productivity System (2023)," I felt like I'd need another app to figure out which app I'd used to do what and where to get my data.
Always noticed he sort of sighs when he talks about his course and academy (which doesn't inspire me). He's also made a video recently saying how essentially he's fed up of the cohort he runs. Basically, he blew up fast and burnt out. Now he knows the finance niche makes the most money (higher cpm) so mostly talks in that niche. Interesting to see a little behind the scenes of the youtuber academy. I also teach on skillshare and work my balls off to make Amazing results based freelancing and video editing courses, so it sucks to see him uploading youtube videos. Shameful
He does not have the patience, grit and determination to serve as a doctor in the NHS in these trying times hence what better way to mint money than if you can do it by vomiting crap.
He was great when he started out, but just went down the rabbit hole to get to the extremes of this productivity niche to extract as much cash as possible. Sad but expected
Ali is no doubt hustling and scamming people. This guy literally just watches or does courses online then changes a few things around and because he feels so guilty he says read books like steal like an artist to justify his internal guilt. He is definitely a very intelligent person(genius etc) no doubt about that but he never wanted to be a doctor. This dude was chasing money and charging freaking $5000 for his youtube course just to tell you to make one video a week have better thumbnails have a catchy title outsource editing wow what a miracle. You could get this information for free on youtube think media and a whole lot of other people. Problem is people are too lazy to research so they see this guy as a god of productivity. Can you imagine Bill gates taking out his apple watch when an idea comes to him and recording that on his apple watch letting that sync into notion wow so productive.
the problem about Productivity youtubers are 90 percent of them think it is "motivation problem"... like if you can't win against internet addiction. you are just lazy... no addiction is not that simple.
What your video teaches me again is to use your own brain and think hard about what you see and hear. Ali's videos have been an inspiration for me in a way but always with a grain of salt - me really thinking about if and how it would fit into my own set of goals, beliefs, workflows whatsoever... Thanks for this beautifully sarcastic and mind-opening video.
I think he started off as a decent youtuber. But in course of time, his arrogance and total lack of appreciation of art made him this mindless, cringy person to look at. So accordingly to him sitting alone at a hilly station admiring the beauty of nature would be a complete "non-productive" venture which to people like me is calming and can actually have a productive stimuli for downstream tasks. Although I respect that different people has different definitions of "productivity" is arrogance and the sheer way of how he speaks (at like 2x) irritates me these days. I used to be one of his subscribers, then I unsubscribed and asked youtube not to recommend his videos any more.
What always put me off was how it seemed all the things he ever read or consumed was purely just to increase productivity/ability to produce. Maybe I have too much of a stick up my ass when I say this but that kind of thing seems soulless. I'm all for self-help but at his level he seems to be consuming so much content , but stripped of any artistic merit.
Okay so I searched for Ali Abdaal critisicm like 2 years back when he stopped giving good advise and I found myself in a bad place after purchasing one life changing thing after another and still I was not typing 100+ wpm. I was upset. It started to dawn on me that maybe it doesn't matter how fast I type but what I actually type also matters, for everything else in my life it felt like I was chasing something. That search was still on the cache today when I was searching for something else it came up and I thought of giving that a try again. All of those things which were inside my mind you made a video out of it. It was like listening to an old friend and reconnecting with him after a long time. Thank you so much for taking time to make this video. and thank God I am not chasing productivity like the dog chases the running vehicles. I totally miss Love button on YT.
This is a wonderful video. I loved Ali when he started out - like you said, he was awkward, charming, relatable, and seemed to actually have a genuine desire to help students out. His more recent content though, has created a sense of unease in me that I couldn't put my finger on - but you did a really good job of highlighting the icky direction he has taken recently. However, I think you're a bit unfair to him here and there. For one, there are several videos where he admits that he possesses a certain level of privilege and acknowledges that there are people whose circumstances might hold them back. Secondly, I think it's a bit unfair to accuse him of toxic productivity. While I admit that people who watch his videos might descend into toxic productivity, many of Ali's tips are actually useful in reducing stress and preventing burnout. At the end of the day, he is disseminating information that people have the freedom to either accept or reject. I admit that that information is now becoming repetitive and recycled, but they remain useful nonetheless. He also quite explicitly says that several of his "techniques" such as watching movies at 2x speed is not something that you NEED to do but rather something you COULD do to save time IF you have the same disposition as he does. He is quite clear that this is merely a personal preference and that it's perfectly valid to have a different preference. Compared to many many other "productivity gurus", Ali is actually more transparent and self-aware than most, so I'll give him credit where credit is due. However, every type of content needs criticism to help people be more mindful of what they consume. Your video has helped me re-evaluate the way I consume Ali's content, so thank you for the effort you put into it.
Yes, I agree with you, too. Many things he says are actually quite useful and if you adapt his tips into your own way of thinking in your own language - if it seems useful to you - why refrain from whatching his videos. This video here is ace though 🤙🏽
I agree with this. I dont know why this video and callout on him specifically makes some of the comments here turn their distaste into ALL productivity culture and content. Which is just like everything, free for you to reject or accept. Whether you were influenced by it or not.
So many "gurus" just repeat the most generic quoted statements about general productivity and motivation and people preach it as gospel. And i hate that. That's why i love self aware and transparent creators like struthless, better ideas. And maybe ali himself included. I've found a couple of his videos to be very helpful, some generic but still had sensible points.
I think it’s a youth thing. I was like this when I was young. Read tons of self help nonsense, etc. Usually time gives you wisdom if you pay attention.
I don't comment on vids that often,.(as I'm too busy listening at 3.5x speed and being 10x productive),. But you knocked it out of the park with this one . Well done
You are absolutely right! The dude is hyper, speaks too fast, causes anxiety, inspires guilt, and his editing is terrible. I despise this abrupt editing with no transitions. His advice is mostly toxic indeed. He is a doctor, yet, he doesn't know that, if people turn into robots and don't take breaks, their bodies will take the breaks anyway, and it won't be pretty either.
I love this video so much! So sick of all these productivity UA-camrs making us feel like shit for not having the perfect routine or system. Ali is the worst. His videos are downright depressing and even scary. Like an episode of black mirror.
I think you really twisted his words out of context at 3:42ish. He was very clearly giving advice for people who have trouble getting motivated and started with reading. Many people feel obligated to start out with books they feel they *should* read, like classics, rather than just reading whatever they want. This can end up ruining the experience and put them off reading as a whole.
Eh, no. He was clearly dismissive by phrasing his disdain for classics like "some English majors tell you they enjoy it" - what would have been great is to recommend some classics that make it incredibly easy to start: Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, The Stranger...
Absolutely savage how you ripped him to shreds, but the in-depth analysis is amazing. I saw one video of his that I liked a year ago, subscribed, and then just saw one clickbait headline after the next. Very strange that a YT'er as big as him has.. no critique videos besides this one?
I literally start watching him a couple months ago and just recently noticed some of his titles and videos are repetitive and the same basically. Starting to see a cycle here. Kind of weirrrrd
I watch some of his videos because they are actually helpful but I’m not a robot where I’m like “ yes master Ali I’ll do just that” when it comes to “trying to read as much books as possible” I ask myself “but why?”. I just take the useful tips with me but I don’t follow word for word cause most of the things don’t apply to me. He is great but he shouldn’t be the only person whom you should be taking notes from.
He says he made a million dollars but all I see is someone making millions teaching productivity and achieving goes and writing yt scripts to teach it. He is a low key scammer getting rich teaching how to achieve goals and acting like he was already rich. He doesn't even talk about his doctor life and I think he stopped being a doctor to get rich off teaching productivity.
That's why I started my UA-cam channel to sort of counter this toxic productivity culture we have in general. I see it all around me in Oxford, in academia, internationally. While there is much to learn from Ali abdaal's channel, we should be talking about burnout, taking time off, and self-compassion. I discuss some of these things on my channel
I'm an estate management student and I do a little bit of architecture which is extremely tedious. I am also a video editor so I get gigs sometimes. There was a period when I used to sleep for just six hours a day or less because I was being "productive". It's so sad how I was proud of slowly killing myself.
I know the temptation in regards to reducing your sleep hours. Tried waking up at 5:00 AM sharp for a few weeks in order to "achieve" everything productively in the first hours of the day. Made my afternoons miserable.
I stopped consuming this kind of content when I watched a video about how to read faster...and it hits me, ya know? I'm a passionate reader, reading is a thing that literally saved my life, and seeing methods that make reading a method, a to-do list thing...just does not make sense and loses the meaning behind literature.
Most of his videos are stupid advice I'll be honest. If you're struggling with productivity, "5 minute rule" or "pomadora technique" isn't going to help you. The root of your problem is *mental health*. Something he doesn't emphasise because it doesn't give you much content.
hmmm not sure I agree. I think 5 minute rule and pomodoro technique actually help you achieving stuff, even though it's true that, first and foremost, mental health must be priority no. 1 when wanting to improve/work a lot.
He looks like the most simplistic version of the male. Everything has to be on a basic functional scale and has to be this way because its "logical". Complexity and depth is not something he has.
Why has this video been unlisted? I came across another one of Ali's dodgy videos and wanted to come back and watch this again. It took me ages to find the link
as any other coaching video. You watch, listen and decide what fits your life schedule or not. It is just an option! To optimize productivity is nothing bad. But to reserve time to relax, do nothing, watch wathever TV show you like (without speeding up ;-) is also important for your soul. There is nothing wrong with that too. Just avoid getting "over-coached" on the internet! ;-) Great day to you all!
Heres my comment, based on the start of the video: I believe that Ali is obsessed with productivity to an unhealthy extent, but that doesnt mean that what he talks about is wrong. For example, his "efficient" skincare routine was a great starting point for my skincare routine. Comment based on end of the video: I agree that the "productivity bro" community is toxic. But I believe Ali has moved away from incel territory. There are way worse actors in the space now too, like Andrew Tate, which make Ali seem like a beacon of hope. I think Ali should try to mellow out a bit, maybe go to therapy.
Very good video, research and explanation work, making a video that shows in a condensed and comprehensive way the problems that this youtuber and his business represent, I find it very impressive. I watched this guys videos last year because i was searching for tips to study in more effective way, and these videos (with other youtuber) were very usefull, and helped me. This year I did the same thing to see if there was some changement, but by looking at his channel i saw these productivity videos, I watched several of them thinking maybe it would help me before changing my mind as I found it useless as the videos went on. Fortunately I quickly stopped watching it, seeing this video I realise how absurd it is. I wasn't aware of these "how to watch series and anime productively" tips but I think this is the video that really shows how insane it is to push for sickly productivity, ruining the experience of watching a work just to save time? Just don't watch it x). The same goes for the "UA-cam Academy" or whatever it is, it really looks like the phony business training of some influencers who rely on the distress of some people to make money. I had a pretty good opinion of him since some of his study tips had helped me and I thought his new path on productivity was logical since he wasn't studying anymore and was now working, I don't know if he's doing it for profit or because he really thinks he's helping people (the part where he says he wants to move to Dubai with his business gives me a clue to the answer lol), with this video I realise how much he is not a respectable person. Again thank for your work !
Watching the wire in 2x speed is like speed running a museum because you’d rather be making money and being “productive” the off sourcing your work to others thing was what really got me. Like Ali you realize most of aren’t making Ali abdal kinds of money not have such freedoms.
Speeding through anime with your hands on adjusting playback speed!?!?!? That's just creepy, disrespectful, and unintuitive. If I wanted to skip a show but wanted to know the story, I just go to wikipedia and read the summary! And I can do that while I background task it at work.
Hey, some feed back. The PTYA part of the video was the strongest and I think should either have been at the start or even the full focus of the video. The “he speed watches anime” bit was a big bag of “who’s cares?” But the PTYA part was pretty damning. Subscribed :) Wait sorry I mean: Hahaha wow, great video! Some really good content 😎 😂 😂 Thanks for sharing!!!!!!
Deep Work, Atomic Habits, 4-Hour Work Week... I find it amusing that the people who claim to read 100+ books a year only talk about the same books... over and over again
🤣🤣🤣 so true
As a person that does read that much I always laugh at how obvious it is that they are lying, I have forgotten more titles than they ever remembered to begin with….😂 they really do repeat those same books as if there aren’t any better ones out there which is just hilarious
The funny thing is he made a video about how he reads a lot of books every year, only for the video to say he doesn't really read. I forgot exactly what he said he did, but it was kind of like a summary of what the book is about and he was getting called out in the comments
North Woods is incredible.
But did they mention that it's a hundred DIFFERENT books?
Once this guy gets married and has kids, (if that ever happens that is), all this crap he spouts will go out of the window. Imagine watching Frozen with your kid and skipping it to get to the “interesting” bits. “Gee, thanks dad”. Money is such a huge motivator for this guy, he’s quite arrogant as well. Watched a few of his videos and I’m always left feeling like an idiot, not good for my mental health.
:D be careful
Can't agree with this more. My mental health in grad school tanked after watching ali's videos
'insanely productive valentines day' oh my fucking god
I stopped feeling any kind of admiration I had for this guy when I realized how his ideas are a total delusion for poor people like, when he said that you could study on holidays because there's "nothing to do", my dude some of us have to work WHILE studying, you really think everyone is resting when we have "free time"? And I actually wasn't aware of his "productive" way of watching TV, as a film lover, future film student and someone whose DREAM is to work in that industry that was my last straw.
then you have to use your common sense that the advice is not for you
It seems his general advice might always be tailored for those with little time, such as his original audience of medical students. He just doesn't announce that it's specific to them since it would likely cut off a large majority of his viewers.
There is no hack/no shortcut to achieving your goals. You have to do the hardwork. These people so called GURUs, they start flaunting with their Apple environment devices and tells you what you should do, believe me they just mean to sell their courses. First they will make you think - they will make everything easier for you- 'How to plan', 'How to study', 'How to memorize'...etc. and then when you start following them they will trap you with the thing the want you to see, thing that will make you involved with their videos and make you more comfortable with consuming material rather than doing the actual hardwork. Back in 2019 I also started following them, was trapped, was feeling bad at the begining that why I do not have what they were having or doing. Believe me you need a proper vision, determination and hard work. If you need any support you may watch one or two videos, if it doesn't work talk to therapist. Just don't believe anyone just because they frame themselves as Gurus. --You are listening this from a Doctor who is about to complete his MD within next 6 months, ground his ass to learn coding to make Ai-Based Computer Vision Software for disease diagnosis for his thesis. Remember one thing - If you want to accomplish anything - you need VISION, DETERMINATION and HARD WORK. Period!
I used to watch some of this guy's videos but at times when he only gave useful advice on how to do certain things. I didn't notice it degenerated to a point where he even skips "boring" or "irrelevant" parts of movies, like wtf. Imagine skipping the quiet parts in 2001 Space Odyssey or whatnot, Kubrick would be turning over in his grave.
And congratulations to 800 subs! Nice to see your channel growing. Keep up the good work :)
ESPECIALLY for a show like The Wire. wow that makes my blood boil...
I do that too, but not because of him. I find some movie scenes are pretty boring and irrelevant. It could be in 30 mins but they end up in 2 hours. I don't like Easton my time watching those kinds of things. I would rather skip the part and get to the good ones.
@@aune6770 maybe you just dont have the attention span for movies in general :/ or are watching the wrong ones
felt the same way!! I feel like some of his habits/practices suck the "human-ness'" out. But I had watched a video fo his where he was talking about always being more of a robotic/un-charismatic person so maybe thats why this kind of hyper-productive stuff is so natural to him?
Generally, following the same line of thinking, it wouldn't be surprising for this guy to announce 'art if useless'.
It is frightening to think some people follow his beliefs
Gosh. Thank you SO much for this video. I honestly thought I was the only one who thought there was something a little off about Ali's channel. As a South Asian, I honestly feel like this toxic sense of productivity can be so damaging to our self worth. We have to constantly be doing something to feel like we are worthy or enough. It's something that I am currently fighting and it's one of the reasons I started my YT channel as well. I burnt out and ultimately quit my job.. and now I'm trying to unlearn all of this toxicity to live a more happy and fulfilling life without working myself to the bone. I appreciate you so much!
Thanks!
I cannot agree more. Actually, I LOVE South Asian videos because they are more, well, philosophical and teach you how to enjoy life.
As someone who has studied philosphy I'm apalled at how postmodern capitalism has repackaged and gutted stoicism
In which way is it misrepresented oftentimes?
@@fr0nzp not as much misinterpreted as much as repackaged to become a functional philosophy to nuture the status quo and derive meaning from, without questioning, hardship. It’s oftentimes used to reinforce the idea that one should prevail through hardship, and such action gives both the hardship and the resilience meaning.
The problem is, oftentimes this works well to fundament relationships of oppression and exploitation, which is rather convenient.
Stoicism searches for meaning in life, that meaning is constructed around an array of values and practices, not just blind endurance, and certainly not meaningless endurance. Stoic philosphy does not encourage the pursuit of financial success at the expense of the present, relationships and etc. Neither it deems unfazed-ness at hardship as a value in onto itself: the stoic demeanor is a reflection of one’s inner tranquility, it doesn’t go the other way around.
Of course stoics were not obsessed with productivity. To stoics, their philosophy was most certainly not a method to be a better worker or a more shrewd money maker, quite the contrary: Stoicism is a pre-capitalist philosophy and as such there is no
Concept of plus-value or commodity fetishism. The relationship between work and worker was vastly different back then.
Books like “the obstacle is the way” do not aclimate or even acknowledge this differences and present stoic demeanor and disposition as the whole philosophy. This books constitute the repackaging and gutting I’m talking about, at large this books are marketed towards entrepreneurs as well as middle and lower classes and the like. They (the books) constitute part of this whole new hustle culture, making stoicism the the validation of suffering and extreme inequality.
@@Abdul-bk5fj I concur that most people aren't stupid as to not understand what is and what isn't meaningless hardship. Maybe tell that to the people who enjoy taking cold showers at 5 am for no other reason than to develop strength of character or resilience. I am not making an argument, I am making an observation regarding how the philosophy of stoicism has been re-appropriated by capitalist ideals and how the whole process has been inverted: the value of stoicism as a practice has migrated from the values and practices it upheld (piety, acceptance, etc) towards the disposition presented as stoic and how such disposition is important for task completion (or goal achievement). I don’t think you understand exactly what my point is, and that is Ok, I’m not having a discussion about stoicism and capitalist philosophies with someone who acts as a snotty brat and doesn’t quite understand what these books and ideas about “hustle” are coming to be. also, who is “we”, who else are you talking about? also, please, don’t insult me. it makes you look bad.
Philosophy...
Sad!
@@Kenanalasadi8989 Nothing wrong with it
Its honestly sad, seeing people so obsessed with becoming money making machines that they miss out on actually enjoying their lives
without earning money, how will you enjoy life?
will it be possible to travel to france/dubai/germany/turkey etc. ?!
they're super expensive,bruh
@@tawseeftaher9109 never said not to make money, forget travelling to france, we need to do that to live. What I did say is that productivity shouldnt invade every aspect of your life and its very sad that in this capitalist society productivity has become fetishized to the point where so many people seem interested in "maximizing the efficiency" of leisurely activities, you know, the stuff youre actually supposed to enjoy and the reason you seem to want to make money in the first place.
@@nehemiastoro3406 gotcha
@@nehemiastoro3406 money isnt everything u re right but its one of the most important thing in life and point is less work more money.Watch it take some effective techniques and leave if you watch all the time same videos and try to do all thing then it become toxic productivity so problem is not ali abdaal problem is your mind
@@mcity6043 No, actually the problem is capitalism
As someone who's studying the same course as Ali did (Medicine at Cambridge), I can't help but wonder how big of a factor that course was. Simply put, the uni likes to heap impossible amounts of work on you during term time, so there's a very strong drive to maximize your productivity. Even on my summer holidays, I found myself slipping into the 'must start working' mindset occasionally. Add that onto the stress of being a UA-cam star, and it's all too possible to see how productivity could have taken a pathological turn for him.
Anyways, great video :)
It's about time we call out this toxic hustle culture. It's draining us, not only physically but emotionally as well. Every little form of recreation seems like a waste of time. You get emotionally distressed and burned out. A toxic dystopia meant to serve only those with authority whose only aim is to generate profits.
We can decide to tune out of it, but staying away from YT is challenging.
sure, stay a failure. ull never be remembered and u won't succeed. keep slacking off, that's who u rlly are.
unfortunately There's Just too Many People who try to get you on there learning band wagon.
I didn't like Iman gadzhi or Andrew tate much.
But I did like Ali.
I just took the crazy stuff with a Pinch of solt.
I have without a doubt got value from it.
New Books to read.
Apps to check out.
A way to start youtube and That kind of thing.
Typing fast seems Confusing.
I don't see aProblem with it but I also think it's a Bit over kill.
His Inbox Thing was Absolutely out the window.
But some of the other things I did get some value from.
I'd say.
Just try things that sound enjoyable to you.
Enjoy them to your Hearts content.
If it doesn't quite work.
You can really just start something else you enjoy.
Maybe people need Relaxed Productivity where you're not constently Tired and bord of work and Rooteen.
I don't know what anyone needs.
I just enjoy the content take what I learn lieve and go and enjoy myself playing drums.
Learning about my Religion and trying to code cool things
Sadly most of the things you said in this video are true. He let other people work as volunteers for managing his discord server and the first one from 2019 ended up dying because the volunteers got no rights for managing the server and weren´t able to reach him and his team members for several months. His content has changed a bit since moving to London as I guess he learned the lesson that productivity itself doesn´t make you happy. But I think creativity is still something missing in his content. Maybe it´s time for a follow up video about him ?
One example for missing creativity: In one of his Skillshare videos Thomas Frank intervied him about his video creation process. There Ali admitted that he rarely wrote the scripts himself, but mostly only gives an idea and an employe does most of the work, he only edits a few phrase before filming. Thomas was so shocked about that you could see that it was hard for him to stay polite, but he asked "Where is your creative contribution to the process?" I didn´t know the answer anymore, but honestly it felt like he tried to get out of danger with some very general phrases.
This is the plot twist i didn't expect
I’m shocked since Ali seems to take all if not most of the credit for his videos. I don’t know if this is still true though because I stopped watching him over a year ago.
Thanks for the input! WIll do a follow up at some point but am currently focused on my German channel!
I think this is only a problem if you hero-worshipped the guy in the first place or think there is something inherently superior about rich or successful people. Luckily I don't have that problem so Im okay with A.A. being an 'incomplete' human also. If he hasn't paid others enough that is a problem. The thing that is blatant is he has succeeded by re-selling (repackaged) others work, ie their book 'content'. Its a kind of parasitic ecosystem but hopefully mutually beneficial for the original authors.
Dareios, thanks so much for doing this. This kick back against the hustle culture is necessary. We're human animals, doing human things at human speed. No-one needs to "optimise" our lives for productivity, for god's sake. Our lives, and our lifespan, are all we have.
Ali's focus on speed is of course really offensive. But there are sooooome aspects about that productivity-universe that actually help you in everyday-situations, I'd say. For example, I think that "Deep Work" is an actual good book. I hate "hustle culture" almost as much as alt-right-culture though.
@@fr0nzp You're a good human Dareios. I'm really, truly, loving your work. I don't know about Deep Work. I just think that Millenials and Gen Z have to work in a way that my generation (X) didn't quite have to and I can't offer anything except a vague, lame solidarity.
@@aussieevonne7857 For what it's worth, we appreciate the solidarity. :')
@@hdubbs9174 Thanks!
Watching him skipping around Hunter x Hunter hurt me deep in my soul. It's my favourite anime, and even if brilliant, the story is not the end all be all, the characters (how can you really appreciate them like that?) the music, the techniques used, and simply the flow of it all are the things that make it whole. He seems to have no real appreciation for art and entertainment. Honestly it is worthless for him to watch any kind of entertainment or read because he gets like maybe 1/4 of the overall experience. How can one think that every breathing moment should be productive? That kind of mindset just leads to depression and burnout.
That one video (which has now been made private) actually turned me off his content completely and really gave me the necessary shake to contemplate why I am bothering with 'productivity' in the first place. I would go as far as to say I'm grateful for the fact he released that video.
this is a brutal roast and i love it. thank you for breaking down what's wrong with productivity.
This video is fantastic. Thank you so much for taking the time to create it.
I’m sure it took you a while to write such a thoughtful comment but I thank you for it. You hit the nail on the head in every paragraph. I always point to the Family Guy episode of Wish It Want It Do It because it shows just how easy it is to become a best seller by “writing” a self help book. Most of the ones I’ve read say the same thing in different ways and people eat it up because they’re made hungry by the people like the subject of this video. I especially like how you mentioned about being self aware and how often we don’t even take our own advice. Kudos :)
2:13 my boy be disrespecting hxh, that shit is so good. Every second of that anime is useful man, you skip character building, world building and like 90% of the content this way. At that point you could just watch a compilation video on youtube lul. Really liked ali adbdaal but this is just dumb, this does make me want to rewatch hxh though
btw good video man!
I genuinely was stuck in a loophole of watching his videos and I can’t deny how successful he sounds sells well and unfortunately I forgot what I want to do in my life and my goals, I watched one video then another. Thank you 🙏🏻 it is insane how ridiculous this is, I appreciate your video and it really opened my mind.
Sometimes you just need to use your brains logic and reasoning. Not sure what this guy does with this hyperproductivity. He claims he's making ton of $$ .. but thats what it is.. claims. There are tons of fakes on UA-cam / IG etc. I hope Coffeezilla / Spencer Cornelia do a video on this moron. He was a doctor yesterday .. today he's a UA-camr ... and tomorrow he will be a naked clown giving financial advice lol All his videos has fake repeatitive comments from multiple fake accounts on many of his clickbait videos.
It's all about mic quality and recording skills. Plus some plugins to turn voice into radio show host level quality.
@@zephyrlibs God, I wish I had those plugins. >_>
@@fr0nzp Honestly almost everything can be achieved by using audacity (free software) and knowing how to properly use an EQ, compressor etc. without overdoing it. Even a phone recording can sound good through that, while a decent mic obviously helps a lot
There's this weird American mentality that glorifies mindless consumption of content only to benefit your most basic needs. Art isn't for that.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this
Whew! You took words out of my mouth.
Ali is British though. Just by accent speaking
You nailed that prodictivity aspect right on the head.
Bruh he’s not American he’s some foreigner Brit.
It's all in Ali's body language that shows how annoying of a person he is.
The absolute irony of it all is he would a lot more productive and have time to watch tv properly if he didn't spend so much time creating recycled content.
wash rinse repeat
Thank you! It’s funny because even though some of the studying advice and general productivity tips have had a very positive impact on my life, I absolutely agree with all the other shit being completely obsessive and downright weird.
- He talks about how everyone has the same amount of time and if you do something, that’s you choosing not to make time. Forget poor working class people who have to work double shifts, they’re just ‘choosing’ not to be productive.
- his insistence on “skipping boring parts in lectures” is absolutely infuriating. As well as the speed reading and shit. The cultural landscape that must be his mind….
- the churning out low-grade garbage (cooking productively/ being stoic / sleeping productively).
Dude is a great example of how you can start with good intentions and just be corrupted by fame and money.
I'm going to be brutally honest. Ali Abdaal is a genius, but not the type of Genius you want to be inspired by. He's manipulative with his words and with those around him. As someone who's spoken to both Elizabeth and his brother, I think it should be said that he knows how to pull his words off. I think it's unfair to those around Ali, such as Elizabeth. I know Elizabeth is genuine, but I can't speak for Ali's brother since I've had very few conversations regarding Ali's ethics. Elizabeth is a nice and caring person, it's clear she wants to help people and you can tell that from the time she's spent on her videos. I think it sucks for Elizabeth since she's been wound up in a scandal when she meant well.
I feel like I should also mention Ali as a person. Ali isn't a "Fraudster" in person, I have to say that. But online, it's clear that he's two-faced and it's gotten to a point where there's no benefit as a viewer to watching his content. To Ali, the viewer is seen as Watch-time rather than an actual person, which I personally think is quite alienating. I think I should also bring up how Ali isn't as productive as he claims. I don't mean to stab him in the back since he could definitely take action for what people say, but Ali is like a majority of people on Earth. Ali knows he's unproductive, the things you see in videos are rare occasions and are set up to mislead the audience into believing Ali has this flashy healthy lifestyle, which is just false.
Awesome insights!
I am curious which scandal Elizabeth was in?
@@sadburai1She's associated with Ali's shady business practices. This is very damaging to her reputation especially since she didn't even take part in the said practices.
@@Isako7just say you are a simp
@@jigsaw2253How can I be a simp. I spent 25 minutes writing about how Ali isn’t a good person
I have searched for keywords about ali abd44l many months before but I've never found content critical of him. There's a certain air from his content that's sooo off but I couldn't put a finger on it. Apparently, I've been chasing 'productivity' (as an ADHD person) all while the popular creators like him have descended to a toxic level deep into hustle culture. Ugh
Ha me too. For being such a huge public figure, the little amount of critique weirded me out as well. There is a gigantic thread on a forum called „tattle life“ (I got banned after I replied to someone posting my video there tho. FUCK) that Ali even addressed in his podcast. However, there is lots of unfair criticism over there that even slightly veers into racist territoriy. I guess people refrain from criticizing UA-camrs as long as they‘re not actively polarizing explicitly. Under this video, lots of people from Ali’s bubble have berated me for putting out criticism at all. Welp
“Oh my god these fucking books” 😂😂😂😂
I’ve noticed today how toxic and fake these “productivity” and “self-help” gurus are. I’ve always struggled with social anxiety, and back to the beginning of the year, I was at the lowest point of my life, and I watched plenty of videos of how to overcome social anxiety from those people and just made it worst because what they teach you is what you want to listen, not what’s effective. You can’t just overcome it by changing your mindset, or being positive about yourself, it's a much more deep issue that has plenty of causes, and a step-by-step video just makes you feel more and more depressed because you compare yourself to their perfect and fake lives. One of the things that made me feel better was, besides therapy, quitting watching self-help videos, they are addictive and terrible for our mental health.
It’s a personal mission to overcome, therapy is massively if not the most important. I find his videos very useful but I could understand why people wouldn’t, I definitely wouldn’t use productivity videos to overcome my anxiety issues. It is all about changing mindset, but that can only come from therapy and self work.
My mom sent me videos that basically said "your social anxiety is just you being a coward lazy ass. Just talk to people for fuck sake 😒". It didn't help me. Just like you it made me even more ashamed and depressed.
Today I am feeling better (for both my social anxiety and my depression). You know what helped me ? Not these online know-it-all UA-camrs, but cognitive behavioral therapy with a psychologist and psychiatrist. I think it's important to get help from professional who know the subject. Nobody would ask their baker to cure their cancer ...
Yes I can relate, though I have watched productivity videos a long time they didn’t do that much for me until I actually overcame the other hurdles in my life. Then when I overcame them these videos sometimes had worthwhile information but unfortunately most of them are just fluff content:/ One I recently saw and thought was actually genuine and really helped me: ua-cam.com/video/XqdDMNExvA0/v-deo.html
I guess if productivity videos are good or bad is a lot more nuanced than the simple genre and with many things aiming for perfection is pretty evil…
Joao, don’t listen to anyone. Just do what you like to do and find the strong ‘why’ reason behind it. Only thing that’s right is what works for you and what makes you happy and your life convenient. Logics alone does not consider all life’s parameters. Solution which works for one doesn’t need to work for you.
He says he's completely focused on being productive. At what? Saying this is a waste of time? He's trying to be a full lifestyle person. Your "productivity" will improve if you don't watch him. It seems like a grift to me.
Will his book cut out all the wordy parts?
As someone who was part of the Part-time YT Academy this video is pretty accurate. Ali now is pretty cringe.
Do you feel like it helped your content?
You are absolutely right.
At the end it’s all about the money. 😂
I feel sorry for young people who may believe they will become the next big thing on UA-cam following this type of neurotic emptiness.
Ali is a strange case of success… super smart guy, ambitious but… there’s a lot missing too… We are all learning and improving. 😉
I subscribed to this guy a few months ago. Never really got into him though because his story just feels to good to be true or something.
I had a lot of respect for him until he downgraded the direct impact made by doctors and put investment bankers donating to charity on a higher pedestal. When you save more than supposedly 7-8 lives, during a pandemic as FY1 aka Intern doctor by administering life saving drugs, making a diagnosis at the right time, assisting in an emergency surgery and putting in tracheostomy tubes; such a statement is like a punch in the gut & downright hurtful!
This thing has been addressed a couple of times already, and if I ever do a follow-up to this video, I will certainly include it. The whole calculation is just stupid as fuck.
He never did such a thing. He said the system can handle these cases even if leaves the profession.
@@SoroushTorkian Wonder how productive studying for medicine for 6 years and then quitting is. Checkmate?
Good that you brought up the investment bankers. The dude doesn't know how to invest to save his life, and yet, he gives financial advice. Better listen to Warren Buffett. And no, he hasn't accumulated that much money because he loses quite a bit from stupid investments.
It is interesting, i think viscerally I agree with the concept that it sounds bad to “put down” doctors. Ive not heard his videos much about this to know if he did or not.
In reality though its about the “level” or “type” of impact one can achieve with a job
For example - a person can save 7-8 lives (plus much paper work, team work together on lives, admit and discharges, busy work etc) in a year as a doctor. Most doctors have minimal spare time and not financially compensated much (esp in UK) to use the money for the second option below.
Other option is you are a desk worker like a successful youtuber - make a lot of money, and use that money to donate to charity (or create your own). Your money could contribute to public health programs that lead to millions of kids saved - you may not directly do this but it is indirect and you have the means to do this with a job like Investment Banking. Its all about the type of impact
The other fact is, if privileged enough to have a choice, whatever choice you make there will always be someone else of the 7 billion in the world to take the place of the other option (eg if one opts to leave medicine for business, then someone else will likely replace them in the hole left in medicine
Less money oriented, this is the same calculus made by doctors who leave hospital medicine to work in Public Health such as at the WHO, they never treat a patient one to one again but may have the chance to have wider public impact
I can't thank you enough for this video. We need more videos critical of "productivity gurus" just like there are plenty of videos nowadays critical of "get rich quick gurus". Unfortunately, Ali's videos (and others like him) prey on people who have actual problems with procrastination and think that there is some magical formula that would cure all of their problems, I know this because I used to be one of those people. I'm not saying Ali is doing this intentionally, but it doesn't help that his videos have clickbaity titles and their content is repetitive af, and all of this is to generate more revenue out of his yt channel.
What I came to realize after a long period of research and contemplation that being disciplined and productive - which is what these gurus are all about - comes down to very few basic and obvious principles. You don't need to read 10 books or get a one-month course or what have you to "overcome" procrastination. But of course, Ali and other gurus' income depends exactly on videos of such content, so there is no hope that they'll tell their audience that.
Thanks for the amazing comment!
It will be interesting to skim his book if he ever finishes it. I will go on the record to state that he will not finish it because he essentially has nothing to write, and he knows that. There is something darker lurking in him that he doesn't want to confront, and that is where the real book is, and a good one, but he doesn't want to deal with those issues.
@@pequodexpress Yes, he will have taken the red pill in 2-3 years I bet.
@@fr0nzp Mr. Abdaal is turning himself into quite an interesting social experiment, as have many others, but Abdaal's self-experimentation has peculiar twists: tacitly resentful parent-pleasing quirky outcast nerd to reconstructed American Psycho.
Even if this conjecture is untrue, someone needs to make the movie.
@@fr0nzp He gets disillusioned quickly. It happened with medicine, and I expect it to happen with the social media influencing game. His body language and facial expressions evoke an increasing level of performative discomfort. Because he is intelligent, confronting his own bullshit will increasingly cause existential crises. This will not disappear with Invisalign, Lasik surgery, rhinoplasty, and Rogaine.
I primarily read fiction and I’m a slow reader which is something I’ve always been a little self conscious about. I recently picked up a non fiction book and it’s crazy how fast you blaze through it. Turns out I’m not a slow reader, I just really enjoy reading and appreciating a work not consuming information as fast as I can like a robot.
This video is so well made. Fantastic!
Thank you
Are Bhai aap Yaha. Aapka video kab aayega?
🙄 Do you used to watch Ali abdaal ....
@@fr0nzp '98% are bandwagoners recycling the same content over and over'
Like the little cameo you gave yourself there 😉
Agla joke productivity pe hona chahiye fir to.
Oh my god! I am terrified on how accurate this is
I get your point and I agree with some bits. But Ali has really had a positive impact on my life. His videos, especially the ones on study tips have improved my life by leaps and bounds. As for the part time youtuber academy, I have heard him say there's nothing in that course that you can't find on the internet for free. He's transparent about it. And the comments and videos of his students is part of his workshop.
Apart from that, I like your critique of him disregarding art. I think he's emotionally stunted and can't understand art.
Nice video, btw.
Thanks - I haven‘t read about Ali‘s description of the academy. I think you‘d agree that the website does not advertise the course as if it‘s just some general knowledge you can pick up on the internet. I mean, if you take part in something like that, it certainly boosts your productivity (argh) and accountability in terms of putting out videos frequently. However, I don‘t think it should be „part of the workshop“ to force people to write comments and give them false validation - and hope. The approach just not organic and mirrors his disregard of art in a multitude of ways.
Cause you got some.nuggets that helped you doesn't negate the points made here...
I knew something was fishy about Ali. I felt like he wasn't being honest in his videos. At least I now have confirmation.
I can totally agree
This guy is a show-off, but packages it in giving "advice." He enjoys showing the world how much money he makes. Many self-help gurus are like that: using their advice videos as a covert way to boast. Cole Hastings for example takes every opportunity to show off his physique.
The more videos I watched the more he started seeming more like a productive robot than a human being. I feel like he needs to take a break, sit back and relax for a little while. Touch some grass. Breathe.
I think Abdul like many other creators is only interested in people watching all his videos regardless if they put his advice into motion or not
This matrix is turning us all into robots, I have checked out and I have peace. I am not on treadmill of productivity anymore.
Not to mention how they all make you feel incredibly shit about yourself. He recently had a dyselxic on his podcast who says he listens to audiobooks at 4x speed and basically downloads the information, retaining all of it. That fucked with me for awhile. Anyway didnt realize he was toxic just thought I was stupid so thanks for calling him out!
I'm oddly frustrated by a story and choices like Ali's. I guess I just fine it very sad that a capable person finds it more appealing to leave an important and valuable career like medicine (when people are queuing round the block to become doctors, there is a huge need and which cost the country >£250,000 to train him) to spew out increasingly bad ideas and become head of a pyramid scheme of creating more youtubers videos. Not sure how it's possible to disincentive this.
Becomes a doctor for clout / personal branding reasons, then quits at soon as he finds something more personally lucrative. What a role model 🙄
Not trynna defend ali in particular, what's wrong in changing career or joining university for brand value? People do it all the time in different industries or careers.
People become doctors for fame, money, status and some only for passion, even if people become doctors cause of passion they still work in corporate hospitals n not in some ngo moreover majority of doctors keep increasing their fees even after making good ROI and achieving financial independence
@@cbazxy2697 "Credibility" is the key word here. I've seen a lot of "quitting the medical field/as a doctor to be an influencer" stories, and they usually end up being a joke later on. Imagine having a high-status occupation (doctor) and being downgraded to a social media marketing person. When he or these folks abandon the Dr. title, no one will take them seriously or actively seek him for medical career advice. Asking a person who quit medic seems less reasonable today, when there are so many doctors out there working their tails off to save lives; doctors who commit over 30 years to their craft are undoubtedly wiser than Ali. Even a common doctor is more respected than a rich, successful businessman or engineer. However, being an ex-doctor is a pity. Even ex-doctors would avoid using that title in real life due to the stigma, the weight associated with the profession.
@@fukunaga-kane your perspective is from those medical field for me i may not got to him for medical advice but i would respect him just like any other human (not if they loose it).
Asking someone at a young to get in a career for rest of their life is just unfair.
@@cbazxy2697 So you seriously think there's nothing wrong with doctors getting into medicine to make money? That compromises the trust we have in them to protect public health. Money, resources, and time has been wasted on them that could be used to train good physicians that will save lives.
@@itsgonnabeanaurfromme personally i would like doctors who are passionate to treat me but that not the world we live in and it would be selfish for me to always expect that.
They are humans too n they would have their own reasons why they choose this high paying career.
As long as they charge reasonably and treat responsibly then i don't have any problem. There's not lot of doctors anyway (according to population)
9:08 damn, shows how privileged he is. People seem to not know he has always had money. Most medtubers do. He didn't MAKE a lot as a doctor but he had family money which is why he could do all that and start up.
Yup! Many UA-camrs had family to live off and didn't have to work or had loads of money saved up from the old high paying job.
I almost never comment, but thank you for this one! I have discovered Ali about a year ago and started to apply his hints and techniques about productivity. In some ways it helped, because I have improved my studying habits and started a new youtube channel, but over time I relized that his approach about "maximising productivity" can be dangerous and you can even feel a imprisoned in the cage of productivity. At the same time I don't agree with his quantitie over quality idea at all. I think, that when you don't pay attention on inovation and creativity of your conntent, you can make a hundreds of videos and waste plenty of time for no reason. Your video came to me at the right time!
Thank you stating this! I completely agree. I discovered him through study tips which actually did make university easier. But he started to switch and I unsubscribed. I think he may have gotten to big for himself and it shows via his videos.
The sentence “You can learn and ability, then you can then resell this this ability to others” is the best. That is the definition of getting a job 😂😂😂😂😂
Great video. Skillshare is such a scam and Ali is the posterboy of it. He's done a "jazz piano" class. Learning jazz piano from a part time doctor with no professional music training. Yeah okay.
Imagine somebody doesn't know jazz piano at all, and then they learn. It's painful for them because they don't know how to play or even where to begin. Now imagine they overcome that! They learn how to deal with the biggest hurdles. Then they explain it to you from the perspective of a beginner.
That's the value of having your friend in class explain something to you instead of the teacher explaining it. The teacher can't really reach through to you. The professional has forgotten what it's like to be a beginner! But your friend, the person who also didn't understand, but then suddenly DID understand, they know what you're going through! They understand WHY you don't understand. So they explain it to you in a way that completely makes sense. They speak on your level. Suddenly, you get it.
That's the value of peer-reviews and peer-partnerships in learning situations!
And that is also why the beginner still also has something to offer to others. You are not useless until you become a professional, you are useful!
Stay positive, friend. Best wishes :)
@@EmotionTheory 👍🏼
He has explained that as it's easier to make lessons for beginners when you are a level above them, not when you are a super advanced professional.
Sad to see James Jani in the game... I like that guy
where do people like you come from? i want to find that place and move there.
your critical mind cuts through the vapidity of the AA's . I raise my coffee to you. sub'd
It' just Germany. Thanks
I loved watching Ali when I was a grad student! I was encouraged by his tips for studying as he was in his residency. There is something incredibly off about his focus now and he doesn’t come off as genuine. It’s sad. It’s like a case study in something, but I don’t know what yet! The way he talks so fast now is insane and not as fun to listen to. If he had contact with real patients or community impact I feel like his channel would have more substance and natural creativity. His content without the relatable challenges of the “real world 9-5” job is quite strange to me now.
hey i know I’m a year late to the party, but thank you so much, so many of us have been stuck watching these videos as some weird form of addiction without being able to put our finger on what it was that felt so wrong about this lifestyle, it was a big relief to watch this and read all these comments, it has honestly made my day!
Glad you liked it!
Thank you! A very important topic. You somehow managed to call him out on his bullshit whilst being respectful. The crucial thing to teach people is the their worth as a human is not linked to how much they can accomplish in a day, month or even year. They are already enough. I actually have a quote on my planner that says " Its ok not to do it all". This seems to be forgotten in hustle culture. Keep uploading, your videos are fantastic
I don't think I was respectful, I called him an asshole etc. - Glad you enjoy my content though. I can truly emphazise with your hustle culture approach, and I will do my next video in a month on this topic. Hope you'll like it =)
@@fr0nzp Guess I must have missed that part ahah
I have found with a lot of these courses they give away all of their content in the free stuff, you just have to do a better job of summarizing it. Very few creators hold out any special nuggets in any of their for-pay classes.
I am very grateful that I stumbled across this video. I got some helpful tips from him when He was still in medical school that greatly helped during my bachelor, and now for my upcoming master I wanted to see what new stuff He brought out. Just so See that his entire channel became a scamshow
Sounds like the classic Ali Abdaal-journey to me =)
Ali provides some excellent advice here and there. But if you follow his channel for too long, you start to wonder: how did geniuses like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs alter the world without the boatload of productivity apps that Ali claims to use every day? I mean, after seeing his "My Productivity System (2023)," I felt like I'd need another app to figure out which app I'd used to do what and where to get my data.
🤣🤣🤣
Always noticed he sort of sighs when he talks about his course and academy (which doesn't inspire me). He's also made a video recently saying how essentially he's fed up of the cohort he runs. Basically, he blew up fast and burnt out. Now he knows the finance niche makes the most money (higher cpm) so mostly talks in that niche. Interesting to see a little behind the scenes of the youtuber academy. I also teach on skillshare and work my balls off to make Amazing results based freelancing and video editing courses, so it sucks to see him uploading youtube videos. Shameful
Well done. I liked Ali when he first started making videos. I think his content is full of nonsense now. It happens to a lot of people.
Thanks!
He does not have the patience, grit and determination to serve as a doctor in the NHS in these trying times hence what better way to mint money than if you can do it by vomiting crap.
As I watching this video on 2x speed already, I found the 3x speed completely unusable
Glad these people are being called out. They're this generation's Tony Robbins/Jim Rohn and Brian Tracy.
Jim Rohn is/was quite inspiring I think.
He was great when he started out, but just went down the rabbit hole to get to the extremes of this productivity niche to extract as much cash as possible. Sad but expected
Ali is no doubt hustling and scamming people. This guy literally just watches or does courses online then changes a few things around and because he feels so guilty he says read books like steal like an artist to justify his internal guilt. He is definitely a very intelligent person(genius etc) no doubt about that but he never wanted to be a doctor. This dude was chasing money and charging freaking $5000 for his youtube course just to tell you to make one video a week have better thumbnails have a catchy title outsource editing wow what a miracle. You could get this information for free on youtube think media and a whole lot of other people. Problem is people are too lazy to research so they see this guy as a god of productivity. Can you imagine Bill gates taking out his apple watch when an idea comes to him and recording that on his apple watch letting that sync into notion wow so productive.
the problem about Productivity youtubers are 90 percent of them think it is "motivation problem"... like if you can't win against internet addiction. you are just lazy... no addiction is not that simple.
Reminds me of the "just do it" advice like bro if I could just do it i would've just did it
He is pure cringe
Just found your channel and I'm glad I did! Quality content is rare these days. Thank you for this.
What your video teaches me again is to use your own brain and think hard about what you see and hear. Ali's videos have been an inspiration for me in a way but always with a grain of salt - me really thinking about if and how it would fit into my own set of goals, beliefs, workflows whatsoever... Thanks for this beautifully sarcastic and mind-opening video.
watching him stress me out
The movie speed thing is ridiculous. He needs to stop and smell the roses before he realizes he’s wasted his life rushing everything
I think he started off as a decent youtuber. But in course of time, his arrogance and total lack of appreciation of art made him this mindless, cringy person to look at. So accordingly to him sitting alone at a hilly station admiring the beauty of nature would be a complete "non-productive" venture which to people like me is calming and can actually have a productive stimuli for downstream tasks. Although I respect that different people has different definitions of "productivity" is arrogance and the sheer way of how he speaks (at like 2x) irritates me these days. I used to be one of his subscribers, then I unsubscribed and asked youtube not to recommend his videos any more.
LOL Elizabeth's face from 8:17 to 9:22 😂😂😂
What always put me off was how it seemed all the things he ever read or consumed was purely just to increase productivity/ability to produce. Maybe I have too much of a stick up my ass when I say this but that kind of thing seems soulless. I'm all for self-help but at his level he seems to be consuming so much content , but stripped of any artistic merit.
Okay so I searched for Ali Abdaal critisicm like 2 years back when he stopped giving good advise and I found myself in a bad place after purchasing one life changing thing after another and still I was not typing 100+ wpm. I was upset.
It started to dawn on me that maybe it doesn't matter how fast I type but what I actually type also matters, for everything else in my life it felt like I was chasing something.
That search was still on the cache today when I was searching for something else it came up and I thought of giving that a try again. All of those things which were inside my mind you made a video out of it. It was like listening to an old friend and reconnecting with him after a long time.
Thank you so much for taking time to make this video. and thank God I am not chasing productivity like the dog chases the running vehicles.
I totally miss Love button on YT.
This is a wonderful video. I loved Ali when he started out - like you said, he was awkward, charming, relatable, and seemed to actually have a genuine desire to help students out. His more recent content though, has created a sense of unease in me that I couldn't put my finger on - but you did a really good job of highlighting the icky direction he has taken recently.
However, I think you're a bit unfair to him here and there. For one, there are several videos where he admits that he possesses a certain level of privilege and acknowledges that there are people whose circumstances might hold them back. Secondly, I think it's a bit unfair to accuse him of toxic productivity. While I admit that people who watch his videos might descend into toxic productivity, many of Ali's tips are actually useful in reducing stress and preventing burnout.
At the end of the day, he is disseminating information that people have the freedom to either accept or reject. I admit that that information is now becoming repetitive and recycled, but they remain useful nonetheless. He also quite explicitly says that several of his "techniques" such as watching movies at 2x speed is not something that you NEED to do but rather something you COULD do to save time IF you have the same disposition as he does. He is quite clear that this is merely a personal preference and that it's perfectly valid to have a different preference.
Compared to many many other "productivity gurus", Ali is actually more transparent and self-aware than most, so I'll give him credit where credit is due. However, every type of content needs criticism to help people be more mindful of what they consume. Your video has helped me re-evaluate the way I consume Ali's content, so thank you for the effort you put into it.
Well said, completely agree with you.
Yes, I agree with you, too. Many things he says are actually quite useful and if you adapt his tips into your own way of thinking in your own language - if it seems useful to you - why refrain from whatching his videos. This video here is ace though 🤙🏽
I agree with this. I dont know why this video and callout on him specifically makes some of the comments here turn their distaste into ALL productivity culture and content. Which is just like everything, free for you to reject or accept. Whether you were influenced by it or not.
So many "gurus" just repeat the most generic quoted statements about general productivity and motivation and people preach it as gospel. And i hate that. That's why i love self aware and transparent creators like struthless, better ideas. And maybe ali himself included. I've found a couple of his videos to be very helpful, some generic but still had sensible points.
Thanks for the great comment!
I think it’s a youth thing. I was like this when I was young. Read tons of self help nonsense, etc. Usually time gives you wisdom if you pay attention.
What a comforting comment.
It's depressing watching someome so full of certainties. He is a mediocre guy
I don't comment on vids that often,.(as I'm too busy listening at 3.5x speed and being 10x productive),. But you knocked it out of the park with this one . Well done
You are absolutely right! The dude is hyper, speaks too fast, causes anxiety, inspires guilt, and his editing is terrible. I despise this abrupt editing with no transitions. His advice is mostly toxic indeed. He is a doctor, yet, he doesn't know that, if people turn into robots and don't take breaks, their bodies will take the breaks anyway, and it won't be pretty either.
I love this video so much! So sick of all these productivity UA-camrs making us feel like shit for not having the perfect routine or system. Ali is the worst. His videos are downright depressing and even scary. Like an episode of black mirror.
I think you really twisted his words out of context at 3:42ish. He was very clearly giving advice for people who have trouble getting motivated and started with reading. Many people feel obligated to start out with books they feel they *should* read, like classics, rather than just reading whatever they want. This can end up ruining the experience and put them off reading as a whole.
Eh, no. He was clearly dismissive by phrasing his disdain for classics like "some English majors tell you they enjoy it" - what would have been great is to recommend some classics that make it incredibly easy to start: Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, The Stranger...
@@fr0nzp No he wasn't, you are projecting here.
Absolutely savage how you ripped him to shreds, but the in-depth analysis is amazing. I saw one video of his that I liked a year ago, subscribed, and then just saw one clickbait headline after the next. Very strange that a YT'er as big as him has.. no critique videos besides this one?
I literally start watching him a couple months ago and just recently noticed some of his titles and videos are repetitive and the same basically. Starting to see a cycle here. Kind of weirrrrd
I watch some of his videos because they are actually helpful but I’m not a robot where I’m like “ yes master Ali I’ll do just that” when it comes to “trying to read as much books as possible” I ask myself “but why?”. I just take the useful tips with me but I don’t follow word for word cause most of the things don’t apply to me. He is great but he shouldn’t be the only person whom you should be taking notes from.
Fr. I wrote a long ass paragraph in the comments and this summarises it perfectly
🤣🤣🤣
Lol, imagine if you gave this guy a slice of life anime XD
He says he made a million dollars but all I see is someone making millions teaching productivity and achieving goes and writing yt scripts to teach it. He is a low key scammer getting rich teaching how to achieve goals and acting like he was already rich. He doesn't even talk about his doctor life and I think he stopped being a doctor to get rich off teaching productivity.
That's why I started my UA-cam channel to sort of counter this toxic productivity culture we have in general. I see it all around me in Oxford, in academia, internationally. While there is much to learn from Ali abdaal's channel, we should be talking about burnout, taking time off, and self-compassion. I discuss some of these things on my channel
Burn out yes, heading to your channel now.
@@NanetteNetteI am still recovering from burnout from toxic productivity robot life and never going back.
Let’s not even talk about the realm of productivity and the bs of the second brain concept and pretentious terminologies 🤡
Wow, this guy is a psycho. He always gave me the creeps… awesome vídeo and the quality ‘investigative journalism’ about his UA-cam academy bs 😂
Thanks
Actually pretty good video. I used to like Ali but gradually he became more artificial.
Thanks =)
i hate the word productivity because of him
I'm an estate management student and I do a little bit of architecture which is extremely tedious. I am also a video editor so I get gigs sometimes. There was a period when I used to sleep for just six hours a day or less because I was being "productive". It's so sad how I was proud of slowly killing myself.
I know the temptation in regards to reducing your sleep hours. Tried waking up at 5:00 AM sharp for a few weeks in order to "achieve" everything productively in the first hours of the day. Made my afternoons miserable.
I stopped consuming this kind of content when I watched a video about how to read faster...and it hits me, ya know? I'm a passionate reader, reading is a thing that literally saved my life, and seeing methods that make reading a method, a to-do list thing...just does not make sense and loses the meaning behind literature.
Most of his videos are stupid advice I'll be honest.
If you're struggling with productivity, "5 minute rule" or "pomadora technique" isn't going to help you.
The root of your problem is *mental health*. Something he doesn't emphasise because it doesn't give you much content.
hmmm not sure I agree. I think 5 minute rule and pomodoro technique actually help you achieving stuff, even though it's true that, first and foremost, mental health must be priority no. 1 when wanting to improve/work a lot.
@@fr0nzp Point being, none of those things will cure lack of productivity. All of those things require good mental health first and foremost.
He looks like the most simplistic version of the male. Everything has to be on a basic functional scale and has to be this way because its "logical". Complexity and depth is not something he has.
Why has this video been unlisted? I came across another one of Ali's dodgy videos and wanted to come back and watch this again. It took me ages to find the link
it's re
as any other coaching video. You watch, listen and decide what fits your life schedule or not. It is just an option! To optimize productivity is nothing bad. But to reserve time to relax, do nothing, watch wathever TV show you like (without speeding up ;-) is also important for your soul. There is nothing wrong with that too. Just avoid getting "over-coached" on the internet! ;-) Great day to you all!
Heres my comment, based on the start of the video: I believe that Ali is obsessed with productivity to an unhealthy extent, but that doesnt mean that what he talks about is wrong. For example, his "efficient" skincare routine was a great starting point for my skincare routine.
Comment based on end of the video: I agree that the "productivity bro" community is toxic. But I believe Ali has moved away from incel territory. There are way worse actors in the space now too, like Andrew Tate, which make Ali seem like a beacon of hope. I think Ali should try to mellow out a bit, maybe go to therapy.
So much hate here, wow.
Try to look at the overall message here. This way one could dissect every creator.
Alan Watts once said that we take breaks so that we can work better but rather we should take breaks so that we could enjoy our life better
Very good video, research and explanation work, making a video that shows in a condensed and comprehensive way the problems that this youtuber and his business represent, I find it very impressive.
I watched this guys videos last year because i was searching for tips to study in more effective way, and these videos (with other youtuber) were very usefull, and helped me.
This year I did the same thing to see if there was some changement, but by looking at his channel i saw these productivity videos, I watched several of them thinking maybe it would help me before changing my mind as I found it useless as the videos went on. Fortunately I quickly stopped watching it, seeing this video I realise how absurd it is. I wasn't aware of these "how to watch series and anime productively" tips but I think this is the video that really shows how insane it is to push for sickly productivity, ruining the experience of watching a work just to save time? Just don't watch it x).
The same goes for the "UA-cam Academy" or whatever it is, it really looks like the phony business training of some influencers who rely on the distress of some people to make money.
I had a pretty good opinion of him since some of his study tips had helped me and I thought his new path on productivity was logical since he wasn't studying anymore and was now working, I don't know if he's doing it for profit or because he really thinks he's helping people (the part where he says he wants to move to Dubai with his business gives me a clue to the answer lol), with this video I realise how much he is not a respectable person.
Again thank for your work !
Great comment! Glad you liked the video =)
I honestly think he’s a swindler, like FTX…
Watching the wire in 2x speed is like speed running a museum because you’d rather be making money and being “productive” the off sourcing your work to others thing was what really got me. Like Ali you realize most of aren’t making Ali abdal kinds of money not have such freedoms.
Speeding through anime with your hands on adjusting playback speed!?!?!? That's just creepy, disrespectful, and unintuitive. If I wanted to skip a show but wanted to know the story, I just go to wikipedia and read the summary! And I can do that while I background task it at work.
Hey, some feed back. The PTYA part of the video was the strongest and I think should either have been at the start or even the full focus of the video. The “he speed watches anime” bit was a big bag of “who’s cares?” But the PTYA part was pretty damning. Subscribed :)
Wait sorry I mean:
Hahaha wow, great video! Some really good content 😎 😂 😂 Thanks for sharing!!!!!!