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Ali Abdaal

subject · in 33 sources (2020–2026)

Works: CreatorGrid, How to Be Happier - A Stoicism Masterclass, Productivity for Creators: How to Start a Successful Side Hustle, 70 Excuses

Speaks in 1278 sources; this page lists what is said about them.

Sources by year: 2020: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2023: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2025: 12 · 2026: 3

Also known as: Ali, Dr Ali Abdaal

Threads

Also named in the threads: Part-Time YouTuber Academy (2020) · Ali attends Joe Hudson's invite-only in-person intensive retreat (2024)

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

Thomas Frank (2) · personal brand (2) · London (3) · Skillshare (2) · Izzy Sealey (2) · Part-Time YouTuber Academy (2)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2026

  • 2026-03-12 · If I Started YouTube from Scratch in 2026, I’d do THIS — Ali grew his YouTube channel from zero to over a million subscribers while working full-time as a doctor, from 2017 through 2020, and says things are very different now. — 00:00:00
    • When he started his business, Ali's dream was to make an extra £3,000 (about $4,000) of passive income a month, which would have let him go part-time as a doctor. — 00:02:20
  • 2026-03-29 · The Side Hustle Trilemma — Ali started in the second lane: with no intention of quitting medicine, he wanted about £3,000 a month on the side so he could go part-time; the side hustle overtook medicine and he quit. — 00:00:00
  • 2026-05-21 · If You Want to Make Money From YouTube, Do This. — Jeff Su: Jeff chose YouTube in 2020 partly because Ali's videos of the time gave a step-by-step blueprint for succeeding on YouTube. — 00:07:24
    • Ali also started YouTube with no intention of leaving medicine: his dream was to work three days a week, for which he needed an extra £3,000 a month. — 00:07:52
    • Jeff Su: The first step Jeff gave those Googlers was to take Ali's $1 course on making a first YouTube video, a product since discontinued. — 00:14:30
    • Jeff Su: Jeff followed Ali's premise of uploading one video a week for two years; from the outset his commitment was exactly two years. — 00:21:01
    • Jeff Su: Jeff tried his best to copy Ali's style when he started, and could not, because he is not Ali; a year in, someone called him "the Asian Ali Abdaal". — 00:34:53

2025

2024

  • 2024-03-12 · How to Grow a YouTube Channel From Nothing in 2026 — Izzy Sealey: Izzy, who remembered Ali from medical school, asked to join the Part-Time YouTuber Academy while seeing her channel as a fun little hobby and challenge, not a full-time job. — 00:06:57
  • 2024-04-23 · My honest advice to someone who wants financial freedom — Ali: While working as a doctor, what Ali wanted from financial freedom was the ability to go part-time: the happiest doctors he knew worked three days a week rather than six. — 00:01:42
    • To Ali, financial freedom meant buying his free time; without it he felt he would be financially chained to something, for him his day job. — 00:02:24
  • 2024-05-24 · 7 Life Lessons I Know at 30 But Wish I Knew at 20 — Ali: Around 2020 Ali asked himself what he would choose to do if he could design his life from scratch, and realised that, though he enjoyed being a doctor, it was not that. — 00:16:42
  • 2024-07-09 · If I Wanted to Make $10,000 as a Student, I'd Do This — Ali: Earning his own money at university let Ali go on holidays and trips without worrying about finances, and gave him a profound sense of empowerment that asking his mum for money would not have. — 00:00:29
  • 2024-07-29 · Why some medical students drop out — Ali then set his focus on getting through medical school and enjoying it while building businesses on the side, so that a couple of grand a month would let him do medicine for fun rather than for the money. — 00:00:29

2023

  • 2023-12-08 · Everything's Changing - Life Update — Ali: From the doctors' answers Ali concluded he needed to make money on the side, so that any medicine he did would be for fun and fulfilment rather than money; he went on to build a business that let him quit his day job. — 00:22:18

2021

  • 2021-03-14 · Why I Left Medicine (And Why I'm Going Back) — Ali: However much you enjoy something, Ali thinks, doing it five or six days a week is probably not that fun, and three or four days would be much more fun. (hedged) — 00:11:20
  • 2021-07-18 · Answering Uncomfortable Questions With My Personal Assistant — Elizabeth says working with Ali taught her not to care what people think and, one of the most life-changing lessons for her, to ship things before she is ready. — 00:07:06
  • 2021-09-03 · We broke up… — Sheen watched a lot of TV when she moved in but hardly does now, probably because Ali is always doing things, so she does things too. — 00:18:26
    • Sheen was most upset when Ali forgot her birthday weekend and planned a trip on it, and then reacted as if it did not matter; they have since resolved it. — 00:20:25
    • Sheen tells Ali's next roommate that he is easy to live with, but to recalibrate expectations of how often he will want to hang out, which is not very often. — 00:22:53
  • 2021-11-13 · How I Run this YouTube Channel - Day in the Life — announcement: Ali's team is planning videos documenting what it is like to try to sell digital products on the internet, a topic he thinks much of his audience may be interested in. — 00:04:31
  • 2021-12-03 · Reflecting On My Fears - Day in the Life — Cliff Weitzman, CEO of Speechify, says he and Ali became "pandemic friends" after meeting during one of Ali's Deep Dives. — 00:16:40
  • 2021-12-16 (said on 2021-12-03, implied) · How Much Money I Make as a YouTuber (2021)💰 — announcement: Ali says he will make a video, coming out very soon, on how much money he spent in 2021, to show the expenses side of his income. — 00:03:53

2020

  • 2020-04-29 · Productivity, Books and Careers Advice - Ali Abdaal x Noah Kagan // Deep Dive — Ali: Wanting to avoid that future set Ali on the path of businesses, passive income and financial independence: medicine is fun, but he doesn't think anything is fun full-time. — 00:09:52
  • 2020-07-03 · I'm Moving to America 🇺🇸 - Life Update — Ali's end goal has never been to work as a doctor full-time but part-time, two or three days a week. — 00:18:34
    • High US pay is not a motivation for Ali: medicine is not how he wants to make money; he wants to earn on the side from other things and do medicine for fun, his goal since his first year of medical school. — 00:19:02
  • 2020-08-04 · How to Make Money from your Passion — Sarah Dietschy says originality is what you make of the things you are into, with your own spin: the corner of YouTube of Ali and Thomas Frank was not even a thing five years ago. — 00:06:42
  • 2020-08-06 · My Last Day as a Doctor - Reflections — Ali: Given the choice, Ali would not spend his life as he spent the last two years, 48 hours a week in hospital with an hour's drive each way; designing his life from scratch, he would do medicine two or three days a week because it is fun. — 00:27:32
  • 2020-12-13 · Love, Money and Relationships - Answering your Assumptions — Ali: Designing his life from scratch, Ali would not be a doctor five days a week but somewhere between one and three; he enjoys being a doctor but wants to do it part-time, as everything is more fun part-time. — 00:16:54
  • 2020-12-28 (said on 2020-12-15, implied) · How Much Money I Earn as a Doctor + YouTuber — Ali still wants to be a doctor, but part-time: three days a week would be really fun, while doing anything five to seven days a week risks burnout and stress. — 00:10:31