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leave money on the table

concept · in 29 sources (2019–2023)

Choosing enjoyment and sanity over the last dollar of growth.

Sources by year: 2019: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2021: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2023: 8

Also known as: isn't that enough?, enough

Questions

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2023

  • 2023-01-16 · Caspar Lee on the Struggles of Being a YouTuber #shorts — recommendation: Caspar Lee says that if you let the good make you happy you let the bad make you sad, so creators should avoid getting too excited when things go well and try to find happiness elsewhere. — 00:00:29
  • 2023-07-01 · I Asked MKBHD and Mrwhosetheboss How to Grow on YouTube — Ali says that if you keep trying to appease the audience and chase the numbers, forcing yourself to make videos you do not enjoy for the algorithm or subscribers, YouTube becomes a second job and is not a sustainable way to grow a channel. — 00:01:17
    • Marques Brownlee says the number one reason he stays consistent is that it is fun: his team are tech and video nerds, and trying a new piece of tech every day is the dream. — 00:07:26
    • Ali's first method for staying consistent on YouTube is to find a way to make it fun and make it feel good. — 00:08:19
  • 2023-09-01 · 8 Steps That Got Me Millions of Subscribers on YouTube — Ali's fourth habit: almost from day one he has treated YouTube as an infinite game, played to keep playing rather than to win, which he credits for lasting six years on YouTube. — 00:05:10
    • Ali says the point of doing YouTube is not to make money but to make videos that help people while having fun, and if it is not fun there is no point doing it. — 00:11:14
  • 2023-10-26 · How to Avoid Burnout 😫 — recommendation: Ali: When making videos starts to feel like a chore or a job, Ali reminds himself that he did not leave his day job for this, and looks for whatever makes the work feel good, energising and enjoyable. — 00:00:29
  • 2023-12-08 · Everything's Changing - Life Update — Ali: A friend who sold a company for over $100 million told Ali that the big realisation among post-exit founders is that it is okay to leave money on the table: a life you love often costs you money. — 00:26:13
    • Before you reach financial freedom or security, Ali says, you have to choose the more-money option: someone working several jobs to feed a family cannot leave money on the table. — 00:28:11
    • Ali's big realisation after months of soul-searching: once you have enough money for your basic needs, it is okay to leave money on the table and make less for balance, health, relationships, family and hobbies. — 00:30:54
  • 2023-12-20 · 4 Books That Changed My Life — Ali's takeaway from The Practice: when you ship creative work, focus on the process, do not get attached to the outcome, and show up like a professional, getting better over time; that itself is the reward. — 00:04:00
    • The happiest creators Ali knows detach themselves from the outcome: they keep showing up, focus on the process and count it a win to get the video out. — 00:05:28
  • …and 5 statements more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

2022

  • 2022-02-25 · How to Grow on YouTube - Live Stream with Ali Abdaal — Ali thinks the key to staying consistent on YouTube is to make it fun: if YouTube is fun for you, you would not think of it as work. — 00:17:31
  • 2022-03-03 · How To Start a YouTube Channel - Beginner’s Guide to YouTube — Ali: Turning YouTube into a business has made it more fun for Ali overall, but having to make money from it takes a little of the joy out of the craft. — 00:17:47
  • 2022-03-30 · This Book Made Me a Happier Person — Ali: Applying the separation of tasks, Ali became a lot happier when he tried to stop caring how his videos perform; he used to feel very worried when one did badly. — 00:15:48
  • 2022-05-12 · What Am I Doing With My Life? — Ali: In case Ali stops wanting to make weekly videos, he wants to make his business more anti-fragile by building brands that are not intrinsically tied to him. — 00:16:24
    • Ali finds that the more he dissociates himself from the numbers, the better: he does not look at a video's views, which is his producer Jamie's job. — 00:24:01
  • 2022-07-22 · How Much YouTube Paid Me For 10M Views — Ali: Treating his videos as investments puts Ali in the right mindset: he expects a return over the long term, so he is less attached to how a video does in its first 24 hours. — 00:02:55
  • 2022-07-26 · 28 Life Lessons from 28 Years in 28 Minutes — Ali: Monetising passions can take the fun away: YouTubers Ali spoke to enjoyed making videos part-time, but once full-time it became a job. — 00:19:39
  • 2022-08-05 · How to Start an Email Newsletter — recommendation: Ali advises against starting a newsletter, YouTube channel or TikTok to make money from day one: early on, when nobody watches or reads, extrinsic motivation is a hard reason to keep doing it. — 00:05:21
  • 2022-11-01 · A Day in My Life as a YouTuber — Ali: Whenever Ali thinks of the selfish gain he will get from making a video, making it no longer feels good and starts to feel like a chore. — 00:03:59
    • When Ali stops thinking about the numbers on the screen and asks whether a video will be helpful to at least one person in the world, all his overthinking goes away. — 00:03:59
    • Imagining one person coming up to him one day to say they liked his video on a topic makes Ali want to make that video and feel good making it. — 00:04:31
  • 2022-11-04 · How To Build A Life You Love — Ali: In the Part-Time YouTuber Academy, Ali says, those who stick to YouTube consistently tend to form accountability groups: two or three people on a weekly Zoom call holding each other accountable. — 00:18:13
  • …and 2 statements more in 2022 — all statements of 2022

2021

  • 2021-03-24 · My Toxic Relationship With Productivity — Ali tells himself he does not really care how his chat videos perform: people will watch them or not, and he need not fixate on YouTube Studio's numbers. — 00:14:19
  • 2021-04-04 · 9 Lessons From My Favourite YouTuber — Ali says making videos is supposed to be fun, and if it stops being fun for very long, something is wrong. — 00:14:24
  • 2021-10-09 · Helicopters, Travel and Film Making - A Conversation with Becki and Chris — Ali finds in every domain of his life that the less he cares about the numbers the happier he is, yet he should care to some degree because his business has hired people and has a studio and needs to make money: a constant balancing act. — 00:16:15
    • Chris's checklist after a video: look at it objectively; did you have fun making it and are you proud of the work? If yes, feel good and move on; if not, think about how to improve the next one. — 00:17:50
  • 2021-10-10 · In Conversation with Charlie from Charisma on Command #ptya — Charlie Houpert: Charlie believes anyone who does something for an extended time will burn out, and uploading once a week extends that timeline; after about four years he felt he had said what he had to say. — 00:07:54
    • Charlie Houpert: Charlie keeps his energy up because he is excited by problems he genuinely cannot answer: videos from sincere questions are where he feels most inspired and does his best work, while assembling ideas from books burns him out fastest. — 00:29:29
  • 2021-10-20 · Everything's Changing - Life Update — Ali: Being a YouTuber feels like being a slave to the algorithm on a hamster wheel, Ali says: he fears that if he takes a break from posting, the algorithm will penalise him and people will stop watching. — 00:14:34
    • Ali judges whether a video is good not only by its metrics but by whether he feels proud and happy with it, whether it feels authentic and would add value to at least one person. — 00:29:14
  • 2021-11-13 · How I Run this YouTube Channel - Day in the Life — Ali's conclusion after journaling: he can decide not to care about the numbers, a consistent publishing schedule or sponsorship deadlines, and make only videos that feel authentic and that he is proud of. — 00:10:30
  • 2021-12-03 · Reflecting On My Fears - Day in the Life — Ali says caring about the numbers is what adds stress and anxiety to his life. — 00:09:59
    • Ali decides his channel will no longer be beholden to an upload schedule: a video goes out when it is ready and good, not when a sponsor asks for it. — 00:13:39
  • 2021-12-09 · The Book That Changed My Financial Life 🤑 — Ali likes Morgan Housel's reminder that we need to recognise when enough is enough rather than keep pursuing growth for its own sake. — 00:02:26
  • …and 5 statements more in 2021 — all statements of 2021

2020

  • 2020-11-15 · How I Gained 1 MILLION Subscribers — Ali has recently taken up the philosophy of doing the work so you can keep doing it: YouTube is an infinite game with no end goal, and he wants to keep playing because it is fun, profitable and helps people. — 00:24:26
  • 2020-12-28 (said on 2020-12-15, implied) · How Much Money I Earn as a Doctor + YouTuber — Ali: About 80% of the time his work feels more like play than work to Ali; without enjoying it, he says, he could not have kept up his consistency and output. — 00:17:45

2019