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Q & A - 5,000 Subscribers!

2018-03-21 · Q&A video · Ali · recording, 16:16 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Medicine and his doctor years (also: Mindset, motivation and happiness, Business and entrepreneurship, YouTube, writing online and creators, Productivity and time, Relationships and personal life) · mode: Answering questions · tags: Aimed at students, His own numbers, His own products discussed

In a Q&A for reaching 5,000 subscribers, Ali, a final-year Cambridge medical student, says to apply for medicine even with doubts and that school roles and extracurriculars matter little, then talks about his favourite specialty, how SixMed began, growing a blog, discipline over motivation, stoicism for rejection and why milestones do not bring happiness.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Ali thanks viewers for 5,000 subscribers and introduces the Q&A

00:00:27 — Medicine application questions: doubts about medicine, positions of responsibility, caring versus science, extracurriculars at medical school

  • ★★ Ali says he did not know what he wanted to do when he applied for medicine; he chose it as a varied, broad degree, thinking six years at university better than three, and calls it the best decision he has ever made. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Ali advises applying for medicine even with doubts: it is unfair to expect someone of 16 or 17 to know they want to be a doctor for 50 years, and liking the idea of the degree is reason enough. — 00:01:03
  • ★★★ Ali advises going for head boy or head girl if you have the chance, since it builds links with staff and real skills, but not when the only reason is to help a medicine application. — 00:02:00
  • ★★ Ali says that when medicine interviewers ask about leadership or teamwork, what counts is what you did in a role, such as organising a charity dinner, not the title of head girl or head boy. — 00:02:29
  • ★★ Ali says some Oxbridge colleges are all about research, but interviewers at almost all universities prefer medicine applicants who see being a doctor as caring for patients rather than a route into research. — 00:02:58 · University of Oxford, University of Cambridge
  • ★★ Ali says extracurriculars at medical school hardly matter for a CV, not at all for foundation jobs and a few points for the Academic Foundation Programme only for, say, an Olympic medallist, so pick ones you enjoy that build skills. — 00:03:32 · Academic Foundation Programme
  • ★★ Ali's favourite specialty for now is obstetrics and gynaecology: a mix of medicine and surgery, helping babies into the world, with mostly young, healthy patients facing a happy event. — 00:04:20 · Obstetrics and gynaecology

00:04:21 — His favourite specialty and what he enjoys most about medicine

  • ★★ Ali enjoys the teamwork of medicine most: doctors, nurses and physios working together for the patient, with good banter on the wards and on clinical school placements. — 00:04:49

00:05:52 — How he got into medical education through the BMAT course and SixMed

  • ★★★ Ali says he got into medical education to make some money: in his first year at university he ran a BMAT course for students at his school, then built a website for the BMAT Crash Course and marketed it nationally, and it grew beyond what he imagined. — 00:06:05 · BMAT (admissions), 6med
  • ★★ Ali says that after five years of SixMed courses he no longer cares about making money from education and enjoys teaching for its own sake, which is why he started his YouTube channel and gives unpaid teaching sessions. — 00:06:27 · 6med

00:07:11 — How to get the word out about a new medicine blog

  • ★★★ Ali advises a new blogger to expect no readers for months or years: there is no point promoting a site with one or two posts; write high-quality posts regularly and readers will follow, valuing the backlog. — 00:07:55

00:08:22 — Whether he ever wanted to drop out of university

  • ★★ Ali says there has never been a point when he wanted to drop out of university, though he knows many people find university a struggle and some drop out. — 00:08:23
  • ★ Ali would probably agree with Chris Pratt's line that every year since the age of three has been the best year of his life. (hedged) — 00:08:23

  • ★★★ Ali says motivation is pretty much a myth and people should use discipline instead to get things done. — 00:08:52 · discipline

    “motivation is pretty much a myth and we should be using discipline instead to get stuff done”

  • ★★ Ali says a very detailed video on how he manages his time and avoids procrastinating will come in the next couple of weeks. — 00:08:52

00:09:07 — How he manages his time without procrastinating

  • ★★ Ali says that, as you train to get into Olympic form, you should break the link between feeling like doing something and doing it: act first, and motivation and enjoyment come later. — 00:09:28
  • ★★ Ali finds it useful to have semi-productive ways to procrastinate, such as watching YouTube tutorials on vlogging and noting how other vloggers edit. — 00:09:58

00:10:19 — How he deals with rejection and failure

  • ★★ Ali says his video on dealing with rejection and failure will come in the next couple of weeks, probably within March 2018. (hedged) — 00:10:19
  • ★★ Ali likes stoicism and the serenity prayer as a philosophy for dealing with rejection and as a way of living that reduces negative emotions. — 00:10:30
  • ★★★ Ali says a romantic, academic or professional rejection is outside our control, so there is no point dwelling on it: treat it as a learning experience, take away a lesson and move on. — 00:10:59
  • ★★ Ali is inspired by doctors who are kind to patients, know their stuff, teach students well and take it all with good humour, without thinking themselves kings of the world, and hopes to emulate them. — 00:11:36

00:11:42 — What inspires him: doctors and YouTubers

  • ★★ Ali is inspired by YouTubers Gary Vaynerchuk, Casey Neistat and Peter McKinnon, who built audiences from the ground up by consistently giving value for free and built a personal brand and business on it. — 00:12:17 · Gary Vaynerchuk, Casey Neistat, Peter McKinnon
  • ★ Asked by friends about getting married, Ali leaves it for another video and points to Sid and Dina, the YouTube channel of Dina and her husband, for viewers who want to know about marriage. — 00:12:47

00:12:51 — Banter questions from friends: marriage and his everyday look

  • ★★ Ali's everyday look is a grey T-shirt and the same black jeans every day: decide on one look and wear it daily, since nobody really cares. (playful) — 00:13:26

00:13:47 — Life after 5,000 subscribers: milestones, the climb and The Day I Became a Millionaire

  • ★★★ Ali says milestones such as 100,000 subscribers, a three-bedroom house, a raise or a million dollars never bring the promised happiness: in Miley Cyrus's words, it is about the climb, not the destination. — 00:13:55

    “it's about the climb. It's not about reaching the destination.”

  • ★★ Ali recommends DHH's Medium article "The Day I Became a Millionaire", on how the Basecamp founder felt when Jeff Bezos bought a small stake in his company. — 00:13:55

  • ★★ Retelling DHH's article, Ali says DHH realised that what he wanted, to keep programming, working on his company and spending time with friends and family, needs no million dollars. — 00:14:39
  • ★★ Ali says life after 5,000 subscribers is no different from life at 1,000 or 200, because he enjoys making the videos and connecting with viewers; only the comments and questions are more. — 00:14:39

00:15:37 — Closing thanks and plans for the channel

  • ★ Ali hopes to branch out into singing songs with his medic friends and into videos for medical students, such as OSCE tips and essay writing. (hedged) — 00:15:44

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Ali's channel has reached 5,000 subscribers. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

People: Casey Neistat · Gary Vaynerchuk · Peter McKinnon

Works: BMAT (admissions)

Organizations: 6med · University of Cambridge

Concepts: Academic Foundation Programme · discipline · Obstetrics and gynaecology

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