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Interviewing a Writer // Day in the Life VLOG

2020-03-22 · Vlog or day in the life · Ali · recording, 8:02 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Relationships and personal life (also: Productivity and time, YouTube, writing online and creators, Medicine and his doctor years, Learning and studying) · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough

On a day off (5 March 2020) Ali writes his daily focus, gratitude and let-go note and a paper to-do list, has his first personal trainer session, interviews Hasan about his book The Unfair Advantage, teaches his last physiology supervision before Easter and records a study-tips discussion with Osaid.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — A late start and the daily focus, gratitude and let-go note

  • ★ On his day off Ali wakes at 8.45am, having stayed up until 1am watching clips of the comedy show Would I Lie to You on YouTube. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Ali has started a new daily practice in his Leuchtturm1917 notebook: writing down one thing to focus on, one thing to be grateful for and one thing to let go of. — 00:00:29 · Leuchtturm1917 notebook
  • ★★ That day Ali focuses on interviewing the author of a new business book, is grateful for the financial freedom his YouTube channel and other businesses give him, and tries to let go of worrying about his videos' views. — 00:00:29 · work optional

00:00:58 — Paper to-do list brain dump and a calendar for a busy day

  • ★★ Although he uses apps for everything in his life, Ali finds a whole brain dump onto paper of everything he might need to do that day very satisfying. — 00:00:58
  • ★ Ali's to-do list that day: film videos on whether coffee and reading fiction are good for you, send files to Stan and George (third-year medical students he recorded a podcast with), call his grandma, mark physiology essays, set up his new GoPro and pay people for 6med. — 00:00:58 · Ali Abdaal's grandmother, 6med
  • ★★ On a particularly busy day Ali also writes out a quick calendar of what he has on. — 00:01:29
  • ★ Ali notes the vlog was filmed on 5 March 2020, before the coronavirus became serious in the UK, so social isolation was not yet expected. — 00:01:29

00:01:58 — GoPro, first personal trainer session, grandma's call, the edit, studio set-up and essay marking

  • ★ Ali watches YouTube videos to find the best settings for his new GoPro and buys accessories and mounts for it on Amazon Prime. — 00:02:27 · Amazon
  • ★★ At his first ever personal trainer session, the trainer Dan, a posture specialist, teaches Ali about imbalances in his posture, which Ali puts down to years of sitting at a computer. — 00:03:07
  • ★ On a WhatsApp video call his grandma in Pakistan asks, as usual, why he has not found a wife yet; Ali says he is working on it, hence the personal trainer. (playful) — 00:03:07 · Ali Abdaal's grandmother, Pakistan, WhatsApp
  • ★ Ali reviews the edit of a video coming out later that week and talks to his editor Christian over Slack. — 00:03:37 · Christian, Slack
  • ★★ For filming interviews at home Ali uses the Aputure 120D light with the space light extension, two microphones and two cameras. — 00:03:37
  • ★★ Ali marks his students' physiology essays, mostly on the kidneys and how the body tightly controls blood potassium and calcium, acidity, osmolality and extracellular fluid volume. — 00:04:06

00:04:35 — Interview with Hasan about The Unfair Advantage

  • ★★★ Ali talks on camera for over two hours with Hasan about the lessons of Hasan's newly released book The Unfair Advantage, and about success, money, fulfilment and productivity. — 00:04:35
  • ★★ Ali will include clips from his discussion with Hasan in future YouTube videos; the full interview is on Nebula, the streaming platform he and other creators are helping to build. — 00:04:35 · Nebula · also in: A Productive Day in Isolation
  • ★★ At Girton College Ali teaches the last physiology session before the Easter holidays, before the students were sent home because of the coronavirus: pizza as an end-of-term treat and presentations by five pairs of students on kidney physiology. — 00:05:04 · Girton College

00:05:12 — Last physiology supervision before Easter at Girton College

  • ★★ Feeling in a slump, Ali works through Brilliant's Introduction to Neural Networks course; Brilliant is not sponsoring the video, and he says he genuinely enjoys doing its online courses. — 00:05:33 · Brilliant

00:05:41 — Brilliant, and a study-tips discussion with Osaid

  • ★★★ Ali and his friend Osaid, who has done very well in his medical school exams, discuss on camera more nuances of Osaid's active recall framework, the subject of Ali's video How My Friend Ranked First at Medical School. — 00:06:03 · active recall
  • ★★ Ali and Osaid also discuss tactics for sustaining motivation and focus while studying, and how to optimise Anki, the flashcard app both have used for years. — 00:06:32 · Anki
  • ★★ Ali will convert his study-tips discussion with Osaid into a series of YouTube videos; the full interview is on Nebula. — 00:06:32 · Nebula

00:06:58 — Late night and a look back at the day

  • ★ Ali thought lying in bed for an hour that morning meant an unproductive day, but he recorded two interviews, ran a three-hour physiology session and started a personal trainer programme. — 00:07:01

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Hasan Kubba · Osaid · The Unfair Advantage

Also: People: Ali Abdaal's grandmother · Christian

Works: Would I Lie to You

Organizations: 6med · Amazon · Brilliant · Girton College · Nebula · University of Cambridge

Concepts: active recall · work optional

Places: Pakistan

Products: Anki · Aputure 120D Mark II · GoPro · Leuchtturm1917 notebook · Slack · WhatsApp

Only in the description or credits: IQUnix · Magic Keyboard

Also centred on Hasan Kubba: What Makes People Successful?

Also centred on Osaid: How my friend ranked 1st at Medical School - The Active Recall Framework · Study with Me - Hustle & Chill

Also centred on The Unfair Advantage: What Makes People Successful?

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