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A Productive Day in Isolation

2020-04-07 · Vlog or day in the life · Ali, Ali Abdaal (channel) · recording, 9:17 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Productivity and time (also: YouTube, writing online and creators) · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough · tags: Sponsor segment present, His medical past

Ali films a day working alone at home during the COVID-19 social isolation: a morning dump with his daily highlight, filming his five productivity tips video, reviewing edits, scripts and voiceovers for his day-in-the-life vlogs, Skillshare intros, exercise on the balcony and a cover of You Raise Me Up with his housemate Molly.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Waking up, Yes Theory in bed and trying to make good AeroPress coffee

  • ★★ Ali still cannot make his AeroPress coffee taste nice; he measures it by eye, which he says is why it tastes bad. — 00:00:27
  • ★ Ali has heard that coffee comes out better with a kettle that heats the water to a set temperature below 100 degrees Celsius and with measured coffee grounds. (hedged) — 00:00:36
  • ★ The coffee maker his editor Christian gave him suits large batches; with no visitors during social distancing and his housemate Molly drinking no coffee, the single-cup AeroPress makes more sense. — 00:00:59 · Christian, Molly Hunt

00:01:16 — Cleaning the desk and the morning dump with the highlight of the day

  • ★★ Before starting work, Ali procrastinates by cleaning his desk so that he feels more inspired to do something productive. (playful) — 00:01:20
  • ★★ Ali's morning dump in his Leuchtturm1917 notebook: his highlight of the day (something to focus on), something to be grateful for and something to let go of, plus a quick to-do list and a rough calendar; it takes a few minutes and gives him clarity. — 00:01:50 · daily highlight, Leuchtturm1917 notebook

00:02:12 — Slack with the team, filming the five productivity tips video with a minimal setup

  • ★★ Ali spends two morning hours chatting on Slack with his team members Angus and Christian and writing ideas for future videos and projects. — 00:02:16 · Angus, Christian, Slack
  • ★★ Ali films his five productivity tips video, which was released on the channel a few weeks before this vlog and did quite well. — 00:02:32
  • ★★ Ali is trying a minimal vlogging setup without a big external microphone, because he wants to care less about production value: it is important, but there are more important things. — 00:02:41

00:03:48 — Reviewing edits on Frame.io and watching a Nebula documentary over lunch

  • ★★ Ali reviews video edits that his editor Christian sends him on Frame.io, a video collaboration platform. — 00:03:50 · Christian
  • ★★ Ali calls EDITH: The Framing of Tony Stark, a Nebula documentary by his friend Dave Wiskus on the history of Tony Stark's glasses in the Marvel films, a pretty riveting story. — 00:04:02 · Nebula
  • ★★ Ali says he and many other creators are helping to build Nebula, a streaming platform. — 00:04:14 · Nebula · first in: 2020-03-22, Interviewing a Writer // Day in the Life VLOG

00:04:19 — Nebula and its exclusive series, sponsor read for CuriosityStream

  • ★★ Ali recommends the Nebula documentary series Money by Tom Scott, one of his favourite YouTubers. — 00:04:19 · Nebula

00:05:05 — Afternoon to-do list: Kurzgesagt, scripts, voiceovers, Skillshare intros and exercise

  • ★★ Ali calls Kurzgesagt's video on what is known about the coronavirus so far and what can be done about it absolutely incredible, a masterpiece. — 00:05:09
  • ★★ Ali does not know whether his team should release the business-as-usual videos they have scripted during the coronavirus pandemic; releasing some seems a bit silly. (unsure) — 00:05:29
  • ★★ Ali spends an hour filming more short intro videos for his Skillshare class on how to study for exams. — 00:05:56
  • ★ Ali gets distracted by his friend Hannah Witton's video on her second channel about ageing gracefully on YouTube, which he says he thinks about every day. (overstated) — 00:06:02

00:06:25 — Evening voiceovers, a cover with Molly and the end of a productive day

  • ★★ Ali records the voiceover for an upcoming day-in-the-life video as a gynaecology junior doctor, uploads it to Google Drive and works on his VidCon vlog. — 00:06:55 · Google Drive
  • ★★ Ali and his housemate Molly record an acoustic cover of You Raise Me Up, with her harmonising on the chorus, and he posts it to Instagram. — 00:07:10 · Molly Hunt, Instagram
  • ★★ Ali feels he has been making way too many day-in-the-life vlogs recently. — 00:07:24
  • ★★ Ali sums up the day of social distancing as long and productive: stuck in the house all day, apart from Molly who lives with him, he got a lot done. — 00:07:45 · Molly Hunt

00:08:08 — Ali and Molly's acoustic cover of You Raise Me Up

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked for a Q&A with Ali's housemate, the channel says one is coming. — creator comment · Molly Hunt
  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked for an in-depth video on Anki and flashcard learning, the channel says Ali is working on a mammoth Skillshare class about it. — creator comment · Anki
  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked how the UK MBChB differs from the US MD, the channel says they are basically the same thing and no one cares about the letters. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

People: Ali Abdaal's grandmother · Angus · Christian · Dave Wiskus · Hannah Witton · Molly Hunt · Peter McKinnon · Tom Scott

Projects: Deep Dive · Workflow series

Works: EDITH: The Framing of Tony Stark · You Raise Me Up

Organizations: CuriosityStream · Instagram · Kurzgesagt · Marvel · Nebula · Yes Theory

Concepts: daily highlight · social distancing

Events: VidCon

Products: AeroPress · Frame.io · Google Drive · Leuchtturm1917 notebook · Slack · Uni-ball Air

Only in the description or credits: Anki

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