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Productive Day in the Life in Lockdown // Behind the Scenes of my iPad Pro Videos

2020-04-19 · Vlog or day in the life · Ali, Ali Abdaal (channel) · recording, 9:54 · watch on YouTube

Topic: YouTube, writing online and creators (also: Productivity and time) · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough

On his day off before four 13-hour shifts, Ali batch-films at home in lockdown: a morning dump and morning pages in Roam Research, team edits, B-roll, an unboxing and a review of the new 2020 iPad Pros, and he unboxes the Peter McKinnon Nomatic camera bag he backed on Kickstarter.

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 at 9 a.m. and an hour in bed on the phone

  • ★★ Ali calls never getting back into bed with your phone after waking the cardinal rule of productivity; this morning he breaks it. — 00:00:00
  • ★ Ali spends another hour in bed on his phone with emails, Instagram messages and a Logan Paul vlog. — 00:00:00 · Instagram

00:00:29 — Day off before four 13-hour shifts: chores, coffee and breakfast

  • ★★ On his day off, before four 13-hour shifts in a row with no time for videos, Ali sets out to batch-film enough material for the next two weeks. — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Morning dump and morning pages in Roam Research

  • ★★ Ali's friend Kim has been teaching him to cook, and they are in the process of turning those lessons into a class on Skillshare. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Ali's morning dump in his Leuchtturm1917 notebook with a Uni-ball Air pen starts with three things: something to focus on, something to be grateful for and something to let go of; today's highlight is filming the new iPad Pros. — 00:01:04 · daily highlight, Leuchtturm1917 notebook, iPad Pro
  • ★★ In his morning dump Ali is grateful for the apartment he lives in and wants to let go of the fear of delegation, which he may talk about in a video some other time. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ In the second phase of his morning dump Ali spends about five minutes writing out everything he might need or want to do that day, to get it out of his head and onto paper. — 00:01:36
  • ★★ Ali is experimenting with morning pages: every morning you write three A4 pages by hand of whatever is on your mind, which in theory unclogs the mind of accumulated junk and stress. — 00:01:47
  • ★★ Morning pages are meant to be written longhand on paper, but Ali got annoyed at how slow his handwriting is next to his typing, so he is trying them in Roam Research instead. — 00:02:06 · Roam Research
  • ★★ After a few weeks with Roam Research Ali feels he has reached interesting insights about its connected way of dealing with thoughts, and he is working on a more detailed video about it. — 00:02:20 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Ali says a video of how he uses Roam Research and learns the ropes of it is part of his Workflow series on Nebula. — 00:02:26 · Roam Research, Workflow series, Nebula

00:02:40 — Edits with Angus and Christian, Tom Scott on the toilet

  • ★★ Ali's team member Angus had never edited a video until about two weeks earlier; after taking Ali's Skillshare class on editing in Final Cut, he now does some of the editing for the channel. — 00:02:40 · Angus, Final Cut Pro
  • ★ Ali reviews a monthly favourites video sent in by his editor Christian. — 00:02:55 · Christian

00:03:24 — Silent unboxing, Zoom calls and hours of iPad B-roll

  • ★★ Ali cleans a living room strewn with camera gear and empty boxes, which he says is what happens when his housemate Molly is away for an extended period. (playful) — 00:03:24 · Molly Hunt
  • ★★ Ali films a silent unboxing video of the new iPad Pros with Post-it notes and sends the files to his editor Christian via Google Drive. — 00:03:24 · iPad Pro, Google Drive, Christian
  • ★★ Ali finds quarantine really great for keeping in touch with friends; he has Zoom calls with two university friends. — 00:03:54 · Zoom
  • ★★ Ali spends three hours filming B-roll of the iPads around the house, which turns out to be quite fun. — 00:03:54 · iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali makes the thumbnail for his iPad unboxing video, which Christian edited in record time. — 00:04:59 · Christian, iPad Pro

00:05:37 — Filming the iPad Pro review and getting ready for bed

  • ★★ From 10 p.m. Ali plans, writes and films his iPad Pro review video in just over an hour. — 00:05:37 · iPad Pro

00:06:05 — Unboxing the Peter McKinnon Nomatic camera bag

  • ★★ Ali unboxes the Peter McKinnon Nomatic camera bag, which he backed on Kickstarter when it was first released; it is by far the most he has ever spent on any bag. — 00:06:05 · Peter McKinnon
  • ★★ Ali expects his new 35-litre Nomatic camera bag to carry everything for weekend trips, maybe even week-long trips. (hedged) — 00:06:57
  • ★★ For Ali the coolest part of the Nomatic camera bag is its camera cube, which turns into its own little day bag at your destination. — 00:07:25

00:09:40 — Bedtime before four days of 13-hour shifts

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked for a video about Roam Research, the channel says Ali has made six so far, on Nebula. — creator comment · Roam Research, Nebula
  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked whether reading on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is comfortable, the channel says Ali normally reads on a Kindle. — creator comment · Kindle, iPad Pro
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked which widescreen monitor Ali uses, the channel answers an LG 49-inch. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: iPad Pro · Peter McKinnon Nomatic camera bag

Also: People: Angus · Christian · Logan Paul · Molly Hunt · Peter McKinnon · Tom Scott

Projects: Workflow series

Organizations: Instagram · Kickstarter · Nebula

Concepts: daily highlight · morning pages

Products: AeroPress · Final Cut Pro · Google Drive · GoPro · Leuchtturm1917 notebook · Roam Research · Uni-ball Air · Zoom

Only in the description or credits: Kindle · LG 49WL95C

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