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Studying, Cooking and Netflix · Day in the Life During Lockdown

2020-05-26 · Vlog or day in the life · Ali, Ali Abdaal (channel) · recording, 5:44 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Relationships and personal life (also: Learning and studying, YouTube, writing online and creators) · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough · tags: Sponsor segment present, His medical past, Family

In a lockdown day-in-the-life vlog Ali calls his friend Zeeshan, prepares and teaches a gastrointestinal physiology session built from his Notion notes, edits his Book Club script on Atomic Habits, practises guitar, cooks for himself and ends the night binge-watching Money Heist before a week of twilight shifts.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Tidying the house and a catch-up call with Zeeshan

  • ★★ Ali has a catch-up call with his friend Zeeshan, a London paediatrician who founded the Unofficial Guide to Medicine book series Ali used at medical school; they discuss careers in medicine and active versus passive income. — 00:00:00 · passive income, London

00:00:44 — Scoping the gastrointestinal physiology teaching session and building it in Keynote from three sources

  • ★★ Ali prepares a teaching session on gastrointestinal physiology that he will deliver to his students over Zoom in the afternoon. — 00:00:44 · Zoom
  • ★★ Ali starts the teaching preparation by scoping the subject, splitting gastrointestinal physiology into three parts: general gut physiology, the upper and the lower gastrointestinal system. — 00:00:44 · scoping the subject
  • ★★ Ali builds his revision presentation in Keynote from three sources: the lecture slides, the First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 book read in PDF Expert, and his own notes and questions in Notion. — 00:00:58 · Notion

00:01:20 — Notion sponsor read

00:01:57 — Reusing Notion toggle notes, losing concentration, quick exercises and a change of scenery

  • ★★ In an earlier study session Ali put notes and diagrams into Notion toggle blocks to hide them under questions for himself; he now reuses those notes to build his teaching session, which saves him a lot of time. — 00:01:57 · Notion
  • ★ When Ali loses concentration at half past twelve, he lies on the sofa for a few minutes, does some quick exercises to raise his heart rate, then moves to the bedroom for a change of scenery. (playful) — 00:02:10

00:02:50 — Editing the Book Club script on Atomic Habits in Notion

  • ★★ Ali edits the script of a Book Club episode on James Clear's Atomic Habits, adding personal examples and casual touches so it seems less scripted. — 00:02:50 · Book Club, Atomic Habits, James Clear, Notion
  • ★★ Ali and his team use Notion to plan all their videos and business matters. — 00:02:50 · Notion

00:03:05 — The revision session with past paper questions; teaching leaves him energised

  • ★★ Ali runs a two-hour gastrointestinal physiology revision session with his students, ending with past paper questions to apply active recall to what they have just learned. — 00:03:05 · active recall
  • ★★ Ali likes teaching because it usually leaves him energised rather than drained, and he uses that energy for his next task. — 00:03:19

00:03:30 — Guitar practice, a ukulele cover, a call from his grandma and an hour of doing nothing

  • ★★ Ali practises guitar: a major scale played with minimal finger movement, as JustinGuitar advises, then drills to build finger strength. — 00:03:30
  • ★★ Ali's grandmother calls him from Pakistan, tells him off for posting so many YouTube videos and urges him to focus on medicine instead. — 00:03:48 · Ali Abdaal's grandmother, Pakistan

00:04:18 — Finishing the Atomic Habits script on the iPad Pro

00:04:30 — Cooking a Mindful Chef meal, a Money Heist binge until 2.30am and twilight shifts ahead

  • ★★ Ali cooks for himself, a pesto-coated oven-baked cod with turmeric rice and salsa, from groceries delivered by Mindful Chef, a service he has been trying out. — 00:04:30
  • ★★ Ali watches an episode of Money Heist on Netflix and then seven more, until half past two in the morning; it has been a long time since such a TV binge and he says he has kind of missed it. — 00:04:47 · Netflix
  • ★★ This week (week of 25 May 2020) Ali is on twilight shifts at work, from 4pm to midnight. — 00:05:16

In the description and comments

  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Ali's laptop is a 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro with a dbrand skin. — creator comment · MacBook
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked how Ali snaps his Notion window to the left half of his Mac screen, the channel names the app Moom. — creator comment · Notion
  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): To a viewer who feels they use Notion wrong, the channel says there is no wrong way of using Notion. — creator comment · Notion
  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked whether Ali will take the USMLE or the MRCP, the channel says he is not sure yet. (unsure) — creator comment · USMLE
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked about a video on Ali's talk with his paediatrician friend Zeeshan, the channel says not right now, but they are planning collaborations in the future. — creator comment

Humor (significant)

  • After losing focus Ali stops being a "wasteman" and does a few quick exercises — 00:02:22

    “bring me one step closer to my dream of becoming a Gymshark athlete”

  • Ali explains that Keynote is the Mac version of PowerPoint — 00:00:58

    “for all you heathens out there”

  • Ali gives himself just five more minutes of doing nothing — 00:03:48

    “which inevitably turns into more than an hour of doing absolutely nothing”

  • After a takeaway and seven more episodes of Money Heist — 00:04:47

    “there goes the dream of becoming a gym shark athlete”

  • Ali wastes another 30 minutes watching Logan Paul vlogs before bed — 00:05:16

    “what is life”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Notion

Also: People: Ali Abdaal's grandmother · David Dobrik · James Clear · Logan Paul · Zeeshan

Projects: Book Club

Works: Atomic Habits · First Aid for the USMLE · JustinGuitar · Money Heist · The Unofficial Guide to Medicine

Organizations: Gymshark · Instagram · Mindful Chef · Netflix

Concepts: active recall · passive income · scoping the subject

Places: London · Pakistan

Products: Google Drive · iPad Pro · Keynote · Kindle · MacBook · Microsoft PowerPoint · PDF Expert · Zoom

Only in the description or credits: dbrand · Moom · USMLE

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