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How I Organise My Life

2020-07-21 (said on 2020-07-20 — implied: date said in the video; uploaded 1 day later) · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 23:27 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Tools, apps and tech (also: Books and reading, Goals, purpose and life design, Productivity and time) · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough · tags: Lesson from a book, His own numbers, Sponsor segment present

In the first episode of his app-review series Appy Hour, Ali shows how he uses Roam Research after four months: daily notes and bi-directional links for book notes, evergreen notes, morning pages, a daily template of six categories and a "nibble" inbox for content to digest; he finds $15 a month worth it and lists its drawbacks.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Four months with Roam Research; the first episode of Appy Hour

  • ★★ Ali discovered the note-taking app Roam Research a few months ago, was sceptical at first, and has used it almost every day for four months; it has transformed his workflow in certain ways. — 00:00:00 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Ali's video on Roam Research is the first episode of Appy Hour, his new series reviewing apps. — 00:00:00 · Roam Research

00:00:29 — What is Roam: the daily note and bi-directional linking

  • ★ Ali calls Roam Research basically a glorified note-taking app; its website calls it a tool for thought. — 00:00:29 · Roam Research
  • ★★★ Two key features set Roam Research apart from Evernote and Notion; the first is the daily note: each day the app opens on a new blank page, with no folders or notebooks. — 00:00:58 · Roam Research, Evernote, Notion
  • ★★★ Roam Research's second key feature is bi-directional linking: a phrase put in square brackets becomes its own page, and that page lists every note linking to it as linked references. — 00:02:17 · Roam Research

00:02:57 — Book notes: recommended by, rating, to-be-read list and evergreen notes

  • ★★ Ali usually records in each book page of his Roam Research notes who recommended the book, linked to that person's page; The Elephant in the Brain links to Nat Eliason. — 00:03:10 · Roam Research
  • ★ In his book notes Ali rates The Elephant in the Brain 10 out of 10. — 00:03:10
  • ★★ Nat Eliason is one of Ali's favourite bloggers; Ali took his course on how to use Roam Research. — 00:03:10 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Nat Eliason's page in Ali's Roam Research shows 11 linked references, so when Ali invites him onto a Deep Dive he will have a list of every time he mentioned him. — 00:03:39 · Deep Dive, Roam Research
  • ★★ Ali writes his book notes in Roam Research as bullet points, summarising each chapter in his own words along with some quotes. — 00:04:15 · Roam Research
  • ★ Ali tags books he wants to read with the hashtag TBR, so the TBR page in Roam Research lists his to-be-read books. — 00:04:15 · Roam Research
  • ★★★ While taking notes on a book, Ali turns interesting ideas such as the Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis into their own pages, evergreen notes, so that if the idea comes up years later he sees where he first met it. — 00:05:31 · Roam Research

00:06:14 — Trees of Knowledge: evergreen notes from a Naval Ravikant podcast and block references

  • ★★ On a Roam Research page called Trees of Knowledge Ali is slowly building up his bank of evergreen notes, tagged with hashtags such as evergreen, life, meaning and happiness. — 00:06:14 · Roam Research
  • ★★ While and after listening to a podcast episode with Naval Ravikant and Samantha Ryan (as heard), Ali pulled quotes from it and turned each interesting point into an evergreen note. — 00:07:12
  • ★ Ali's evergreen note "work is synonymous with misery" records Naval Ravikant's point that something is a hobby if it is fun and work if it is not. — 00:07:35
  • ★★ A quote in Roam Research can reference its original block, so a change to it updates every reference, where other note-taking apps need a lot of copying and pasting. — 00:08:02 · Roam Research

00:08:20 — Morning pages in the daily note

  • ★ Ali explains morning pages: at the start of each day you write three pages of continuous prose by hand, which helps get things off your mind and brings new creative insights. — 00:08:31
  • ★★ Handwriting is slower than typing for Ali, so on a day off work he often types his morning pages as bullet points in his Roam Research daily note, creating links as he writes; he keeps them private. — 00:08:31 · Roam Research

00:09:14 — The Roam daily notes template: five directives and six categories

  • ★★ Ali has recently started using a daily notes template in Roam Research, inserted by an Alfred snippet when he types "Roam Daily". — 00:09:14 · Alfred, Roam Research
  • ★★ Ali's daily template opens with a daily reminder: don't ignore your dreams, don't work too much, say what you think, cultivate friendships, be happy. — 00:09:14
  • ★ The five reminders come from a blog post, by Paul Graham as Ali thinks, that turns the book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying into five directives. (hedged) — 00:09:14
  • ★★★ Ali keeps the five directives drawn from the top five regrets of the dying at the top of his to-do list each day, to remind himself not to lose focus on them. — 00:09:56
  • ★★★ Ali's daily Roam Research template gives him six categories of things to focus on each day: create, connect, consume, celebrate, coordinate and consolidate. — 00:10:21 · Roam Research
  • ★ Under "create" Ali logs what he made that day, linked to the project's own page, such as the page for this video. — 00:10:43 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Under "connect" Ali notes the people he spoke to that day, and his daily template reminds him to message someone he hasn't spoken to in a while. — 00:10:43
  • ★★ Ali always likes to have a reminder in his daily to-do list to call his grandmother, whom he calls Nani. — 00:11:25 · Ali Abdaal's grandmother
  • ★★ Under "consume" Ali links what he consumed that day, such as the audiobook War Doctor, which he was listening to on Audible on his drive to work. — 00:11:25 · Audible
  • ★ Under "celebrate" Ali lists any evergreen notes he created that day. — 00:11:58
  • ★★ Ali's team has four members, with Christian, Angus and Liz; they have a weekly Zoom meeting, which goes under "coordinate" with his calendar items. — 00:12:25 · Christian, Angus
  • ★★ Ali still uses Notion for a lot of team-based work, such as notes from his weekly team meeting. — 00:12:25 · Notion
  • ★★ Ali says there is so much to Roam Research that it is hard to cover in one video, and he will definitely make more videos about it. — 00:12:25 · Roam Research
  • ★ Under "consolidate" Ali puts things for his health, such as a workout. — 00:13:07
  • ★★ Roam Research has a web app that works on the hospital's work computers, so Ali keeps it open at work for moments of downtime. — 00:13:07 · Roam Research
  • ★★ The daily Roam Research note gives Ali a cross-platform reminder of everything he is doing that day and encourages him to take more notes on what he consumes. — 00:13:37 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Ali's Nibble Framework is based on his friend Tiago Forte's online course Building a Second Brain. — 00:13:37 · Tiago Forte, Building a Second Brain

00:13:58 — The Nibble Framework: nibbles awaiting digestion

  • ★★★ In his Nibble Framework Ali tags everything he reads, watches or listens to as a "nibble": in effect a content inbox of nibbles awaiting digestion. — 00:14:06 · Roam Research
  • ★★★ Once Ali has turned a nibble's insights into his own words as evergreen notes, as with ikigai from a Nat Eliason article, he tags it "digested" and it leaves the list awaiting digestion. — 00:15:09
  • ★★★ The Nibble Framework makes Ali think harder about what he consumes; his resonance calendar in Notion collected items but had no process to make him take notes and mine their insights. — 00:15:38 · Notion
  • ★★ The list of nibbles to digest gives Ali a default activity for spare moments, such as turning his Kindle highlights of Man's Search for Meaning into evergreen notes. — 00:16:07 · Kindle

00:16:58 — Pricing: $15 a month, the scholars programme and the Believer plan

  • ★★ Ali prefers to pay for apps he will use for a long time: an app with a paid model will probably be around for a while, while only a handful of the many free note-taking apps last. — 00:16:58
  • ★★★ Roam Research costs $15 a month, one of Ali's most expensive subscriptions, with a 31-day free trial. — 00:16:58 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Roam Research's scholars programme, for full-time students, people in financial hardship, those earning under $25,000 a year, teachers and researchers, gives half-price and sometimes free subscriptions. — 00:17:41 · Roam Research
  • ★★★ Ali thinks $15 a month for Roam Research is completely worth it: any app that improves his thinking, life or productivity or helps him make more videos is worth the money. — 00:17:41 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Ali says that even at $50 a month he would probably still think Roam Research worth it, since he uses it every day. (hedged) — 00:18:11 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Ali is on Roam Research's Believer plan: $500 upfront for five years, about $100 a year or $8 a month; he chose it because he believes in the app, and Roam does not sponsor the video. — 00:18:11 · Roam Research
  • ★ Ali asks Roam's Connor (as heard) to make an affiliate programme for Roam Research, since he would love to recommend it to more people. — 00:18:54 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Asked why he only talks about paid apps, Ali says he sees them as an investment in his future and his life: he would happily spend $15 on a takeaway, so why not on an app that improves his life more. — 00:18:54
  • ★★ Roam Research released desktop, iOS and Android apps the day before (19 July 2020); they are progressive web apps rather than full native apps, which its small team is still developing. — 00:19:32 · Roam Research

00:19:34 — Drawbacks: no native apps yet, slow reloads, a learning curve

  • ★★ Roam Research occasionally takes ages to reload, maybe 30 seconds; Ali recalls two or three such times in the last two months, fewer than in its early days. (hedged) — 00:20:02 · Roam Research
  • ★★ Roam Research has quite a learning curve, as it opens on a blank page; courses such as Ali's Nebula videos or Nat Eliason's Roam course help. — 00:20:02 · Roam Research, Nebula
  • ★★★ Ali advises against copying someone else's Roam Research setup exactly: look at what others do, play around with it and build it into your own workflow. — 00:20:31 · Roam Research

00:21:00 — The Workflow series on Nebula and the CuriosityStream sponsor read; sign-off

  • ★★ Ali adds new videos to his Workflow series on Nebula each month; it has many videos on Roam Research and Notion and a few on how he consumes podcasts and articles and moves them into his second brain. — 00:21:00 · Workflow series, Nebula, Roam Research, Notion, second brain
  • ★★ Nebula is where Ali can put videos that would not work on YouTube, such as a run of 10 videos on how he uses Roam Research, which the algorithm would not support. — 00:21:29 · Nebula, Roam Research

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: bi-directional linking · evergreen note · Nibble Framework · Roam Research

Also: People: Ali Abdaal's grandmother · Angus · Christian · Hugh Jackman · Liz · Nalini Singh · Nat Eliason · Naval Ravikant · Paul Graham · Tiago Forte · Tim Ferriss

Projects: Appy Hour · Deep Dive · Workflow series

Works: Building a Second Brain · Man's Search for Meaning · The Elephant in the Brain · The Top Five Regrets of the Dying · War Doctor

Organizations: Nebula

Concepts: morning pages · resonance calendar · second brain · tools for thought

Products: Alfred · Audible · Evernote · Kindle · Notion

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