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A "Productive" Day in my Life (Lockdown)

2020-11-24 (said on 2020-11-20 — implied: date said in the video; uploaded 4 days later) · Vlog or day in the life · Ali, Ali Abdaal (channel) · recording, 6:01 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Productivity and time (also: Business and entrepreneurship) · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough · tags: His own products discussed, His own numbers, Sponsor segment present

Ali films a lockdown day: journaling and Twitter in bed, a coaching call with Hasan Kubba, preparing and teaching a two-hour Part-Time YouTuber Academy live session on the idea generation machine, then a Bollywood film and his new PlayStation 5.

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, journaling in Day One, Twitter, chores and The Big Bang Theory

  • ★★ Ali wakes at 8.30 and, after a few minutes in bed, begins his morning journaling practice on his iPad Air in the app Day One. — 00:00:00 · iPad Air, Day One
  • ★★ After journaling, Ali makes what he calls the mistake of checking Twitter and falls into the "dopamine hit rabbit hole" of mentions, replies and aimless scrolling until he gets up at 9.15. — 00:00:00 · Twitter
  • ★★ At 10.05 Ali starts preparing the evening's live session of the Part-Time YouTuber Academy, in week one of its four-week live course with 400 students and a thriving community. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Coaching call with Hasan Kubba, a shower and a thumbnail for the MacBook Pro review

  • ★★ Ali has a one-hour session with his business coach Hasan Kubba; they met when Ali interviewed him for his book The Unfair Advantage, and each is now a student on the other's course. — 00:01:27
  • ★ Ali says showering and changing out of his pyjamas at noon really helps him get his head in the game for the rest of the day. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Ali's editor Christian reminds him to shoot a thumbnail for his MacBook Pro review, out later that day; Ali shoots it on the overhead rig while advising someone from Instagram on a business idea. — 00:01:56 · Christian, MacBook, Instagram

00:02:26 — Student tracking and the live session on the idea generation machine

  • ★★ Ali and his team are working on automatically tracking Part-Time YouTuber Academy students' channel goals and homework, so they can reach out to students who seem to be falling behind. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ The Academy's two-hour live session, with around 250 students on Zoom, teaches the idea generation machine for never running out of content ideas: eureka-moment strategies, the birdsong technique, the coal mining method. — 00:02:55 · Zoom

00:03:24 — End of work, the PlayStation 5 unboxing and a Bollywood film

  • ★★ After the live session Ali has a Zoom catch-up with the team and the Part-Time YouTuber Academy's five peer supporters, who have been running their own support sessions. — 00:03:24
  • ★★ With his work done at 7.20 p.m., Ali spends 30 minutes unboxing his new PlayStation 5 and shooting thumbnails with it. — 00:03:24
  • ★★ Ali's housemate Sheen (as heard), who has just passed her PhD, cooks dinner, and they celebrate by watching the Bollywood film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. — 00:03:24
  • ★★ Ali finds Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham pretty good but a bit over the top, with annoyingly long songs. — 00:03:24

00:03:53 — Sponsor read for Brilliant

00:04:52 — The film's ending, setting up the PS5, Demon's Souls and the sign-off

  • ★★ Ali means to do something productive on his MacBook but gets caught up in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham until 11 p.m., in tears at the reunion of the two families. — 00:04:52 · MacBook
  • ★★ At 11 p.m. Ali replaces his PS4 with the PS5, copies over Horizon Zero Dawn, buys Demon's Souls and plays for two hours, dying many times but having a great time. — 00:04:52

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked about Ali's iPad Air 4 review, the channel replies that it comes out on Friday (27 November 2020). — creator comment · iPad Air
  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked whether the Part-Time YouTuber Academy requires an existing channel, the channel replies that it has total beginners too, but they have to be very serious about it. — creator comment
  • ★ Ali keeps his iPad Pro for his desk and uses the iPad Air in bed. — creator comment · iPad Air, iPad Pro
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked how Ali likes his Herman Miller SAYL chair, the channel replies that he loves it. — creator comment

Humor (significant)

  • After scrolling Twitter in bed, Ali finally gets up — 00:00:29

    “I spontaneously decide to stop being a waste man and get out of bed to start the day with a burst of optimism”

  • Ali watches TV with his morning coffee — 00:00:58

    “to channel my inner normie, I watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory”

  • Ali does the morning chores — 00:00:58

    “wipe down the remnants of yesterday's Indian takeaway like the domestic goddess that I aspire to be”

  • Ali unboxes his new console — 00:03:24

    “my new PlayStation 5 which is going to be the death of my productivity”

  • After a three-hour film and two hours of gaming, Ali sums up the day — 00:05:21

    “So overall this has been a pretty solid day of being somewhat productive”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Part-Time YouTuber Academy

Also: People: Christian · Hasan Kubba · Sheen

Works: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham · Schitt's Creek · The Big Bang Theory · The Unfair Advantage

Organizations: Brilliant · Instagram · Twitter

Concepts: idea generation machine

Products: Day One · Demon's Souls · Horizon Zero Dawn · iPad Air · MacBook · PlayStation 4 · PlayStation 5 · Zoom

Only in the description or credits: Herman Miller Sail · iPad Pro

Also centred on Part-Time YouTuber Academy: A Productive Day on Vacation in the Canary Islands · How I Gained 1 MILLION Subscribers · PRODUCTIVE Day in the Life of an Aspiring Gymshark Athlete · How Much Money I Earn as a Doctor + YouTuber · A Beginner's Guide to Making Money with Online Courses

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