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10 Rules I Follow Everyday

2021-08-18 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 13:51 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Productivity and time (also: Tools, apps and tech, Mindset, motivation and happiness, Goals, purpose and life design, Learning and studying) · mode: List of tips or lessons · tags: Lesson from a book, Sponsor segment present

Ali gives ten rules he lives by to cut decision fatigue: the three Cs and zero-to-one purchases for tech, hell yeah or no, perfect is the enemy of good, TV only with other people, the go first rule, the 80/20 principle, his write-off principle, journey before destination, and everything is figureoutable.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Life as hundreds of small decisions; rules and mental models against decision fatigue

  • ★★ Ali says life is hundreds of small decisions that can cause anxiety and stress; one solution to decision fatigue is to use mental models, rules or principles to simplify decisions. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Rule one: the three Cs of tech, consume, create and connect

  • ★★★ Ali's first rule, the three Cs: before buying a new tech product he asks whether it helps him consume, create or connect; if it does none of these, he will not buy it. — 00:00:29 · the three Cs of tech, Kindle

00:01:21 — Rule two: invest in things that take you from zero to one

  • ★★★ Ali's second rule: invest in purchases that take you from zero to one, such as going from no phone to a phone, rather than incremental upgrades like the iPhone 8 to the iPhone X. — 00:01:21
  • ★★ Asked what tech to buy for under $500, Ali usually recommends an actual camera: having one means you take more photos, and nicer, higher-quality ones. — 00:01:27
  • ★ Ali is glad he bought a camera at university: his high-quality photos of friends and medical school do not compare with what a smartphone gives. — 00:01:53

00:02:22 — Rule three: hell yeah or no, with Derek Sivers

  • ★★ Derek Sivers (quoted): Derek Sivers says we say yes to too many things; he proposes raising the bar so that anything less than "hell yeah, that would be amazing" is a no, leaving time for the occasional great thing. — 00:02:22 · Derek Sivers, hell yeah or no
  • ★★ Ali recommends his friend Derek Sivers's book Hell Yeah or No, calling it very good. — 00:02:22 · Derek Sivers, hell yeah or no
  • ★★ Ali says he still does a terrible job of following hell yeah or no, with a calendar full of reasonable-seeming obligations he said yes to, and is trying to make anything short of "hell yeah" a no. — 00:03:17 · hell yeah or no

00:03:47 — Rule four: perfect is the enemy of good, with Casey Neistat

  • ★★ Casey Neistat (quoted): Casey Neistat says you can never let a desire for perfection stop you finishing something good, because finishing even imperfectly teaches you and brings you closer to perfection. — 00:03:49
  • ★★ Ali says the Part-Time YouTuber Academy has taught over a thousand students to start and grow YouTube channels, and over 80% of them have struggled with wanting the perfect camera, lighting and microphone first. — 00:04:18 · Part-Time YouTuber Academy

  • ★★★ Ali tells beginner YouTubers not to let perfect be the enemy of good: just upload the video, since doing more teaches you, while demanding a perfect or viral video from the start means never making anything. — 00:04:18

    “you can't let perfect be the enemy of good. Just upload the goddamn video.”

  • ★★ Writing his book, Ali finds that thinking it must be a New York Times bestseller stops him writing at all; he makes progress when he just gets something messy on the page. — 00:04:48

  • ★★★ Ali's rule since university, which he still follows: he is not allowed to watch TV unless it is with other people, and it frees up much of his time for things he finds more meaningful. — 00:04:48

00:05:14 — Rule five: only watch TV with other people

  • ★★ Ali gets little meaning, joy or fulfilment from watching TV alone but enjoys it as a social activity with others; people who find joy in watching alone should do so. — 00:05:46

00:06:15 — Rule six: the go first rule

  • ★★★ Ali's go first rule: everyone in the world is friendly, but you have to go first; he recalls it among strangers when fear of rejection or of seeming weird holds him back. — 00:06:15 · go first
  • ★★ Ali says that every time he has taken the first step, saying hello, starting banter or asking someone out, he has been glad he did, even when it did not work out. — 00:06:44 · go first
  • ★★ Tim Ferriss (quoted): Tim Ferriss applies the 80/20 principle to everything: 20% of your actions, inputs, products or services create 80% of what you want. — 00:06:44 · Tim Ferriss

00:07:02 — Rule seven: the Pareto principle, with Tim Ferriss

  • ★★ Tim Ferriss (quoted): Tim Ferriss's example: with 100 products filling 100-hour weeks, 20 would likely produce 90% of profits, so cutting the rest could keep 90% of income on 20 hours a week. (hypothetical, hedged) — 00:07:22 · Tim Ferriss
  • ★★ Ali often asks which 20% of things lead to 80% of the outcomes, and does this 80/20 analysis in everything in life. — 00:07:45
  • ★★ After reading Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Ali found he wears only about 20% of his wardrobe and donated the rest; he also donated 22 of his 24 keyboards to a charity shop. — 00:07:45

00:08:13 — Rule eight: the write-off principle

  • ★★★ Ali's write-off principle, a rule he came up with himself: declaring a day a write-off lets him take time off guilt-free, playing on the PlayStation, vegetating or ordering takeaway. — 00:08:14 · write-off principle
  • ★★ Ali takes write-off days maybe two or three days a month and always feels reset afterwards, but would not want every day to be like that, since he enjoys his work. (hedged) — 00:08:14 · write-off principle
  • ★★ Ali says a few write-off days a month, when he completely vegetates and turns off, help him be more productive the rest of the time. — 00:08:59 · write-off principle

00:09:09 — Rule nine: journey before destination

00:10:21 — Rule ten: everything is figureoutable, with Marie Forleo

  • ★★ Marie Forleo (quoted): Marie Forleo recalls her mother telling her that nothing in life is that complicated: roll up your sleeves, get in there and do it, because everything is figureoutable. — 00:10:21 · cracking open the black box
  • ★★★ Ali says the phrase "everything is figureoutable" planted a seed in him that has been the most powerful driving force in his life ever since: nothing in life is that complicated. — 00:11:03 · cracking open the black box
  • ★★ When Ali sees someone do something that looks really cool and asks them, they often say it was easy and list a few simple steps, which then seem not too bad. — 00:11:25 · cracking open the black box
  • ★★★ Ali says any field without experience, like learning to code, feels like a black box until you spend five minutes opening it and find it is not too bad, with a roadmap such as HTML and CSS. — 00:11:25 · cracking open the black box

00:11:59 — Extended edition on Nebula, CuriosityStream sponsor read and sign-off

Threads in this video

  • refine · How do you stop overthinking decisions? — Ali says life is hundreds of small decisions that can cause anxiety and stress; one solution to decision fatigue is to use mental models, rules or principles to simplify decisions. (00:00:00)
  • restate · How do you decide whether a purchase is worth it? — Ali's first rule, the three Cs: before buying a new tech product he asks whether it helps him consume, create or connect; if it does none of these, he will not buy it. (00:00:29)
  • refine · How do you decide whether a purchase is worth it? — Ali's second rule: invest in purchases that take you from zero to one, such as going from no phone to a phone, rather than incremental upgrades like the iPhone 8 to the iPhone X. (00:01:21)
  • refine · Which tech is worth buying? — Asked what tech to buy for under $500, Ali usually recommends an actual camera: having one means you take more photos, and nicer, higher-quality ones. (00:01:27)
  • restate · How do you decide what to say yes to? — Ali says he still does a terrible job of following hell yeah or no, with a calendar full of reasonable-seeming obligations he said yes to, and is trying to make anything short of "hell yeah" a no. (00:03:17)
  • restate · How do you get past perfectionism and the fear of starting? — Ali tells beginner YouTubers not to let perfect be the enemy of good: just upload the video, since doing more teaches you, while demanding a perfect or viral video from the start means never making anything. (00:04:18)
  • restate · Should you watch TV? — Ali's rule since university, which he still follows: he is not allowed to watch TV unless it is with other people, and it frees up much of his time for things he finds more meaningful. (00:04:48)
  • refine · How do you become more confident? — Ali's go first rule: everyone in the world is friendly, but you have to go first; he recalls it among strangers when fear of rejection or of seeming weird holds him back. (00:06:15)
  • restate · How do you rest without feeling guilty? — Ali's write-off principle, a rule he came up with himself: declaring a day a write-off lets him take time off guilt-free, playing on the PlayStation, vegetating or ordering takeaway. (00:08:14)
  • restate · Should you set goals, and how? — Ali says the goal itself is kind of irrelevant: hitting it brings five seconds of celebration before moving on, while the journey is where we spend 100% of our time. (00:09:26)
  • refine · Should you set goals, and how? — Ali says a destination matters because without a goal it is hard to set off, but once you know where you are going you can forget the goal and focus on enjoying the journey every day. (00:09:52)
  • restate · How do you learn a new skill quickly? — Ali says any field without experience, like learning to code, feels like a black box until you spend five minutes opening it and find it is not too bad, with a roadmap such as HTML and CSS. (00:11:25)
  • restate · How do you start a YouTube channel? — Ali tells beginner YouTubers not to let perfect be the enemy of good: just upload the video, since doing more teaches you, while demanding a perfect or viral video from the start means never making anything. (00:04:18)

Mentioned

Central: 80/20 rule · cracking open the black box · go first · hell yeah or no · journey before destination · the three Cs of tech · write-off principle

Also: People: Brandon Sanderson · Casey Neistat · Derek Sivers · Marie Forleo · Marie Kondo · Tim Ferriss

Projects: Part-Time YouTuber Academy

Works: Hell Yeah or No: What's Worth Doing · The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up · The Stormlight Archive

Organizations: The New York Times

Products: iPhone 8 · iPhone X · Kindle

Also centred on 80/20 rule: How I Manage my Time as a Doctor + YouTuber - 9 Time Management Tips

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