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If I Was a Student Again, I'd Do This

2023-04-19 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 12:48 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Learning and studying (also: Productivity and time, Work and career, Business and entrepreneurship, Relationships and personal life) · mode: List of tips or lessons · tags: Aimed at students, His medical past, Sponsor segment present, Feel-Good Productivity thesis

Ali gives eight things he would do if he were a student again: run his life from his calendar, learn how to study, study with friends, join more clubs and societies, learn skills of the universal toolbox, experiment with side hustles, take more photos and surround himself with energisers.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — A messy first year at medical school and the eight strategies that changed it

  • ★★ As a first-year medical student Ali was a mess: he kept falling behind his lectures, got terrible grades, stayed out with friends until four in the morning and fell asleep in lectures. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Applying a handful of strategies, Ali says, he got through all six years of medical school with pretty good grades while building a business, starting his YouTube channel and making friends for life. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ In his first year Ali realised he was not good at managing his time; the one change he made then, and has kept for about ten years, was running his life entirely through his calendar. — 00:00:29 · time-blocking

00:00:44 — Strategy 1: run your life entirely through your calendar

  • ★★ After reading blogs and books on productivity, Ali realised that almost all of the most productive people in the world live their life based on their calendar. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ Ali's first strategy for students is to run life from the calendar, scheduling when to wake up, do assignments and essays, go to lectures and clubs, and see friends, so a blank calendar becomes a rainbow. — 00:01:27 · time-blocking
  • ★★ With eight hours of sleep and eight of study or work, Ali says, a student has eight more hours a day; without being intentional about them you default to wasting time, so be intentional, though not productive all the time. — 00:01:56

00:02:23 — Strategy 2: learn how to study efficiently

  • ★★ No one teaches students how to learn at school or university, Ali says; in his second year of medical school he discovered a vast body of research on the most effective study methods. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Ali's second strategy is to learn how to learn: of two students with the same two-hour block, the one who knows the effective study techniques gets more done, has more fun and does far better in exams. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ Ali's third strategy is to study with friends, which makes study time more efficient, effective and enjoyable, and so sustainable and fun. — 00:03:24

00:03:30 — Strategy 3: study with friends

  • ★★ In his first year Ali studied alone and found it draining; from his second year, during exam term, a group of eight friends, still friends today, studied different subjects at one library table, doing Pomodoros together (25 minutes of work, five of rest). — 00:03:53 · Pomodoro technique

00:04:23 — Skillshare sponsor read

  • ★ Supposing a student spends about eight hours a day getting good grades and learning, Ali says that leaves another eight hours a day and 32 hours at the weekend for other, more interesting things. (hypothetical) — 00:05:50

00:05:56 — The time left after studying; strategy 4: join way more clubs and societies

  • ★★★ Ali's fourth strategy is to join way more clubs and societies at university, thinking of them as sampling different types of experiences. — 00:06:19
  • ★★ Citing evidence from David Epstein, Ali says the more successful athletes apparently sampled many sports before choosing, as Roger Federer did before settling on tennis around 16, rather than specialising early like Tiger Woods, who played golf from three. (hedged) — 00:06:19
  • ★★ Laser-focusing on your one subject at university, Ali says, means missing other life and career experiences that could get you ahead and add enjoyment to your life. — 00:06:49
  • ★★ Ali wishes he had tried dancing, kickboxing, rowing, windsurfing, abseiling or climbing at Cambridge; instead he often took the easy option of hanging out with the friends he already knew. — 00:07:18 · Cambridge

00:07:52 — Strategy 5: learn skills in the universal toolbox

  • ★★★ Ali's fifth strategy, which he advises all students, is to learn skills in the "universal toolbox": skills and techniques that, even at a basic level, help you in life in ways you cannot imagine. — 00:07:52

    “learn skills in the universal toolbox.”

  • ★★ Public speaking belongs in the universal toolbox, Ali says: whatever your career, being confident at it is ridiculously helpful for your career and for a more interesting life. — 00:07:52

  • ★★ Negotiation is another universal-toolbox skill, Ali says, since everything in life is a negotiation: it helps you negotiate raises, sell, put yourself forward and deal with friends, family and partners. — 00:08:21
  • ★★ Ali adds video editing to the universal toolbox because the world is increasingly multimedia: even a physics professor who knows how videos work communicates far more effectively. — 00:08:21
  • ★★ Ali would also spend non-studying time on coding, design and making a good presentation, skills he says are basically guaranteed to synergise with whatever career follows. — 00:08:50

00:09:11 — Strategy 6: experiment with side hustles as a student

  • ★★★ Ali's sixth strategy is to experiment with side hustles as a student, when you have loads of time and the stakes are pretty low. — 00:09:11
  • ★★ Ali credits much of his later financial success to experimenting with side hustles as a student: private tutoring at school, courses helping students into medical school, and interface and web design for medical technology companies, which all led to his YouTube channel. — 00:09:11
  • ★★ To people against side hustles at university, Ali answers that most people end up in jobs they do not enjoy, and the skills of making money on the side mean you are not shackled to such a job: you have more opportunity, control and choice. — 00:10:09
  • ★ Ali says he never wanted to be in a job he does only to pay the bills, not looking forward to work on a Monday. — 00:10:09
  • ★★ Part of university is studying and learning skills, Ali says, but a big part of it is making friends, having fun and making memories. — 00:10:41
  • ★★★ Ali's seventh strategy is to take way more photos at university, so that years later you can relive the memories of student life. — 00:10:41

00:10:52 — Strategy 7: take way more photos

  • ★★ Ali, at university from 2012 to 2018, took lots of photos every year; recently Apple Photos showed him a photo of his friend Paul, now in Singapore, from 2017, which he sent him on WhatsApp. — 00:11:10

00:11:39 — Strategy 8: surround yourself with energisers

  • ★★★ Ali's eighth strategy is to surround yourself with energisers: nudge your time towards people who lift your energy rather than those who drain it, without cutting the draining friends out. — 00:11:39 · energisers and drainers
  • ★★ When it comes to productivity and enjoyment, Ali says, it is less about time management and more about energy management: energising people give you more energy for your studies and everything else. — 00:11:39 · energisers and drainers, time management

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: energisers and drainers · time-blocking · universal toolbox

Also: People: David Epstein · Roger Federer · Tiger Woods

Organizations: Lifehacker

Concepts: Pomodoro technique · rainbow calendar · time management

Places: Cambridge · Singapore

Products: Apple Photos

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