I Have a Huge Announcement

2023-07-20 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, Ali Abdaal (channel) · recording, 10:14 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Productivity and time · mode: Announcement and promotion · tags: His own products discussed, Feel-Good Productivity thesis, His medical past, He changed his mind, His own numbers

Ali announces his first book, Feel-Good Productivity, out in December 2023 and open for pre-order: after discipline and efficiency left him drained as a junior doctor, he found in late 2018 that the secret to productivity is joy, not discipline.

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 huge announcement; six years of the channel while working as a doctor

★★ Ali has made videos on his YouTube channel for six years and grew it to a million subscribers while working as a doctor, juggling the job with videos, the business and exams. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — From discipline and efficiency in medical school to joy as the secret of productivity in late 2018

★★ In medical school Ali's one productivity method was discipline plus efficiency: he got on with work regardless of how he felt and tried hundreds of productivity apps to become 2% more efficient. — 00:00:29
★★ Once Ali started working as a doctor, working harder and being more efficient stopped working: he found himself drained and unhappy a lot of the time. — 00:00:29
★ During that difficult period as a doctor, some viewers commented on Ali's videos and messaged him asking whether he was okay. — 00:00:58
★★★ Around late 2018, after a very draining day at work, Ali came home asking whether work really had to be this draining or whether it could be made fun. (hedged) — 00:00:58
★★★ Ali began testing the idea that the secret to productivity is joy rather than discipline, experimenting on himself with ways to make his work more energising. — 00:01:56 · feel-good productivity (concept)
★★ Applying the joy idea, Ali found working as a doctor became fun: he got home from work more energised than when he started, with more energy for his channel, business and studies. — 00:01:56 · feel-good productivity (concept)
★★★ Ali realised he had been approaching work wrongly with a grindy, discipline-based mindset; tweaking his mindset and applying a few strategies made it far more energising and enjoyable. — 00:02:26 · feel-good productivity (concept)
★★ Ali says it was once he made his work more energising, becoming more productive and less stressed, that his channel and business really started to take off. — 00:02:26

00:02:55 — The editor's email of 2020 and three years of writing Feel Good Productivity

★★★ In summer 2020 a book editor at a very big publishing company emailed Ali asking whether he had considered writing a book; he has worked on the book pretty much every day for three years since. — 00:02:55 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★★ Ali reveals his book is called Feel Good Productivity, about doing more of what matters to you in a way that is enjoyable, meaningful and sustainable, without burning out. — 00:02:55 · Feel-Good Productivity (book), feel-good productivity (concept)
★★★ Ali says his book Feel-Good Productivity is finally ready and will be published in December in countries around the world. — 00:02:55 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Ali calls Feel-Good Productivity the culmination of everything he has learned about productivity in ten years of obsession with the topic, plus three years of research for evidence-based strategies. — 00:03:24 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Researching Feel-Good Productivity, Ali read hundreds of scientific papers and interviewed world experts in productivity, spending years condensing and rewriting. — 00:03:24 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Ali worked with three professional editors from the UK and the US to make the ideas in Feel-Good Productivity as actionable and engaging as possible. — 00:03:53 · Feel-Good Productivity (book), United Kingdom, United States

00:04:23 — The core idea: the secret to productivity is not discipline, it's joy

★★★ The core idea of Feel-Good Productivity, Ali says, is that the secret to productivity is joy, not discipline; hard work, grit, discipline and willpower are great in small doses and work for some people. — 00:04:23 · Feel-Good Productivity (book), feel-good productivity (concept)

“the secret to productivity is not discipline it's joy”
★★★ If you can make your work feel good, Ali says, your productivity takes care of itself, hence the title Feel-Good Productivity. — 00:04:52 · Feel-Good Productivity (book), feel-good productivity (concept)
★★ Ali found that the more he could make his work feel good, the more productive and creative he was, the less stressed, and the more energy he had for other areas of his life. — 00:04:52 · feel-good productivity (concept)
★★ Ali says researching his book showed that making work feel good, more like play, has an enormous basis in psychology and neuroscience and was the basis of productivity for Nobel prize winners, Olympic athletes and entrepreneurs. — 00:05:21 · feel-good productivity (concept)

00:05:50 — Pre-order around the world and three reasons to pre-order

★★★ Feel-Good Productivity is now available for pre-order in the US, the UK, India, Canada, Australia, France, Italy and other countries. — 00:05:50 · Feel-Good Productivity (book), United States, United Kingdom
★★ Ali calls Feel-Good Productivity the single best thing he has ever worked on, filled with practical, actionable strategies. — 00:06:19 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Each of Ali's videos takes maybe five to ten hours of work, while his book Feel-Good Productivity has taken thousands of hours. (hedged) — 00:06:59 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Ali says pre-orders help a book: the more pre-orders, the more noise around publication, so people outside his core audience hear that Feel-Good Productivity exists. — 00:06:59 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Ali says he will soon announce exclusive extras and bonuses for people who pre-order Feel-Good Productivity, and asks them to save their receipt. — 00:07:43 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)

00:08:12 — Harder and more rewarding than imagined; 54 strategies; thanks for the channel

★★ Ali says writing Feel-Good Productivity was way harder than he imagined but also way more rewarding. — 00:08:12 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Through imposter syndrome and fear while publishing his book, what kept Ali going was the thought of holding it in his hand, sold in bookstores around the world. — 00:08:12 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Feel-Good Productivity contains 54 actionable strategies. — 00:08:41 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Ali thinks a book has been worth it if he takes away even one or two things he can apply to improve his life. — 00:08:41
★★★ Ali calls his YouTube channel the single most meaningful thing he has ever done and hopes to keep going with it basically forever. — 00:09:11

In the description and comments

★★ Ali says Feel-Good Productivity is available for pre-order in a lot of countries, with more being added every week. — creator comment · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Ali is narrating the audiobook of Feel-Good Productivity himself and plans to record it in September. (hedged) — creator comment · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Feel-Good Productivity will be available in Brazil: the deal for Brazil was signed the week before. — creator comment · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★ Ali Abdaal (channel): The channel confirms that pre-ordering the Feel-Good Productivity audiobook also counts toward the pre-order bonuses. — creator comment · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★ Asked to sign the pre-ordered copies of Feel-Good Productivity, Ali says they will see whether they can make it work with Amazon. (hedged) — creator comment · Feel-Good Productivity (book), Amazon

Threads in this video

milestone · Ali's first book, which a publisher asked him to write (2020) — Feel-Good Productivity is now available for pre-order in the US, the UK, India, Canada, Australia, France, Italy and other countries. (00:05:50)
looked back · Ali's first book, which a publisher asked him to write (2020) — In summer 2020 a book editor at a very big publishing company emailed Ali asking whether he had considered writing a book; he has worked on the book pretty much every day for three years since. (00:02:55)
progress update · Ali expects his first book to come out in about two years (2021) — Ali says his book Feel-Good Productivity is finally ready and will be published in December in countries around the world. (00:02:55)
repeated · Ali expects his book to come out in about two years (2021) — Ali says his book Feel-Good Productivity is finally ready and will be published in December in countries around the world. (00:02:55)
promised · Ali promises special bonuses to viewers who pre-order Feel-Good Productivity and save their receipt (2023) — Ali says he will soon announce exclusive extras and bonuses for people who pre-order Feel-Good Productivity, and asks them to save their receipt. (00:07:43)
shift · Should productivity be about efficiency or about enjoying the work? — Ali realised he had been approaching work wrongly with a grindy, discipline-based mindset; tweaking his mindset and applying a few strategies made it far more energising and enjoyable. (00:02:26)
restate · Should productivity be about efficiency or about enjoying the work? — The core idea of Feel-Good Productivity, Ali says, is that the secret to productivity is joy, not discipline; hard work, grit, discipline and willpower are great in small doses and work for some people. (00:04:23)
refine · Should productivity be about efficiency or about enjoying the work? — Ali found that the more he could make his work feel good, the more productive and creative he was, the less stressed, and the more energy he had for other areas of his life. (00:04:52)
refine · Do you need motivation or discipline to get things done? — The core idea of Feel-Good Productivity, Ali says, is that the secret to productivity is joy, not discipline; hard work, grit, discipline and willpower are great in small doses and work for some people. (00:04:23)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Ali promises special bonuses to viewers who pre-order Feel-Good Productivity and save their receipt (2023) — the project it belongs to reported its result; last: progress update, 2023-12-26
Ali expects his first book to come out in about two years (2021) — the project it belongs to reported its result; last: progress update, 2023-12-08
Ali's first book, which a publisher asked him to write (2020) — completed; last: milestone, 2023-12-26

Mentioned

Central: Feel-Good Productivity (book) · feel-good productivity (concept)

Also: Concepts: discipline · imposter syndrome

Places: Australia · Canada · France · India · Italy · United Kingdom · United States

Only in the description or credits: Amazon · Brazil

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