My ONE Piece of Advice for Someone in Their 20s

2025-07-26 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 23:08 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books and reading · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Lesson from a book, His own products discussed, His own numbers, Aimed at students, Sponsor segment present, Family

Asked by a 20-year-old student for one piece of advice, Ali says to listen to one audiobook every week for a year: per unit of time a book carries far more expert effort than short-form videos, YouTube or podcasts, you can listen while doing other things and at speed, and books solve the knowledge problem in his GPS framework; he splits reading into exploration and exploitation and tours the 333 titles of his Audible library.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — One piece of advice for someone in their 20s: one audiobook every week for a year

★★★ Asked by a 20-year-old university student for one piece of advice, Ali says to listen to one audiobook every week for the next year, and guarantees it will completely change your life. — 00:00:29 · Audible

“you should listen to one audiobook every week for the next year”
★★ For almost any goal or problem, whether about life, money or work, Ali says listening to far more audiobooks than you do now is a very positive step in the right direction. — 00:01:16
★★★ Ali's audiobook advice assumes you already take action, the single most important thing; it means replacing time spent on YouTube, podcasts and social media with audiobooks, not consuming more. — 00:01:16 · Instagram, TikTok

00:01:31 — Why you should listen to more audiobooks: the effort behind a book versus other content

★★ Ali estimates that a piece of short-form content takes between three minutes and a few hours to create, and an educational YouTube video between four and about 20 hours of work. — 00:02:23
★★ Ali says most podcasts people listen to are probably conversational interviews with an expert, with a few hours to a few dozen hours of work per episode. (hedged) — 00:03:17
★★★ Ali's book Feel-Good Productivity, published at the end of 2023, hit the New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller lists and has sold a few hundred thousand copies since then. — 00:03:47 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Feel-Good Productivity took about three years of work with many hours each week on the text; Ali's agent and a book-proposal consultant who worked on James Clear's Atomic Habits gave loads of feedback. — 00:04:16 · Feel-Good Productivity (book), Atomic Habits, James Clear
★★ Ali spent three days recording the Feel-Good Productivity audiobook in a production studio in London, with two professional audio engineers and proofreaders. — 00:04:16 · Feel-Good Productivity (book), London
★★★ Per unit of time, Ali says, an audiobook carries far more effort than short-form content, long-form videos or podcasts, because it rests on a book with years or even decades of research behind it. — 00:04:45
★ Given the years of work behind a book, Ali calls it insane that you can buy one for about $7 on Kindle, or for one credit or $7.99 on Audible. (hedged) — 00:04:45 · Kindle, Audible
★★ Even as entertainment, Ali says, far more effort goes into a fiction book than into almost any other form of entertainment, except maybe a high-budget streaming TV show. — 00:05:53

00:06:10 — DeleteMe sponsor read

★★ After an event Ali ran, many people asked him how to start or grow a business, one making about 100K a year with community memberships and wanting 500K, and in almost every conversation he found himself recommending books. — 00:07:50
★★ To someone who wanted to grow their business, Ali recommended Alex Hormozi's $100M Leads, Russell Brunson's DotCom Secrets and Jim Edwards's Copywriting Secrets. — 00:07:50 · Alex Hormozi

00:07:57 — Books as expert knowledge at scale: the GPS framework, listening while doing other things, listening speed

★★ To a man struggling to manage his team of about five people, Ali recommends Gino Wickman's Traction, which he says teaches exactly how to manage a team of five. — 00:08:36
★★ In a 30-second rapid Q&A there is only so much value Ali can give, so he often finds the best way to help is to recommend a book by an expert who has spent years to decades thinking about the subject. — 00:08:36
★★★ To level up at almost anything, Ali suggests searching Amazon for the top five bestselling books on the topic and reading or listening to all of them, like a firmware update for your mind, though no substitute for doing the work. — 00:09:05 · Amazon
★★★ Ali's GPS framework (goal, plan, system): for anything you are trying to do, ask what the goal is, what plan will get you there and what system will help you stick to the plan. — 00:09:05 · GPS: goal, plan, system
★★★ Not knowing how to reach a goal is a knowledge problem, solved by acquiring knowledge; Ali says for almost anything that knowledge is in books, usually of higher quality and value than random blog posts or YouTube videos. — 00:10:17 · GPS: goal, plan, system
★★ If your side hustle needs more people to buy your stuff, Ali says to read Alex Hormozi's $100M Leads, which gives a system for what to do and how to do it. — 00:10:17 · Alex Hormozi
★★ Reading or listening to a book will not make you do the thing, Ali says, but it is a good first step, especially if you do not yet know how to do it. — 00:11:07
★★★ A big part of why Ali's business succeeded, he says, is that whenever he hit a problem he found three or four audiobooks about it and listened while doing other things, while still taking action, the foundation. — 00:11:07
★★★ The other major benefit of audiobooks, Ali says, is that you can listen while doing other things, whereas reading is cognitively demanding and very hard to combine with anything else. — 00:11:36
★★ Within a few weeks of listening, Ali says, you develop the skill of following an audiobook while doing something else; it suits mechanical tasks such as laundry rather than cognitively demanding work. — 00:12:12
★★ Start audiobooks at 1x and, once comfortable, move up step by step to 1.1, 1.2 and on to 1.5: Ali says you can train your ability to listen at higher speeds. — 00:12:12
★★★ Ali splits informational reading into exploration reading, to get an overview of a topic, where listening to five audiobooks at double speed really helps, and exploitation reading. — 00:13:11

00:13:23 — Exploration versus exploitation reading

★★★ To start a first business, Ali suggests listening to five audiobooks such as Million Dollar Weekend, The Millionaire Fastlane, $100M Offers, The Sweaty Startup, Entrepreneur Revolution, Rich Dad Poor Dad or Main Street Millionaire; a tech startup needs different books. — 00:13:53 · The Millionaire Fastlane
★★ Five to seven business audiobooks at double speed, heard while commuting, at the gym, on walks or doing laundry, would take maybe four to six weeks and leave you with far more context on starting a business, even without notes. (hedged) — 00:14:22
★★★ Reading for exploitation, Ali works through the physical $100M Offers page by page whenever he makes a new product; he first heard it as an audiobook at double speed, then bought the Kindle and physical books. — 00:15:14 · Notion, Kindle
★★ Having just had a baby, Ali is listening to audiobooks on raising one: Fair Play, on redistributing the work in a marriage, The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, The Montessori Baby and Precious Little Sleep. — 00:15:46 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ To people at his events who want to improve their focus, Ali recommends Cal Newport's Deep Work, which he calls the bible on how to focus, or its audiobook for those who struggle to read. — 00:16:15 · Cal Newport

00:16:42 — My Audible library tour

★★ Ali's Audible library holds 333 titles. — 00:16:43 · Audible
★★ Ali started listening to audiobooks around 2017 with Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and Stardust, he thinks on Tim Ferriss's recommendation; he did not particularly like American Gods. (hedged) — 00:17:29 · Tim Ferriss
★★ Listening to The Elephant in the Brain, about hidden motives in everyday life, made Ali appreciate nonfiction: not relevant to his work then, he would not have spent ten hours reading it, but could listen in a few hours. — 00:17:29
★★ Listening to The Psychology of Money and Work Less, Make More is when Ali realised he could use audiobooks to help grow his business. — 00:18:27
★★ Ali calls Gino Wickman's Traction the book that completely changed his business. — 00:18:27 · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Ali finds David Goggins's Can't Hurt Me very motivational and especially good as an audiobook, which has extra material. — 00:18:27
★★ When Ali first hired team members and knew nothing about managing people, books such as Nine Lies About Work, heard on Audible and then bought and exploited on Kindle or paper, helped him level up as a leader and manager. — 00:19:06 · Audible, Kindle
★★ When he and his wife started dating, Ali set out to learn Mandarin to impress her with an audio course, got a reasonable way through it, then abandoned it. — 00:19:31 · Izzy Sealey
★★ Ali says Paul Jarvis's Company of One had a big impact on his business, and The Relationship Handbook a big impact on his relationship. — 00:20:00
★★ Ali says Russell Brunson's DotCom Secrets and Expert Secrets had a massive impact on his business, probably adding at least a million dollars to its bottom line. (hedged) — 00:20:29
★ Ali tried listening to Barack Obama's A Promised Land but found it too boring. — 00:20:29
★★ Ali says basically anything written by Patrick Lencioni has been amazing for his business. — 00:20:58
★★ Ali calls Multipliers fantastic; everyone on his team has read it. — 00:21:28
★★ Ali calls Brandon Sanderson's Wind and Truth a fantastic book. — 00:21:28 · Brandon Sanderson

In the description and comments

★★ Ali says he has been an Audible fan since about 2017, that it changed his life, and that he has no Audible affiliate link. — video description · Audible
★★ Asked which 52 audiobooks to listen to in a year, Ali says it does not really matter: any that align with your goals. — creator comment
★★ For a doctor setting up their own clinic, Ali's book recommendations are the usual ones, anything by Alex Hormozi or Russell Brunson, with nothing specific to hospitals. — creator comment · Alex Hormozi
★★ To a 22-year-old who keeps reading business books but cannot take action, Ali says to follow what Noah Kagan says in Million Dollar Weekend and just do it. — creator comment · Noah Kagan
★ Asked for an audiobook on constant burnout, Ali says he likes the book Rest. — creator comment · Feel-Good Productivity (book)
★★ Freedom Fridays videos are delayed because Ali has been deep in work on his team's 1K Challenge; this video is not a Freedom Fridays episode. — creator comment
★★ Ali sees himself as a teacher of productivity, personal development and increasingly business: if his advice feels repetitive, you have graduated from the class. — creator comment

Threads in this video

refine · How do you read more books? — Asked by a 20-year-old university student for one piece of advice, Ali says to listen to one audiobook every week for the next year, and guarantees it will completely change your life. (00:00:29)
refine · How do you stop your phone and social media from eating your time? — Ali's audiobook advice assumes you already take action, the single most important thing; it means replacing time spent on YouTube, podcasts and social media with audiobooks, not consuming more. (00:01:16)
milestone · Ali's first book, which a publisher asked him to write (2020) — Ali's book Feel-Good Productivity, published at the end of 2023, hit the New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller lists and has sold a few hundred thousand copies since then. (00:03:47)
looked back · Ali's first book, which a publisher asked him to write (2020) — Feel-Good Productivity took about three years of work with many hours each week on the text; Ali's agent and a book-proposal consultant who worked on James Clear's Atomic Habits gave loads of feedback. (00:04:16)
first on record · Should you learn from books rather than from videos, podcasts and social media? — Per unit of time, Ali says, an audiobook carries far more effort than short-form content, long-form videos or podcasts, because it rests on a book with years or even decades of research behind it. (00:04:45)
refine · Is reading fiction worthwhile? — Even as entertainment, Ali says, far more effort goes into a fiction book than into almost any other form of entertainment, except maybe a high-budget streaming TV show. (00:05:53)
refine · How do you lead a team? — To a man struggling to manage his team of about five people, Ali recommends Gino Wickman's Traction, which he says teaches exactly how to manage a team of five. (00:08:36)
refine · How do you learn a new skill quickly? — To level up at almost anything, Ali suggests searching Amazon for the top five bestselling books on the topic and reading or listening to all of them, like a firmware update for your mind, though no substitute for doing the work. (00:09:05)
restate · Should you set goals, and how? — Ali's GPS framework (goal, plan, system): for anything you are trying to do, ask what the goal is, what plan will get you there and what system will help you stick to the plan. (00:09:05)
refine · Should you learn from books rather than from videos, podcasts and social media? — Not knowing how to reach a goal is a knowledge problem, solved by acquiring knowledge; Ali says for almost anything that knowledge is in books, usually of higher quality and value than random blog posts or YouTube videos. (00:10:17)
refine · How do you get leads and traffic for what you sell? — If your side hustle needs more people to buy your stuff, Ali says to read Alex Hormozi's $100M Leads, which gives a system for what to do and how to do it. (00:10:17)
restate · How do you learn how to start and run a business? — A big part of why Ali's business succeeded, he says, is that whenever he hit a problem he found three or four audiobooks about it and listened while doing other things, while still taking action, the foundation. (00:11:07)
restate · Should you read on a Kindle, on paper or by audiobook? — The other major benefit of audiobooks, Ali says, is that you can listen while doing other things, whereas reading is cognitively demanding and very hard to combine with anything else. (00:11:36)
restate · How do you read more books? — Within a few weeks of listening, Ali says, you develop the skill of following an audiobook while doing something else; it suits mechanical tasks such as laundry rather than cognitively demanding work. (00:12:12)
restate · Should you listen to podcasts and audiobooks at higher speed? — Start audiobooks at 1x and, once comfortable, move up step by step to 1.1, 1.2 and on to 1.5: Ali says you can train your ability to listen at higher speeds. (00:12:12)
restate · How do you put what you read into practice? — Ali splits informational reading into exploration reading, to get an overview of a topic, where listening to five audiobooks at double speed really helps, and exploitation reading. (00:13:11)
refine · How do you learn how to start and run a business? — To start a first business, Ali suggests listening to five audiobooks such as Million Dollar Weekend, The Millionaire Fastlane, $100M Offers, The Sweaty Startup, Entrepreneur Revolution, Rich Dad Poor Dad or Main Street Millionaire; a tech startup needs different books. (00:13:53)
refine · Should you read on a Kindle, on paper or by audiobook? — Reading for exploitation, Ali works through the physical $100M Offers page by page whenever he makes a new product; he first heard it as an audiobook at double speed, then bought the Kindle and physical books. (00:15:14)
refine · How do you improve your focus? — To people at his events who want to improve their focus, Ali recommends Cal Newport's Deep Work, which he calls the bible on how to focus, or its audiobook for those who struggle to read. (00:16:15)
progress update · Ali promises to keep recommending fantasy audiobooks on the channel (2020) — Ali calls Brandon Sanderson's Wind and Truth a fantastic book. (00:21:28)
refine · How do you put what you read into practice? — To a 22-year-old who keeps reading business books but cannot take action, Ali says to follow what Noah Kagan says in Million Dollar Weekend and just do it. (creator comment)
setback · Freedom Fridays, Ali's series on financial, time and creative freedom (2025) — Freedom Fridays videos are delayed because Ali has been deep in work on his team's 1K Challenge; this video is not a Freedom Fridays episode. (creator comment)
refine · How do you avoid burnout? — Asked for an audiobook on constant burnout, Ali says he likes the book Rest. (creator comment)
milestone · 1K Challenge, a six-week live bootcamp by Ali and his team to make a first $1,000 online (2025) — Freedom Fridays videos are delayed because Ali has been deep in work on his team's 1K Challenge; this video is not a Freedom Fridays episode. (creator comment)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Ali promises to keep recommending fantasy audiobooks on the channel (2020) — open (updates through 2025, not reported done); last: progress update, 2025-08-13
Ali's first book, which a publisher asked him to write (2020) — completed; last: milestone, 2025-12-30
1K Challenge, a six-week live bootcamp by Ali and his team to make a first $1,000 online (2025) — completed; last: outcome, 2025-10-16
Freedom Fridays, Ali's series on financial, time and creative freedom (2025) — running; last: milestone, 2025-12-05

Mentioned

Central: Audible · Feel-Good Productivity (book) · reading for exploration and exploitation

Also: People: Alex Hormozi · Barack Obama · Brandon Sanderson · Cal Newport · Cody Sanchez · Daniel Priestley · David Goggins · Gino Wickman · Izzy Sealey · James Clear · Jim Edwards · Neil Gaiman · Nick Huber · Patrick Lencioni · Russell Brunson · Tim Ferriss

Works: $100M Leads · $100M Offers · A Promised Land · American Gods · Atomic Habits · Can't Hurt Me · Company of One · Copywriting Secrets · Death by Meeting · Deep Work (book) · DotCom Secrets · Entrepreneur Revolution · Expert Secrets · Fair Play · Main Street Millionaire · Million Dollar Weekend · Multipliers · Nine Lies About Work · Precious Little Sleep · Rhythm of War · Rich Dad Poor Dad · Stardust · The Advantage · The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read · The Elephant in the Brain · The Graveyard Book · The Great CEO Within · The Millionaire Fastlane · The Montessori Baby · The Psychology of Money · The Relationship Handbook · The Sweaty Startup · The Wheel of Time · Traction (book) · Wind and Truth · Work Less, Make More

Organizations: Amazon · Instagram · Kurzgesagt · The New York Times · The Sunday Times · TikTok

Concepts: creation-to-consumption ratio · GPS: goal, plan, system · hidden motives · knowledge and execution problems · passive income

Places: London

Products: Kindle · Notion

Only in the description or credits: 1K Challenge · Freedom Fridays · Noah Kagan · Rest · Speechify

Also centred on reading for exploration and exploitation: 12 Productivity Myths Wasting Your Time

Replies to

refers to · The Consumption Trap - How to Finally Lock In

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