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22 ONE-MINUTE Habits That Save Me 25+ Hours a Week

2026-01-27 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 15:23 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Productivity and time (also: Tools, apps and tech) · mode: List of tips or lessons · tags: His own products discussed, Feel-Good Productivity thesis, Family, Sponsor segment present

Ali lists 22 habits that each take under a minute and together save him over 25 hours a week: naming the day's adventure and blocking it in the calendar, taming the phone, keyboard shortcuts and dictation, capturing tasks, WhatsApp lists, speed listening, walking calls, recurring blocks and batching, early-morning commitments, outsourcing chores, and enjoying the work.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Ali's search for small habits that each take under a minute

  • ★★ Every morning at his desk Ali asks "what is today's adventure going to be?", meaning the most important thing he needs to get done that day. — 00:00:00 · daily adventure
  • ★★ Ali says framing the day's main task as an adventure rather than a task invites a spirit of play, which he says research shows improves productivity, creativity and wellbeing. — 00:00:00 · daily adventure, play, power, people

00:00:25 — Today's adventure, a calendar block and a focus timer

  • ★★★ Once the most important task is chosen, Ali takes ten seconds to put it in the calendar: if it's not in the calendar, it does not get done. — 00:00:45 · time-blocking

    “If it's not in the calendar, it does not get done.”

  • ★★ When a calendar block for a task comes round, Ali advises starting a visible focus timer instead of procrastinating, which he says keeps you on task. — 00:01:10

  • ★★ While working, Ali advises putting the phone face down with notifications off, or better in another room, since even a phone in the same room creates anxiety. — 00:01:10
  • ★★ Ali keeps his phone on do not disturb at all times; only calls from his wife, mother, grandmother, brother or sister-in-law get through. — 00:01:10 · Izzy Sealey

00:01:27 — Phone face down, do not disturb, app blocking after 9 p.m., no phone in bed

  • ★★ Ali says every distraction leaves attention residue, which makes it much harder to get back on task. — 00:01:59
  • ★★ Ali advises blocking your most distracting apps every night after 9 p.m. — 00:01:59
  • ★★ Ali says scrolling late at night destroys sleep, which lowers energy the next day and reduces productivity in everything else. — 00:02:29
  • ★★ After 9 p.m. the only device Ali allows himself to touch is his Kindle on the bedside table; he usually charges his phone across the room. — 00:02:58 · Kindle
  • ★ Ali's wife charges her phone in a different room so that it never enters the bedroom. — 00:02:58 · Izzy Sealey
  • ★★ Ali advises learning the keyboard shortcuts for whatever you do regularly in the apps you use most, such as Excel, Notion, Google Docs or Slack. — 00:02:58 · Notion, Google Docs, Slack

00:03:17 — Keyboard shortcuts, keyboard launchers, text expansion and voice typing

  • ★★ Ali says never to use the mouse to open anything on a computer: use Spotlight on a Mac, the Windows key on Windows, or his favourite app, Alfred. — 00:03:27
  • ★★ Ali recommends text expansion for things you type often, through TextExpander, Alfred or the iPhone's built-in text replacement. — 00:03:56 · iPhone
  • ★★ Although he types about 156 words per minute, Ali speaks faster still, so he dictates to his computer and to AI tools, which he says saves far more time than typing. — 00:04:55
  • ★★ On the go Ali dictates in VoicePal, the app his team built, which asks follow-up questions; it is how he does all his first drafting and idea generation. — 00:04:55 · VoicePal

00:05:24 — Sponsor read for Trading 212

  • ★★ Following David Allen's Getting Things Done, Ali captures every task he thinks of into a task manager; he uses the Things 3 widget on his iPhone. — 00:06:22 · Things 3, iPhone

00:06:30 — The capture habit, WhatsApp lists and listening at speed multiples

  • ★★ Ali says capturing tasks into a system instead of holding them in your head drastically improves your life and reduces stress. — 00:06:51
  • ★★ Ali finds great value in WhatsApp lists for sorting friends, business contacts and family, because his WhatsApp holds countless messages. — 00:07:21 · WhatsApp
  • ★ Ali's WhatsApp lists are marked by emoji: family, friends in Hong Kong, friends in the UK, creator and entrepreneur friends, his team at Sparkle Studios, and Lifestyle Business Academy groups. — 00:07:21 · Lifestyle Business Academy, Hong Kong, WhatsApp
  • ★ Of about 294 unread WhatsApp messages Ali wants to reply to only about eight; since setting up lists he feels less stressed and is less likely to miss important ones. — 00:08:11 · WhatsApp
  • ★ Ali says he has received a lot of hate on Reddit and elsewhere for listening to audiobooks at double speed. — 00:08:40 · Reddit
  • ★★ Ali says listening at speed multiples is especially valuable for absorbing information. — 00:08:40
  • ★★ Ali advises training your listening speed step by step from 1.5x upward, until you can understand and retain material at 2x, 2.5x or even 3.5x. — 00:09:09

00:09:31 — Double dipping: walking Zoom calls and a walking treadmill desk

  • ★★ Ali says multitasking fails with two tasks of the same kind, such as deep work with Slack and email, but multi-modality multitasking, like an audiobook on the commute, saves him lots of time. — 00:09:31 · deep work (concept), Slack
  • ★★ Ali got much of his business knowledge from podcasts and audiobooks at speed multiples while driving to and from work back when he had a job. — 00:10:01
  • ★★ Ali takes Zoom calls walking, a double dip that helps him reach his daily goal of 10,000 steps. — 00:10:01 · Zoom
  • ★★ Ali says walking 1,000 steps takes most people about 10 minutes, so 10,000 steps takes about 100 minutes. — 00:10:01
  • ★★ Taking Zoom calls walking rather than at his computer gives him sunlight, makes him feel good and more creative, and gets his steps in. — 00:10:30 · Zoom
  • ★★ On non-filming days full of meetings Ali works with a walking pad treadmill under his standing desk, getting his steps in while he works. — 00:10:30
  • ★ Ali also walks on his treadmill desk while gaming, playing Hogwarts Legacy or World of Warcraft. — 00:10:59 · World of Warcraft
  • ★★ Ali and his wife have a weekly date night every Sunday evening, set as a recurring calendar block. — 00:10:59 · Izzy Sealey

00:11:14 — Recurring calendar blocks, batched date-night bookings and 8 a.m. commitments

  • ★★ Ali advises applying recurring calendar events, usual for team meetings, to personal life too, such as gym sessions and tennis lessons, to save time spent on coordination. — 00:11:28 · time-blocking
  • ★★ Ali, who organises their date nights, batches the bookings: when he books a restaurant for one Sunday he also books the next three Sundays. — 00:11:57 · Izzy Sealey
  • ★★ Ali schedules things at 8 a.m., such as his tennis lessons three times a week, which he finds enormously helpful. — 00:12:27
  • ★★ Ali says that if you want to get more done, going to bed earlier and waking up earlier is an enormous hack. — 00:12:50
  • ★★★ Ali believes that if you can outsource something you do not enjoy for less than your own hourly rate, you should outsource it. — 00:13:19 · money buys back time
  • ★★ Ali has had a cleaner ever since graduating from university about seven years ago, at first a part-time cleaner for a few hours every two weeks. — 00:13:19
  • ★★ In Hong Kong, where a full-time domestic helper is fairly affordable, Ali's household now has someone full-time who takes care of all the household chores. — 00:13:19 · Hong Kong

00:13:21 — Hiring a cleaner and an executive assistant

  • ★★ Ali has an executive assistant, found through the service Athena, who handles his emails, calendar and ad hoc tasks. — 00:14:01

00:14:30 — Bonus habit: finding a way to enjoy the work

  • ★★ Ali strongly recommends that business owners without an executive, personal or virtual assistant get one, granting that it takes some money. — 00:14:30
  • ★★★ Ali's bonus habit, the core thesis of his book Feel-Good Productivity: finding a way to enjoy your work makes you more productive and creative, less stressed, and gives you more energy for the rest of life. — 00:14:30 · Feel-Good Productivity (book), feel-good productivity (concept)

In the description and comments

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Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: daily adventure · feel-good productivity (concept) · keyboard navigation · speed listening

Also: People: David Allen · Izzy Sealey

Projects: Lifestyle Business Academy

Works: Feel-Good Productivity (book) · Getting Things Done · Hogwarts Legacy

Organizations: Athena · Instagram · Reddit · Sparkle Studios · TikTok

Concepts: 10,000 steps a day · attention residue · batching · deep work (concept) · money buys back time · multi-modality multitasking · quick capture · reading for exploration and exploitation · text expansion · time-blocking · virtual assistant

Places: Hong Kong

Products: Alfred · Focus mode · Google Docs · iPhone · Kindle · Microsoft Excel · Microsoft Windows · Notion · Slack · Spotlight · TextExpander · Things 3 · VoicePal · WhatsApp · World of Warcraft · Zoom

Only in the description or credits: fan fiction · Harry Potter (book series) · Trading 212

Also centred on keyboard navigation: Monthly Favourites #2 - Ali Abdaal · My 7 Favourite iPad OS Features - Apple WWDC 2019 · Answering your Questions · My Favourite Mac Apps · What's on my MacBook Pro? · How I Type REALLY Fast (156 Words per Minute) · Full Course - How to Type 3x Faster

Also centred on speed listening: One Simple Habit that Changed My Life · 20 Lessons that Improved My Life · The Best Productivity Hacks of All Time · My 4-Step Framework for Learning With Audiobooks · I got cancelled for my 2x speed

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