Ali Abdaal life lessons

From Ali's YouTube video.

Ali Abdaal posted a video about some lessons which changed his life. This is a summary of the 27 minute video. 

Summary

• The top of to-do list

  • The 5 worries that dying people should be your compass (Paul Graham)

    • Don’t ignore your dreams

    • Don’t work too much

    • Say what you think

    • Cultivate Friendships

    • Be Happy

• Lean into the fear

  • What is the worst thing which could happen. Often, the worst thing is not that bad

• Have to v Get to

  • I have to do this (compulsion) loses to I get to do this (excited, opportunity to do something, grateful to be able to do something)

• You are allowed to sleep again after taking a shower

  • This will stop you from procrastinating in bed and delaying waking up.

• Information Diet

  • Look at what information you consume, spread it across all important areas of life (health, relationships etc) and not just on money or work

• 4 Components of Ideal Life

  • Physical Health

  • Mental Well Being

  • Relationships

  • Work/Money

  • We tend to focus on the fourth exclusively

• The Power of Accountability

  • Accountability makes you do more things

• Do what you are doing

  • Attention focus on what you are doing make life better, not just at what you are doing.

• Improvisational Productivity

  • Execution triumphs ideas. Get shit done. Reduce time gap between conception/ideation and execution

• Homework for life

  • One interesting story for the day – write it down

• Speed Listening audiobooks

  • Listening to a book in 4 hours make its more palatable than the mental burden of having to listen for 8 hours.

• The Odyssey Plan

  • If I continue on the current path, what will my life look like in 5 years?

  • If I took a completely different path, what would it look like in 5 years?

  • If money and societal obligations are not a factor, what will life look like in 5 years?

• The Power of Clarity (David Allen Getting Things Done)

  • Capture

  • Clarify

    • You will never revise chemistry. However, read chapter I Module iv will get done in no time.

  • Organize

  • Reflect

  • Engage

• Thinking of time in 15 minute chunks

  • Ill start at 11 becomes ill start at 1045

• Goals

  • Tension between goal attainment and self contentment (or self acceptance) is okay.