Ali Abdaal

[hollowcrown]

It's all just a big scam to sell subscriptions and courses and stupid products. Entrepreneur and productivity version of MLMs basically. Can't see how sites like Skillshare are not MLMs. Extends to physical products like that Ugmonk thing too (see also Grovemade who are aggressively promoting). They sell themselves as gurus to help you improve your productivity and life but are really just acting exactly the same as any other influencer like you'd see on Love Island or whatever, just the crap they're selling is marketed as more professional.

 

[JohnMasters]

No tbh sounds about right

However I don't think his business is scalable over time. I think that that 5m is a soft ceiling. Eventually he'll sell all the courses he can and he'll have to downscale back to a small team (2 or 3) doing vlogs and clickbait content.

Stephan Graham also said that.

I rarely wish failure on people cause I think efforts should get rewarded but I'll be damned if I don't wish for this clown to just miserably fail already and get off the internet already with his bullshit. It's absolutely insane how easy things have been for him and how everyone is just holding him in such high regard over nothing and just throwing money and attention at him in return for garbage content. He's an out-of-touch stuttering manchild who just quotes other people, has no charisma, no sense of humour, nothing. South-Asians are so easily impressed and will click Like on anything. Willing to bet that's the only reason why Abdaal's channel got so far cause it sure as hell isn't cause of his personality.

 

[JohnMasters]

It seems Ali's book is finally on pre-order. I saw the cover and am amazed that Cal Newport said it's a "much needed antidote to hustle culture."

Don't buy what anything an influencer or youtuber has to say about another youtuber's product. These people are all in a clique and invite each other on their podcasts and shows to get clout and exchange subscribers. They likely have chat groups together as well. This is why no other productivity youtuber talks shit about Ali or anyone in this sphere... You certainly have enough fucking material if you're not an imbecile. You'd just get ostracized from the cool kids club for going against a member. It's just an enormous club of creators in the same space coordinating in private and fellating each other in public. Every positive testimony on a course or book is collected as a favor following an interview or podcast appearance.

Not even the commentary channels that make video essays on scumbags can touch these people cause they're all about them positive vibes and attacking them would make you out as a hater among the low IQ fanboys who worship these parasites.

This Ali idiot has been talking about his shit book for years now and I'd wage money on the message being the same banal bullshit he's been peddling for the last 6 years... enjoy the journey and make it fun. As if anyone who earns his money in a soul crushing or back breaking job has the luxury of just "making it fun" like these twitter thread creators and course peddlers do. I bet it's a lotta fun creating a youtube course with the most obvious information you can find for free and have $1m in sales from braindead fanboys over and over.

And now all the Indians and Ali worshippers are frothing at the mouth again for this book that just repeats the same message that's in every video and every course. How many fucking times does one need to hear a simple concept? Apparently there's no limit.

 

[Welshgal]

Hiya everyone, just found this thread and read through it during a very boring shift at work (how shockingly not-pRodUcTivE of me).
I actually found Elisabeth’s channel first and had no idea who Ali was at first but eventually his videos kept getting recommended to me so I caved and watched some (days in the life, what’s in my bag and tech set up). What a weird fella he is.
Though I have thought that since Elisabeth made that video about being his assistant (I do not believe for a second that they’re both as productive as they want everyone to believe) and mentioned the marriage applications?! like wtf
Can’t say reading through the gossip on here that I can change by mind for the better about him.

Someone mentioned way back on page 4 or something how they can’t respect him after not helping out during the pandemic as a fucking doctor and I agree 1000%. So many of my friends where pulled from their studies to help out in hospitals and no one complaint because that is what they always wanted to do - help people in times of crisis. What a horrible light he shines on Cambridge, his place should have gone to someone who truly has a passion for medicine and people.

Ok. Rant over

 

[kaede]

It seems Ali's book is finally on pre-order. I saw the cover and am amazed that Cal Newport said it's a "much needed antidote to hustle culture." Like dude, Ali IS hustle culture. He thrives on it, he makes thousands to millions on it. He thinks you have to watch an anime episode at 4X speed??? So either Ali has seriously changed his ways, or this book's ideas came from someone else, like his staff. And judging by his continued YouTube obsession with money, he has NOT changed his ways.

From the book's website:

In Feel-Good Productivity, Dr Ali Abdaal uncovers an easier, science-backed path to success. He demonstrates that the secret to productivity isn't grind, it's feeling good. And he reveals how to make your projects feel so enjoyable that productivity takes care of itself.

There is literally nothing new about this. This has been a part of the national conversation for years now. As usual, all he is doing is taking other people's ideas and putting it in neat and pretty packaging.

 

[sukiaa]

tell me you’re from a privileged background without telling me from a privileged background. Pray you never have to be in that situation.

Tell me you have never worked with the population (including children) devastated by the effects of drugs and organised crime without telling me. As tough as your life was say your thank you prayers for not being a newborn with malformations addicted to heavy drugs and dial down the patronising. Take care

 

[JohnMasters]

Just wanna say Kharma Medics new video is fantastic and interesting, far better than anything Ali is putting out nowadays.

He actually seems like a real human unlike the ridiculous cartoon that is Ali nowadays. The latter seems on a quest to become the least relatable person on youtube.

 

[Comeoneyeleen]

Thanks for your perspective here -- very interesting and much appreciated! I've always wondered what medical students make of him (and not just the ones I've seen on Reddit).

Just wanted to highlight your third point here which I think is what made me give Ali some serious side-eye because:

1) Ali has clearly worked hard to produce his videos, use SEO, etc. to market his channel, and his regular upload schedule and content all played into his success. However, he was also lucky. Not all YouTubers who make videos regularly get thousands of subscribers, let alone hundreds of thousands or a million like Ali has now reached. For a while he had that special something I suppose -- the content, persona, etc. that made you and I watch him and like him and perhaps spread the word, etc, and his USP of being a Cambridge medic which definitely was interesting to me. The USP + good production + timing/luck really shouldn't be discounted in his success.

2) ^ leads onto my second point, which is privilege. Ali was able to get all the equipment and tech needed to produce good quality videos thanks to other ventures. His finances have always been (I'm assuming given his company) solid. Wouldn't most students would have to save hard to afford basic equipment like a camera, tripod, etc?

3) I seriously doubt Ali lets us into all of his ~~secrets~~ to success in these videos. Good SEO, regular uploading, etc. are really pretty obvious things to highlight, though I haven't watched the tutorial so maybe I'm wrong there. At first I was intrigued and surprised he was talking openly about his success on YouTube. And the videos were very interesting! But then came all the SkillShare shite and somehow the image of a benevolent benefactor was kind of muddied when you realise how much he earned from Skillshare...

Back to the point and your final observation: that he advertises tutorials suggesting users can make as much money as he can. It seems so sleazy that the focus here is on income. Yes, income = financial security. But content creators aren't guaranteed income. And if you are successful, there's a slog during which you probably won't get a bloody penny. There's the mystical YouTube algorithm and changing trends and surely, if you want to create content, it would be because you want to share your content? Wouldn't money be a real perk, but not the reason why you started creating videos in the first instance?

It just feels fucking disingenuous to sit there at the top and extol how great it is making content for the ££ and that it's really not that hard!!! when there will be many, many, many factors that played into Ali's success and monetary gains. He probably just sees it as helping others out, but then he's earning that ££ from these very video tutorials that probably benefit him far more than his viewers.

Sorry for the essay -- this guy just grates my fucking cheese. Try-hard but alright-seeming lad turned hardcore shiller & influencer moron. I've said it before and I'll say it again: he's got caught up in the fame and ££ and people are starting to realise it.

TL;DR: Ali can makes all the money he likes but it's disingenuous to act like everyone can have his level of success but then again he makes coin off of it all so

I agree completely! I really don't think Ali is a bad or evil person, but probably is a lot more money driven than his viewers seem to realise. And there's nothing inherently wrong with being money driven, but the fact is people automatically think of doctors as benevolent and he can take advantage of that. He isn't sharing his income solely for transparency, he's sharing it because a) people are very curious and it will generate tons of views/adsense revenue b) he's made a lot of money and seeing this encourages people to pay for his SkillShare videos, especially after the pandemic that has forced a lot of people out of work.

Absolutely his selling point initially was being a Cambridge-educated medic and he capitalised on that really well, to the point he no longer needs to add that to video titles to bring in the views, so well done to him on that point. And he definitely is privileged in certain regards, but (at least initially) did seem to be really committed to working hard to grow his YouTube channel. I feel like, unless the people signing up to his YouTuber academy have an equally attractive selling point that makes people go "WOAH!" and click (Harvard law student, Yale-educated economist, Goldman Sachs Banker), I doubt they'll be able to generate anything like the income Ali has from Youtube/SkillsShare.

I feel like on the whole, YouTuber content has changed quite dramatically the past few years (just me?) to the point where the focus really is much more on monetising every little thing and regurgitating old content, and the productivity self-help niche is probably one of the worst culprits. It's always surprising to me when a YouTuber who makes content on working in a certain industry (i.e. real estate investing, picking stock options) ends up leaving their job because they make more money from videos on the work than the work itself.

 

[Sukia]

Isn't huel that meal replacement stuff? Seems a weird thing for a doctor/medical student to be peddling...

Exactly...

Coming from medicine I thought he was interesting and out of the box in the beginning... but he started shilling junk and snake oil for a buck, no integrity as a medical professional whatsoever. It pisses me off as he also represents an idea of what a medical professional is to the general public and it's unethical and sleazy.

 

[aidil]

Gosh, for someone obsessed with productivity he sure does waste a lot of hours navel gazing about his future plans.

 

[hollowcrown]

In the meantime Kharma Medic posted a vlog where he shows some beach activities during the 4th year final exams.
Ali will make a video how productively he is rich and will make ton of advices as he would be a finance and accounting graduate not medicine graduate...

I will start making videos how to treat cancer!

Let's take some financial advice from the guy who lost 90% of his life savings on a cryptocurrency crash.

 

[Magallanes]

hi all! i've been AGES waiting for a thread on ali! i know i should have just started one myself but then i'd ask myself who would participate and the idea of making a thread vanished off hahah
anyways, let's get into business:

i like his videos, he seems a nice guy, and i like his humour. HOWEVER (here comes the rant), however, i noticed that in his interview with unjaded jade (a pretty popular studytuber in the UK) he said that he doesn't recycle as he thinks that his actions do not have a huge impact on the environment. that's when his mask fell off for me. i don't know if those live interviews are saved into his channel or if the comments are still available but i recall that people were a bit upset about this. also, why unjaded jade? what does she know about productivity? she has shown cero organisation skills whatsoever during her first two years at Minerva! besides of being a bit problematic youtuber... what do you think?

 

[alwayslurkin]

Ahhh I was hoping there was a thread on this guy.

I enjoyed his study tips videos as I sucked at school and started uni later in life with my head screwed on... then I saw his "what I spend" video and cringed at his dating apps. I dunno, you do you and I appreciate he may want to find a partner... but Tinder Gold?

 

[hollowcrown]

Absolute masterclass in business failure by Ali and people here have been seen it coming the entire time.

He's selling a madly expensive product, with a low amount of repeat customers. A £2,500 course is something you buy once in your life, you don't come back every year for it.

The decision to expand into a central London office and mandate in person work preferred was undoubtedly a huge money sink. Especially when you have hangers on like Elizabeth being paid as "Strategy consultants" not contributing directly to earning fees from your clients.

He will doubtedly sell it as a learning point but honestly you should not take any business advice from this man. He had a really nice little thing going from himself with his YouTube channel, but has gone completely overboard. To lose $1m is absolutely ridiculous at the stage of business development he is at - all becuase he wanted to play at being a CEO lol.

 

[alwayslurkin]

youtube recommended this video the other day:

it reminded me of ali's journey towards becoming a gymshark athlete
haven't watched it yet, (the thumbnail looks quite clickbaity), but now i'm curious about what she has to say about the brand
i'll leave it here in case any of you want to give it a look, i'll probably watch it this afternoon

on a side note, somebody called captain sinbad just filmed a mocking video about ali, and ali himself has reposted it several times on his ig stories
i didn't laugh or find it funny, primarily because it's quite accurate:

I watched it. She did address it quite thoroughly but basically... She thinks the diets/advice other gymshark athletes come out with is toxic and she doesn't want to bw associated with it. I'm sure she has a PhD in nutrition, or something (it's definitely STEM) and she cares about correct advice etc.

I do recommend listening to what she has to say and it's not clickbaity as she does go into it

 

[awjeez]

Does he not feel shame or embarrassment that he spends THAT much on rent a month, shows it off on his Youtube channel, and then proceeds to complain about how much he regrets renting it? Who is this content even for? The whole thing was so cringe.

 

[Lola123]

Not sure how you can even spend $28k on Apple products. Being "conservative" and speccing £2k for iMac, Macbook Pro, iPhone 12, iPad Pro and Mac Mini that's £10k. Then like £100 for Apple Pencil and £500 for Apple Watch and you're at like £10.6k ($19k) still nowhere near $28k. What a wanker.

He did buy multiples to review last year like every iPad and every iPhone, he did say he was returning them so I assume that’s what he’s also including, plus the accessories etc

 

[sergeantsantiago]

Does he come from a humble family? Is that why is he so focused on money the way he is, to the point where he doesnt want to be a doctor? im trying to understand why is he all about money money and leaving a career many would want, why take up a medical school place? I dont get why he is so money motivated

I don't know much about his background but I think his LinkedIn shows he went to a private school?

I think he's one of those guys who sees money and success in direct correlation. Lots of money? Then you're hugely successful. He's mentioned before that he wasn't sure what he wanted to do and ended up doing medicine (I think because of family pressures?). Maybe the idea of 'saving lives' (his words...) appealed for a while, but then YouTube ramped up and coin rolled in and the grind of medicine for little financial reward in comparison didn't seem worth it. I don't think he really knows what he wants. Neither do I, mind.

I believed him when he first uploaded that video about taking a year out of medicine and coming back to it after travelling, working on YouTube, etc. Then COVID hit, travel was a no go, and Ali's left with his channel and Skillshare. Instead of returning to the NHS during a time of unprecedented strain and mass understaffing, he's doing SkillShare live hangouts and churning out his boring content. I think that more than anything highlights that money > morals. I don't see him returning to medicine.

His worldview is probably something like: money = success and success = happiness. I dunno, I just think that this 'success' isn't going to make him less miserable and directionless. In chatty Q&A videos that are less scripted it's sometimes pretty obvious that he's lonely and/or not content with life and looking for the next thing. Maybe overfocusing on metrics and his ridiculous income as evidence of his awesomeness is his way of filling the void, just based on who he reminds me of in real life.

Sorry for the essay, fml.

 

[erk245]

i understand that but it should never be a partner's responsibility to take on this emotional labour. they can help and encourage, sure like in your brother's case. however they should never be the sole bearer of this responsibility. women are often relegated to this role of being the 24x7 emotional caregiver instead of a gentle sound board esp in desi communities. that's what i was referring to.

 

[sergeantsantiago]

Following on from the above...

I've subscribed to Ali and enjoyed his content for a while. He seemed down to earth, pretty chill, and while I think sometimes his self-deprecating British humour doesn't always translate well (some people find him arrogant), he's a smart dude who's built up his channel.

I have noticed, though, that his content recently has become extremely slick and polished to the point that his channel seems more obviously a money making machine. YouTubers should earn money for their content, that's not my problem - it's the shift that has followed. It feels a little impersonal now.

I've also always wondered how I would feel if my doctor was an influencer or on YouTube. On the one hand, it's been fascinating to get insight into his work through Days in the Life and I don't doubt his integrity in anyway. But alongside get ready with mes or vlogs where he talks about bowel movements or walks around in a towel - if he were my doctor, that's too much of a glimpse into his personal life for me.

Then there was his crazy video about The One Tip That Will Change Your Life or whatever it was called How To Watch TV Productively about watching TV and films at 2.5x speed for pRoDuCtIvItY. Ali honey, no. Noooooooooo.

And now this Tesla stuff keeps coming up in my recommended which honestly just makes me scratch my head...

To be clear I don't dislike Ali in anyway, but lately it feels like he's overly pushing his brand and I wonder if it's because he's taking a break from medicine. He has said he's looking to work on his channel but I guess for me it feels a bit soulless now he's got all these sponsorships.

I don't know if I'm making any sense lol - what do others make of him?