Ali Abdaal

[costaeva]

As someone pointed above, we have moved into the realm beyond parody

Props for the reveal-all in that marathon video (the videographer probably took breaks to go yawn into his armpit), but pray if he is now spending most of his waking hours setting up this "office" / organisation and creating work, how is his content going to improve and become engaging/exciting?

he doesn't have a life, he now doesn't have the self-awareness to know he doesn't have it, what he is doing with it and he has escaped the treadmill of career-creation in medicine to run on another faster treadmill. Will just have to watch him grow bored of this malarkey and jump ship to something even more soul-destroying soon.

there was this little window where he should have escaped the need to "go big" and carry on his snake-oil YT career creation BS as a side-hustle. And actually gotten a life. He's blown it.

 

[Lola123]

It won’t last forever, it’s depressing but he’s a massive bellend who’s gonna be unhappy, unfulfilled and lonely sooner rather than later

 

[erk245]

i can't believe I'm typing this rn but this dude forgot it was Sheen's birthday and went on a trip with his friends. holy hell. that's hilarious yet tragic. he gifted her a canon m50 to make up for it. lmao.

btw, she also mentioned she's leaving in august. i'm really looking forward to watching her solo vlogs!! but yeah wish she'd rethink the voiceover style vlogs.

 

[hollowcrown]

WeWork is a massive scam. Ali really needs a healthy dose of skepticism in his life if he's paying a bunch of his businesses money to something he could do at a library or at a cafe for free.

You can tell he just buys into every single idea someone pitches to him. He's clearly read a book about co-working spaces or something and now decided it is the single best thing ever. Every book is "life changing" and he's probably getting told something by his £150 an hour "coach" and then rolls it out to his "business" and then has to drag everyone along with it and change the entire direction of the busienss until he reads another book or speaks to a different coach and then has a new idea which is the best thing ever.





Honestly how is he paying 11 people for this channel & associated business. If it was just him working full time on his channel I would say the content is underwhelming enough - graphic design is bad, cinematography is adequate, content is being recycled and he doesn't even do his vlogs on the main channel any more. But 11 people? Is he just paying people to sit around with him and pretend to be a CEO entrepeneur? If he's paying people to write his videos and do his editing why does he need all of this "tech" and apps to be productive? He was paying someone to be his assistant and sort out all of his life admin for him!

I am convinced 70% of his time is just him cycling through his "productivity" apps of which he has so many that he's just not productive any more.

 

[Roundhouses]

I respect his transparency in the latest video but cannot believe he made £350k from Skillshare! That’s insane to me! How much does it cost to watch the courses on there? Tbh I think he has tapped into a market appealing to people who want the same success and financial freedom as him, hence why a lot of his money is made from courses. People hanging on his every word to find a glimmer of the success that he has had.
220k he earnt from the Part time YouTuber academy - again, tapping in to people who want a piece of the pie.
He’s clearly very business minded with good branding/marketing, and knowledge around SEO etc but I’m not sure that there is a formula that you can teach people on how to be successful youtubers. So much of it is right place, right time,
connections, the luck of a viral video etc. I really do wonder what he teaches on the courses/the academy.

 

[sergeantsantiago]

Another lovely down to earth video from Ali in the middle of one of the most difficult economic years for many very tasteful

Man, read the room...

 

[Emmog]

The video above shows what an appalling manager and ceo he is - he’s a fraud if he thinks the way he treats people is the way to run a business and this employee gives away how chaotic and disorganised he is. Total fraud.

 

[hollowcrown]

Also Mr Ali "Owns three properties" Abdaal telling people to not buy properties is just probably trying to benefit the market for himself.

Landlord telling his audience renting is a good idea? No fucking shit.

 

[TheTatler]

I kinda want him to do a follow up video regarding these 2021 goals?
I am especially interested in the Wife Quest goal LOL

My guess:

Writing a Book
The Wife Quest
Six Pack Abs
Busk on the London Underground
Draw Like a Concept Artist (IDK about this as he never posted his journey that much)
Become a Better Storyteller (can't rate him on this one as I do not watch his videos religiously anymore)

he seems a bit too polished and perfect. Like even with a fever he's still being pRoDuCtiVe?
(Maybe I'm just sounding jealous since he has such a seemingly balanced life )

I get the polished vibe too but I don't think I will label his life as "balanced."
Dude is obsessed with productivity. In a different way than Ali (he seems to be having a life outside of his work and all), but he is definitely a bit on the obsessive side.

According to me, a good example of well balanced life would be Matt D'avella (at least from the outside).

He said in some video a while back that he doesn't actually care about kids dying in Africa and now he contradicts himself while simultaneously taking the moral highground over people who choose not to donate to charity but do charitable work nonetheless.

Not surprised.
Things that Ali said that made me realise he is devoid of emotions like empathy:
1. He told Jade that he doesn't care much about sustainability, since he doesn't get how one person (him) using plastic cups and straws can have a big impact on the environment.
Yeah, Ali, many people think like that and turn a blind eye to the issues. And that's how they get bigger.
2. A couple of years ago he tweeted about settling in Dubai for sometime, and someone asked if he ever thought that he might be paying to a country that treats women and homosexuals like shit. His answer, "honestly, no."
I get it. He doesn't have to go to the activist route, but really? that's your reply to that tweet? how about being a bit more empathetic? how about not replying at all, if you don't know what to say??
3. He thinks he cannot be a feminist because he is a man. He thinks "ally" is a better word.
Ali, a feminist means anyone who supports " the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes "
You thinking like that only solidifies that negative connotation of feminism. You like Harry Potter, right? Here's a quote from Emma Watson - " “If you stand for equality, then you're a feminist." It doesn't matter what gender you are. If you are supportive of women's right, you should label yourself as a feminist.
I have a feeling he refrained from calling himself because of his audience.

 

[n8459]

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View attachment 340324This is not necessarily what I’d have expected? Idk, it seems a bit out of left field. Though I will admit I would probably find it useful, the idea of ‘productive’ cooking somehow doesn’t jive with me. Doesn’t he mean being efficient? Productive is a huge buzzword atm and doesn’t match with everything. Do you think he’s trying to cater to his student followers?

I don’t religiously watch his videos, but didn’t he do a “what I spend in a week” video where he openly admitted to ordering takeaway/convenience food/food at the hospital because he doesn’t enjoy cooking?
Feels like a bit of a cash grab IMO

 

[aidil]

Am a doctor, can confirm you are an idiot if you do this job to get rich. 50+ years ago this may have been the case, but things are different now and we are underpaid and overworked. I work 48 hours a week and earn less than a train driver working 35 hours a week. I also have to do huge amounts of unpaid work taking exams, courses, volunteering with teaching and research etc because otherwise I can't progress in my career. But sure, I just wanted an easy way to make money

Preach! As a vet nurse, I can confirm none of the vets I work with got into the job for money and they’re all criminally underpaid for the hours they do - you’re only into decent money if you own the practice. This is such rubbish narrow minded thinking!

 

[RosePetals]

Why can I see his next step being wearing the same outfit everyday like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg.

Not been able to make it the whole way through any of his videos I've tried, apart from just giving prolonged introductions of various popular self help books, he's completely money obsessed. I mean who openly talks about how they were considering tax avoidance? Swear he's got no morals either.

 

[TheTatler]

I used to be subscribed to Ali back when he was still at Cambridge, I thought that he was just a really knowledgeable passionate guy who loved medicine and knew some great tips about the medicine application process and studying. But over the past two years.... I just can't stand his content. Not just the fact that his company charges hundreds of pounds for courses that directly contribute to the classism in the medicine application process but oof... His most recent video? Hit the nail on the head.

The fact that he indirectly said; "a doctor in the NHS will only ever save around 8 lives in their lifetime and I can save more by donating at least £24,000 to this charity, hence why I wanted to stay on YouTube" just really disgusted me. I don't understand why if he wants to stay on YouTube and do his business thing why he has to lowkey attack medicine? Why does he have to use these BS reasons to justify why he wants to do something he's passionate about? Just own up to it! Also, the fact that money seems to be a huge thing in his life; showing that he has it, is worth it, while that's not a bad thing; why can't he just own who he is. I just couldn't believe that he tried to use the fact that because more people watch his YouTube videos than however many he may or may not be able to help on the wards as a reason why being a doctor wasn't worth it to him.

Not just that but also all that stuff about "oh, but there's locums and the hospitals will always find someone to fill the gap". Dude, just own what you did. The whole country knew that the NHS was struggling. It was an unprecedented pandemic.

I'm just so disappointed in someone that I had previously perceived as quite genuine.

"a doctor in the NHS will only ever save around 8 lives in their lifetime and I can save more by donating at least £24,000 to this charity, hence why I wanted to stay on YouTube"

sounds like he is trying to be "productive" here, too

 

[platypus567]

I don't really blame Ali for deciding to take a different path from his 16 year old self, but I do kinda blame him for pursuing the career for so long, making bank off it, and then deciding to bail to make irrelevant click bait. I do feel like he'd have done better going off and becoming a data scientist like his brother did.

He was only a doctor for 2 years before he quit, and it looks like he's at least going back part-time now. I'm a doctor and it's strongly recommended that you finish the first 2 years of being a doctor (the foundation programme) first before quitting, because then it's easier to go back to being a doctor if you ever decide to come back to it. So even if he had quit he made the sensible decision to stick it out that long IMO. It's also pretty common for doctors to take a year out or at least have more of a chilled year after finishing the foundation programme.

 

[JohnMasters]

Ali's amateur businesses hiring practises are not a good model for applying to like every other job ever.

Well he's advocating for free work and bending over backwards to appease the employer like a good slave, while in the real world there's a crisis of labor and people prefer to get money from the state than bother to work. I guess it's telling of what kind of people he hires. They probably are so brainwashed they think this is the career of a lifetime or something. I will never forget the interviews with two of his slaves where they said they'd be willing to work for him for half the pay. Zero fucking self worth from these people. So many people and so much busywork for such mediocre results.

Also what the hell does a sheltered geek that never had a job know about hiring in an actual company, dealing with nepotism and a soulcrushing incompetent boss that just piles on work and every aspect of a traditional career. Yeah, nothing. In his world "jobs" are just these things that people can choose to have or not while they fuck around on their YouTube channels or write stupid newsletters. In his world there's no risk of losing your house or crippling medical bills cause money just flows in from imbeciles who buy a course on how to become a mediocre youtuber or sponsors who wheelbarrow money into your account for a canned recital of how amazing their product is. Then he has the gall to recommend surefire strategies for getting hired by the likes of him. Lol. What an unrelatable joke this guy is, holy crap.

 

[Machtc99]

I'm probably misinterpreting you here/something lost in translation or different slang but are you talking banana as in an Asian person "acting white"?

Ah, sorry I literally translated it from my native lanaguage. In Polish a "banana person" is a person from rich background which has plenty of cash, acts badly, shows off, and thinks he/she deserves everything, plus treats people like a c...p.
I promise, going forward, I'll check if this kind of expressions exist in English

In that case, Ali meets that definition - his last video is also about cash.
watch

 

[JohnMasters]

I haven't seen LinusTech. But I do think if Ali was just around people who he was having fun with, his vlogs would be more watchable. The Monaco vlog is a good example of how even being in a great setting to make an interesting vlog, you can end up making a really boring vlog because it seemed unrelatable and like an informercial for himself about how cool he is being in Monaco. Whereas a vlog like the vagabrothers did in Monaco shows that being relatable to your audience and having fun in your videos makes the vlogs watchable.

The problem is he doesn't know what "fun" is. He's read so many self help books that now he spouts the daily grind of work as being "fun", going to Harvard as being "fun". He rents a $15k/month office just to have people around him cause it's "fun". When you lack meaningful relationships and spend your entire time buried in self help literature while serendipitously ending up making a few million pounds with no risk, it's sensible to think his view of life in general is highly distorted—from the way he approaches money, work and love to wacky shit like watching movies at 5x and wife email address. He's literally never had to worry about paying bills and debt. There's some degree of mental gymnastics going on there that neither of us is able to comprehend BUT at the same time he fully rejects input from anyone else who tells him "Hey, this is wrong" because it doesn't come from a self help guru. He waxes on and on about enjoying the journey and loving the process but from the perspective of a coddled schoolboy with money pouring in from all directions. Someone with so much lack of perspective has no place trying to carve out a niche as a guru in anything.

 

[JohnMasters]

As I said in a previous post, it's pretty clear that they hooked up. Only braindead fans could look at this and not spot the gut wrenching awkwardness seeping from this interaction. She's behaving like an enamored schoolgirl and from her description he's acting like someone with special needs. It's really fucking hard to watch. Not charging your employer for hours worked so he gets to buy more Apple products and flex about how "productive" they make him—nice going Elizabeth, you're the reason some employers treat people like shit, cause they can get away with it. You're bragging about being a wet rag for this doofus like it's some feat of ethics.

So far two employees declared they wouldn't quit their jobs if he halved their pay. In other words, two key employees would willingly switch to a diet of cup noodles so this clown would keep more of his wealth after flexing for several videos that his "business" (that these same two employees administer and prop up) makes 3 million. A business that doesn't imply any of the expenses that an actual real business would incur. It's literally a guy sitting in his fucking apartment talking random shit (but still choosing to pay $1500 a month for WeWork so he can jerk his ego off about being in an office with his yes-men). How's that kool-aid tasting Elizabeth? Dunno which is worse at this point, Angus who 'gets pleasure from building Ali's "brand"' or Elizabeth who "learned so much". Sounds like, along with Elizabeth, he also managed to gaslight almost 2 million people into believing they've learned so much as if he's the only youtuber out there who uses Notion or talks about Tim Ferriss every 5 seconds. Unbelievable.

 

[JohnMasters]

"We've decided to downsize" is a funny way of framing it. The dishonesty is hilarious almost. Just admit you spent money like an idiot and it's starting to sting. You're the one paying the rent dickhead, it's you that decided to downsize cause you were getting nothing from a fucking office in central London as a middling youtuber. You just like saying the words "business" and "company" you silly twat and you spent $150k just to delude yourself into thinking you have one. Imagine taking financial advice from this buffoon.

I wonder what the next cost cutting measure's gonna be. Feels like a bunch of people are gonna be left jobless maybe. It's mind boggling that people are fans of this guy and find this garbage inspirational. Can someone check if being part of the Abdaal fanclub includes a free lobotomy or something?

 

[Magallanes]

Do we think he’ll return to medicine after this years break to focus on YouTube?

I wonder if he’s highly intelligent but deeply insecure. Maybe his channel gives him validation that he doesn’t get as a doctor (just spitballing here).

apparently, as mentioned in some of his videos, most of his family are doctors, and he sort of felt 'pushed' to follow that path (his brother jokes about how in family reunions, his relatives look down on him for being a computer science graduate instead of a medicine graduate)
maybe he wants to make up for the lost time and pursue a more 'entertainment'-based career? i also agree with the others that he has fallen into the rabbit hole of productivity, coaching, self-improvement and all that jazz, also i find it worrying how openly he talks about money (his income, his investments, the tesla car...) and i find him very money-driven, maybe i'm wrong