Ali Abdaal

[TheTatler]

So, I have a friend that watches Ali's content. That is how I got introduced to him in the first place. My friend was in that Zoom call thingy he did for writing books. Somebody apparently asked him about his USMLE prep and if he was still doing it.

His answer was, "LOL no"

Guess he is done being a doctor, even for part time.

saw this in the Ruby Granger thread and felt like it was relevant to Ali too.

I like Soony. Although I do not watch him frequently (I do not follow anyone on youtube and I only watch him if he gets on my feed and I am interested in the title). He is right. This toxic productivity is becoming so mainstream. I like to be productive myself but it is better to not get lost in the oversaturated content.

Anybody else saw his friend Alphie Yip make a video where he capitalised "productively" in the title? People following Ali's footsteps.

 

[hollowcrown]

He can't be serious that after 6 years of medical school, ditching his entire career because the USMLE was too hard for him, and moving to London to become a businessman, he wants to go to Havard Deluded to the extreme.

 

[fallenlvs]

I think like what a lot of people have said, that he found a way of making shit tons of money and dropped everything for that as he probably felt like it would be the easy option. Little work, (comparatively to being a doctor) people know his name, and he’s rich as hell and can do what he wants with that. Perhaps it’s hitting him now that that is no life to live. I know we slate him for not being a doctor at heart but I wonder whether he is realising that although right now it wouldn’t rake in the money for him, that at least it was something fulfilling. There’s more to life than being rich.

 

[alwayslurkin]

for some reason I don’t think I can bear to watch this when Ali has gazillions in the bank and is showing no sign of stopping ... has anyone watched it?

I think the thumbnail says it all tbh.

I'm just bored of him now. He isn't teaching anyone anything that hasn't been said before. I preferred it when he was working as a doctor as it gave him a bit of an insight into a role I don't personally do, and two, some authenticity. Now he is just like any other money influencer *yawn*

 

[chunlii]

Did Ali not admit to being pushed into Medicine because of his family? Or perhaps someone pointed that out in this thread. Anyway, I don't blame him for discontinuing his journey as a doctor then tbh. It's a huge commitment and he got out of there fast. Also, with the money thing, he's probably trying to change his target audience from teenagers who are just embarking on their GCSEs/A Levels and d*ckride his every move.

I noticed that Ali and his brother spoke about this thread in their podcast. Ali evidently seemed a bit hurt, not the "I'm upset" type of hurt, but hurt as in the "hurt his ego" type of hurt, his eyes were screaming "wow I can't believe someone said that about me, so many people seem to admire me though". So much for a "stoic" lmao. Also his wannabes on YouTube copy his every move, from his set up to content, it's actually so creepy.

 

[hollowcrown]

Yes lets take some mindfulness and intentionality advice from Ali "How I Optimise My Sleep Routine For Maximum Productivity" Abdaal.

 

[aitchH]

So according to the Steven Bartlett podcast, Abdaal is a creator, entrepreneur, came first at Cambridge and is a productivity expert

I watched that interview. It's a shame because there is a lot of good stuff about Ali where he can teach others about what he has learnt.
I just wish he was nicer, able to care for people and not justify everything he does. Rather than saying "it's fine for me to drop out being a doctor during pandemic because XYZ saving lives this way". I'd appreciate it more if he was just honest and said that it's hard work and he didn't enjoy it as much and would rather do the business. Ali dropping out of medicine does make a difference as it is 1 less Cambridge-educated NHS doctor than there would have been. It'd be nicer if he was honest with himself and others and just took that on the chin, and could say "Yeh I feel bad I haven't been able to carry on but I'll try to make up for it by working extra hard in this field."
I watched a little of Dr Alex George (on same channel Diary of a CEO) and he came across as more genuine in saying that he believes he can do more good in preventative medicine where he wants to help people before they need to reach A&E in promoting health messages.
Whilst Ali saying, "it's fine, it doesn't make a difference as you're just a cog in a machine that can be replaced" feels like an insult for all of the people who do work in the health system.

Ali is basing the growth of his businesses so much on the value of his personal brand which is tied to his YouTube channel. He's openly saying that the future success of his book is what is going to kick his business onto the next level.
...
His next pivot for content is clearly going to be "Life of a startup CEO living in London" but it's a big risk and I don't think he realises that it might not pay off and cause his business to crash down.

Yeh really good point. First you live your life and really achieve something, then it becomes easy to write a book about your experiences, how you achieved success and how you got there. Those are the books that are valuable. Being offered to write a book isn't a massive academic achievement in its own right these days. I randomly googled Gemma Collins just now to see if she has a book - and she has two! You get offered a book easily because you have social media followers. But you need to live a valuable life with valuable life lessons to make that book successful and worth reading. Being really honest in your life and being able to truly self-reflect and coming from a good place will help.

I watch a lot of YouTube so honestly I've seen so many people rise and fall.
A lot of what made him successful, isn't really there anymore.
He has been quite lucky - Angus and his PA Elizabeth just randomly reached out to him, and seem like really excellent team members. But reading through his job adverts was just really funny and I don't think he will get that same calibre of people applying now. One of the job applications for writer were "hey make this audio of random thoughts I had into marketable content, how would you do that?" Another seemed to ask for an essay, another asked for free work which was make these 2 pictures of me into 4 catchy YouTube thumbnails. Before you've even stepped through the door and even got through stage 1, you're giving free work rather than just showing your own portfolio of work, so good luck in attracting people that aren't just complete sycophants.
There is so much to be said for just being a really nice person, treating people well and being humble. This egotistic self-worship where you're too important to even convert your own thoughts into an idea yourself and you need X amount of people to do every conceivable job is just ridiculous.

 

[Lola123]

Yes Ali I did report you to the ASA, I also have commented in his YouTube comments before telling him he was falsely advertising and he replied with lol what..... somethings brought him here, they didn’t really say how he found it
He clearly sees some of it as being true.... and it really took his brother to probe him about how it made him feel, I’m convinced he’d got some under lying things going on, to be devoid of emotion is just one indicator
The question is, would these influencers feel better if all this stuff was in their comments or on a site where they have to seek it out?

 

[bubbles21]

Wait he's definitely not doing medicine now?

Edit: I watched the video where he said he probably doesn't want to medicine. I'm glad he's realised he feels like he should do medicine rather than wanting to do it. I hope he can do something to do with teaching in the future that is useful

The problem with that is he isnt a teacher and if he isnt happy with being a doctor, he'd never tolerate being a teacher on even less money. He says he wants to teach but I imagine he means lecture in a university. No university will hire him to teach medical students when a single google shows he has no interest in medicine. You also cant waltz in and be a lecturer without a PhD. In medical school, its people with science backgrounds and PhDs that do most of the teaching and the remainder are practicing doctors. I mean, what would he teach? He doesn't have the qualifications to teach anything. Highlighting quotes from some book as changing his life every 5 min doesn't really come across as a mature, independent thinker. Nor does his argument about lives saved. If he doesnt want to be a doctor - then fine. I have no issue with that. But deluding himself into thinking he is doing more good by not being a doctor when the hospitals are being overrun at the moment is ridiculous. He also seemed to be trying to push that view on his assistant as well - I seriously hope she makes up her own mind on whether to return to medical school or not.

 

[hollowcrown]

I'd wager he's trying to take advantage of the higher CPM that finance-related videos have. He's constantly mentioning Graham Stephan and trying to enter that niche only the difference is Graham has charisma and is well versed in matters of finance, while Ali just keeps regurgitating the same "learn to code" crap and "sell a course" bullshit over and over.

He just seems to be unaware of the fact that his validation stems from the sheer number of Indian/Pakistani viewers that will gobble up his shit without even blinking, and not from the validity of his advice.


He has 50 zoom calls back to back with "coaches" that are fleecing him for moronic hobbies, nobody got time for watching a show and doing human things. /s

We are a matter of months away of Ali beginning his "property portfolio" and talking about how he's bought a house and discovered he can let out individual bedrooms in the house to students to get 4x the rate of what he's paying for the mortgage like he's stumbled across the money making secret of the world. Bonus points if he puts things about it being an "appreciative asset" and then saying his Tesla is a "depreciating asset" so it's not as good as his house and present it like he's just discovered general relativity of something...

It is definitely a certain demographic which is probably buying Ali courses because of his presentation as an aspirational role model to them.

Maybe the secret to passive income is teaching courses for useless stuff to Ali Abdaal.

 

[Lola123]

I’m so glad I’ve found a thread for this idiot, I’ve reported him to the ASA for his lack of disclosure, with the amount he made off skill share no wonder why he doesn’t give a fuck!!

 

[Sukia]

I guess it is tempting to double down on youtube when it brings significantly higher revenue than a thankless job in medicine, but it is kinda dissapointing that he chose to go the self help/finance/productivity guru route and do a bit sleazy job at it tbh. A hack on how to short term save money by buying a tesla for your company is not that practical of a advice for his target audience of younger people and students i don't think. I doubt many successful busy business owners have the time to watch Ali Abdaal give them financial advice. It's kinda this spiral of snake oil sales and flashing the success in snake oil sales for more snake oil sales lol

 

[Priya Patak]

I was one of the girls who submitted to that marriage inbox. I can definitely testify to how rude this guy is. I submitted an email way back in November/December, asking for a basic yes or no response, and never received one back. What really irked me was that he had a podcast sharing that he received a proposal from one of his subscribers afterwards on his podcast. And he also did a follow-up Q&A during which he publically announced that he was seeking more proposals. I think his actions speak for themself. He doesn't have the basic human decency to treat people who show interest in him with the courtesy of a response. And I feel bad for the poor individual he referenced without her knowledge. He used the proposal as a way of creating interest for his audience at the expense of the person who was brave enough to submit.

 

[miguelc]

There’s another quite relevant problem.

for example, on the part time YouTube academy course he created is used some strategies that go against the consumers act in the UK. In another words, he’s breaking the law.

Firstly, the cost of his course went up by over 300%. Legal but very greedy.

then a month before the second cohort went on sale, he increased the promotion of the course at the same time he removed the pricing information from the website.

His promos always mentioned that there’s a cap on participants so “be aware of that when we go live with sales and joining the mailing list”.

This means that a lot of people went to the website to get more information knowing that most likely he was going to be oversubscribed but no price information.

Then, at 4pm tickets went on sale for people to realise that the ticket cost a small fortune. Knowing that most likely is going to be oversubscribed people didn’t want to risk not getting a place and bought a ticket. This is an illegal practice and considered sales under pressure.

This are techniques that most likely he learnt in the book “oversubscribed”. What he forgets is that in Europe, consumer law is always on the side of the consumer.

On the example I referred he made many hundred of thousands of pounds of sales under pressure. I might need some of that money to pay for legal fees and compensation.

 

[hollowcrown]

This dude fucking disgusts me he has replaced his Mac Mini with a pretty much identical (from a tech standpoint) new iMac with a second new iMac on the way with more power. Why buy the first one if you have a second one coming one can you seriously not wait 6 weeks for the full version? Buying all this shit is not minimalist at all and as an actual minimalist it is embarrassing to see this happen. He makes me cringe so much.

Sheen and Elizabeth cute 'n all but

does someone know something about his Alienware?

As the MacMini M1 does not support eGPU (which he used with his previous macbook), I think he'll use the "gaming" rig to edit and work, too. He just cannot tell us because he doesn't want to cheat publicly on his real girlfriend Apple.

Now he does not even have his Alienware computer in a usable state because he's got rid of his external monitor. It'll surely be back within a few months though.

Either way he's got about £4k+ worth of of usable computers and computer tech just laying about unable to use right now. Yet more evidence this "man" is just an overgrown kid.

 

[hollowcrown]

It's easy to balance productivity, social life and being a doctor when you only have to be a doctor 2 days a week and don't have to work full time and have enough money to buy takeaways for every meal and hire a cleaner.

 

[judgejohndeed]

I just came across this guy through someone else and wtf? So he's a doctor, but his whole Youtube is about making money and how he's a millionaire or whatever? I have no qualms with people being ambitious and wanting to earn a decent living but that seems like a very odd mix of values. What a waste of a medicine degree space.

 

[Machtc99]

The Muslim community wouldnt be so tolerate. He would also lose a lot of muslim followers. He reminds me of a guy at uni who was doing everything he could to not be gay, but he eventually came out. Everytime I watch Ali theres something that reminds me of this guy. Dunno. Just a gut feeling thats all.

I'm gay and I come from religious (catholic) background and live in Poland, yet I don't think he is gay at all. My gay radar is not triggered. As @Lola123 says probably an incell.

He's extremely feminine, childish

I agree he is childish, maybe a bit feminine, but still it does not make him gay.


And to be honest, If he was gay, I don't take the argument that Muslims would not be tolerant. He lives in a country where he could be himself - this is also the privilege. It would be only his own choice to live in a closet. But as I said, I think it is speculation. He probably has very "conservative" view on women and that's why he triggers incell vibes.

 

[hollowcrown]

Least he's finally quitting medicine. What a waste of an education though. Interesting to see if his legitimacy plummets now he's not calling himself a "Doctor who saves lives!". Maybe he will continue to give some money to charity every month and keep saying he's "saving lives" tho.

I also do not think he is gay but I think he is on the autism spectrum (I say this as someone who is mildly on the spectrum myself). He's definitely incredibly high functioning but his tendancy to go "deep" into topics he has an interest in looking to "master" them, as other posters have said, indicates he's on the spectrum. He also has the tendancy to make things like getting a latte in the morning into a personality trait. His obsession with creating systems and hacks for everything so it's organised fuels that theory to me.

He also goes on about "Ed Sheeran bangers" or "Olivia Rodrigo Driving License" constantly like they are the only two bits of music he knows about. Bro get a new song! There are literally millions out there. Him going on about Disney songs too like seriously there's nothing wrong with listening to those but it is a very feminised music taste to have whichbacks up the point of having no male role models.

You can tell from his education history he's always been around incredibly clever people. Going to a grammar school followed by Cambridge, and I think it's clear that to him, being the cleverest person in the room is the most important thing to him.

This means he also feels very...weird when he's talking to people who are not directly in his circle or at that level of education/prestige (Oxbridge education). Like I can tell he's being his true self in his videos with his brother or with someone like Angus - but his interactions with more "normal" people like the staff at Gymshark in his vlog there, or the Love Island guy on his podcast feels very ungenuine like he's reading from a script of how to interact with normal people. This bleeds through to his business. His idea of how to manage a small media business with "leadership team" meetings and having company values and aspirations seems like he's read a book about a being a CEO and is constantly consulting that.

I don't think he has had much success with women because he doesn't value a relationship highly and his personality traits are not suited to being in a long term relationship. He comes across has incredibly arrogant and big-headed which is going to be a turn off for a lot of girls. His obsession with being productive is counter-productive to being in a relationship. The special moments for people in relationships is stuff like laying in bed in the morning together, doing nothing. He openly only wants to spend 10% of his time with you and doubtless that would be probably "date night" type stuff like going out for a meal and not the quiet moments, because they are not "productive". He would probably try to schedule in sex in ten-minute time slots if Elon Musk wrote it down in a book.

I just cannot imagine him ever saying or thinking anything truly spontaneous. Every thought he has, has to be filtered through 5 different self help books. He has no original personality traits of his own, and his game-ification and systemisation of dating is the most icky and disgusting thing ever. Just go with the flow mate.

 

[2020two]

I think this is an interesting discussion point because if he ever goes back to being a doctor - what happens if he treats people who know him from youtube/other endeavours? How does that fit in with the GMC guidelines on professional distancing? Yes he is never unprofessional in his youtube videos but I'm thinking more along the lines of - what if him being a Youtuber does change a patient's perspective of him/the profession. That is currently against GMC guidance. Interesting to know where the line is because this is a very new issue, probably one which none of the regulators have thought about.

I have been his patient before. I knew who he was as soon as he entered the room and wanted to hide under my shitty hospital blankets. I did have a word with a different Dr to specify I wasn't happy with Ali being involved in my care. Not that I think he would break confidentiality, I just didn't feel I could trust him as much as other doctors you know? He came across as really shy and timid and not really knowing how to speak to patients, I think he clearly thinks he's the bees knees online but it doesn't work like that in a clinical setting.

My friend worked at the same hospital which meant I could go and have dinner in the staff lounge which was nicer. Unlike most medical staff who were sat in large groups and laughing etc Ali seemed a bit of a loner and was clearly just sat taking Instagram pics of his food instead of engaging with colleagues.