What I Actually Do When I’m Not Making YouTube Videos
Ali Abdaal walks through a typical workday showing how he manages YouTube, an app, a business academy, and coaching while avoiding burnout.
The gist
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The splurge writing method sets a 10-minute timer to write without backspacing, bypassing perfectionism before cleaning up the result.
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Filming yourself doing real business work, like building landing pages or running ads, reduces production effort and makes content more genuine.
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The DRC-PR framework treats five metrics, DMs, replies, calls, proposals, and revenue, as vital signs to pinpoint exactly where a business is stuck.
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Ali Abdaal says setting a hard no-work-after-7pm rule, defined by how it looks to others, helps protect family time and prevent burnout.
Ali Abdaal uses it
"If I want to, I can just chuck it into Claude and be like, 'Hey, can you just clean it up to make sure there's no typos and shit?' Previously, I used to use our app VoicePal and used to walk around and sort of dictate what I wanted to write about. Then I would chuck it into Cl..."
▶ Play at 4:38250 creators recommend it, including Riley Brown, Chris Koerner, and This Week in Startups.
See all on the Claude page
Ali Abdaal uses it
"Time for a little trip to the DJI store and then team lunch. We have done a nice haul of equipment from the DJI store which we are now putting on charge — a four-way microphone setup with a single transmitter which means we can do four-way podcasts, four-way roundtables, we ca..."
▶ Play at 10:053 creators recommend it, including TBPN and This Week in Startups.
See all on the DJI pageWhat they recommend · 3 picks
"There is a technique that I came across from a writing coach which is called the splurge. You basically set a timer for 10 minutes. Pretty much with eyes closed and not being al..."
"If I want to, I can just chuck it into Claude and be like, 'Hey, can you just clean it up to make sure there's no typos and shit?' Previously, I used to use our app VoicePal and..."
"Time for a little trip to the DJI store and then team lunch. We have done a nice haul of equipment from the DJI store which we are now putting on charge — a four-way microphone ..."
Ali, This Week in Startups, Chris and Riley agree on 34 things
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