One subject close to my heart, and appearing regularly on this blog and on my youtube channel – is the subject of how to keep creating for the long term.
I found this interview and the lessons of value.
From junior Doctor to 5 Million Subscribers
Ali Abdaal finished first in his class at Cambridge, became a doctor, and then built a YouTube channel with 5 million followers. Here’s his recent conversation with David Perell on the How I Write podcast:
Here’s 12 lessons that Ali taught David about creative work:
- Get going, get good, get smart—in that order.
- If you’re stuck, embrace the FBR Method: Fast, Bad, Wrong. Ali wrote the first draft of his book in seven days flat. Quantity leads to quality.
- Prolific over perfect: If you want to get good at something, you have to put in the reps.
- Be a Guide, not a Guru: Your writer’s block will disappear once you stop trying to be the person who knows everything, and start being a friendly guide instead. Tell your story. Share what’s worked for you. You don’t need to have all the answers.
- Do the verb instead of being the noun: Your identity can limit you. Make videos instead of being a “YouTuber.” Publish essays instead of being a “writer.” Labels tie you down. Action frees you up.
- Work hard to find the work that doesn’t feel like work. The more time I spend with Ali, the more I realize that he’s always working in a way that doesn’t feel like work to him.
- Search for the work only you can do: Ali couldn’t find a competitive edge in academia. As he once said to me: “The only way to win the academic game was just to work really, really hard because at the highest levels of academia, I had no natural advantages.”
- You can thrive as a communicator without a bunch of new ideas. Interpreting existing ideas in a fresh, distinct, and personal way is more than enough. Just think of your favorite teacher from school. How many of their ideas were original? Same with writing.
- Be real, not perfect: Ali’s videos aren’t 100% scripted. He speaks off the cuff, as if he’s talking to a friend.
- If you’re stuck on an article, ditch the Google Doc and text a friend about what you’re trying to say instead.
- You don’t need to be an expert to share what you’ve learned along the way. C.S. Lewis once said: “The fellow-pupil can help more than the master because he knows less. The difficulty we want him to explain is one he has recently met. The expert met it so long ago he has forgotten.”
- Algorithms are designed to put the right things in front of the right people at the right time. Put them to work for you.
I’ve shared the full twitter conversation between David and Ali
below.