If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.
Illustration: Hannah Wilson
Illustration: Hannah Wilson
Ali Abdaal
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Whatâs an important lesson youâve learned over the years? đ€
Here are 5 key things I learned I now know at 30 but wish I knew at 20.
If you're interested in getting more of my life lessons and personal reflections, you can sign up to my free 5-day email series here đđŒ
https://lnkd.in/gzD9Bbmc
Here are 5 key things I learned I now know at 30 but wish I knew at 20.
If you're interested in getting more of my life lessons and personal reflections, you can sign up to my free 5-day email series here đđŒ
https://lnkd.in/gzD9Bbmc
One of the biggest mistakes I see people making with their goals is that they stop at the goal itself.
This might sound obvious but a destination is only useful if you also know the route and youâve got something keeping you on track.
The problem is, most of us will write something like âI want to get fitâ, or âI want to start a businessâ, or âI want to make more moneyâ, and then assume that the clarity or excitement of the goal itself will somehow carry us through the next few months.
And, to be fair, Iâve done this tonnes of times myself. Thereâs something satisfying about setting a goal because it gives you that little burst of motivation where you feel like youâve become the kind of person who does the thing, even though nothing's actually changed.
But then life gets busy, the initial motivation fades, and the goal slowly becomes this vague thing sitting in the background of your brain, making you feel guilty every time you remember it exists.
Over the past couple of years, Iâve been using a framework to help address this which has the convenient acronym of GPS: Goal, Plan, System.
The Goal is the destination. Itâs where youâre trying to get to, and the more specific you can make it, the better. âGet fitâ is fine as a vague aspiration, but itâs not very useful as a goal. âRun a half marathon by Octoberâ or âgo to the gym 3x a week for the next 12 weeksâ gives your brain something much clearer to work with.
The Plan is the route. Once you know where youâre going, you need to figure out the rough sequence of steps that might get you there. This doesnât have to be perfect, and it almost certainly wonât survive contact with reality, but thatâs ok. The point of the plan isnât to predict the future perfectly, itâs to make the next few actions obvious enough that youâre not relying on willpower every time you sit down to make progress.
And then the System is what keeps the whole thing alive. This is the weekly review, the calendar block, the accountability check-in, the environment design, the habit, the recurring reminder - whatever it is that makes the plan actually show up in your real life rather than staying as a nice idea in a document somewhere.
Thatâs the GPS framework - the goal gives you direction, the plan gives you a route, and the system keeps you moving when real life gets in the way.
So if youâve been struggling to make progress on your goals, it might be worth asking 3 questions:
- Whatâs the actual goal?
- Whatâs the plan for getting there?
- What system will keep it alive when motivation fades?
(And if you're looking for something to incorporate GPS into your own life, it's one of the foundational parts of Superfocus - the tool that my team and I have been building which brings this together into one single place. If youâre interested, you can still become a Founding Member here: https://lnkd.in/eQ9HnNFx)
This might sound obvious but a destination is only useful if you also know the route and youâve got something keeping you on track.
The problem is, most of us will write something like âI want to get fitâ, or âI want to start a businessâ, or âI want to make more moneyâ, and then assume that the clarity or excitement of the goal itself will somehow carry us through the next few months.
And, to be fair, Iâve done this tonnes of times myself. Thereâs something satisfying about setting a goal because it gives you that little burst of motivation where you feel like youâve become the kind of person who does the thing, even though nothing's actually changed.
But then life gets busy, the initial motivation fades, and the goal slowly becomes this vague thing sitting in the background of your brain, making you feel guilty every time you remember it exists.
Over the past couple of years, Iâve been using a framework to help address this which has the convenient acronym of GPS: Goal, Plan, System.
The Goal is the destination. Itâs where youâre trying to get to, and the more specific you can make it, the better. âGet fitâ is fine as a vague aspiration, but itâs not very useful as a goal. âRun a half marathon by Octoberâ or âgo to the gym 3x a week for the next 12 weeksâ gives your brain something much clearer to work with.
The Plan is the route. Once you know where youâre going, you need to figure out the rough sequence of steps that might get you there. This doesnât have to be perfect, and it almost certainly wonât survive contact with reality, but thatâs ok. The point of the plan isnât to predict the future perfectly, itâs to make the next few actions obvious enough that youâre not relying on willpower every time you sit down to make progress.
And then the System is what keeps the whole thing alive. This is the weekly review, the calendar block, the accountability check-in, the environment design, the habit, the recurring reminder - whatever it is that makes the plan actually show up in your real life rather than staying as a nice idea in a document somewhere.
Thatâs the GPS framework - the goal gives you direction, the plan gives you a route, and the system keeps you moving when real life gets in the way.
So if youâve been struggling to make progress on your goals, it might be worth asking 3 questions:
- Whatâs the actual goal?
- Whatâs the plan for getting there?
- What system will keep it alive when motivation fades?
(And if you're looking for something to incorporate GPS into your own life, it's one of the foundational parts of Superfocus - the tool that my team and I have been building which brings this together into one single place. If youâre interested, you can still become a Founding Member here: https://lnkd.in/eQ9HnNFx)
WE'RE HIRING - LOOKING FOR COFOUNDERS & A FOUNDERâS ASSOCIATE đ
Over the last few months weâve been building an AI-native platform to better connect creators and brands. Weâve been working closely with Notion, Superhuman, Wispr Flow, Viktor and others (in closed beta), brought-on a world-class technical team, and are close to launching our agent-powered workflow. Weâre bullish that this could be a category-defining venture, and want to continue building a world-class team to match that ambition.
Who weâd love to work with:
đ A Cofounder to lead product/operations: https://lnkd.in/ehsRjaqB
đ A Cofounder to lead growth: https://lnkd.in/eSeUmizy
đ A Founderâs Associate: https://lnkd.in/efzmau-a
If joining a rocket ship with high autonomy, high trust, and high upside is your idea of fun, please go ahead and let us know by filling those forms.
Please note that we review applications on a rolling basis: weâre in active conversations with a number of candidates, and expecting to fill each position very soon.
Over the last few months weâve been building an AI-native platform to better connect creators and brands. Weâve been working closely with Notion, Superhuman, Wispr Flow, Viktor and others (in closed beta), brought-on a world-class technical team, and are close to launching our agent-powered workflow. Weâre bullish that this could be a category-defining venture, and want to continue building a world-class team to match that ambition.
Who weâd love to work with:
đ A Cofounder to lead product/operations: https://lnkd.in/ehsRjaqB
đ A Cofounder to lead growth: https://lnkd.in/eSeUmizy
đ A Founderâs Associate: https://lnkd.in/efzmau-a
If joining a rocket ship with high autonomy, high trust, and high upside is your idea of fun, please go ahead and let us know by filling those forms.
Please note that we review applications on a rolling basis: weâre in active conversations with a number of candidates, and expecting to fill each position very soon.
Every quarter I sit down and do the same three-step exercise.
And every single time I'm reminded how much clarity comes from actually doing it rather than just turning it over in my head.
Step one is reflection: rating where things genuinely stand across work, health and relationships, not where I wish they stood, and journaling on what's working versus what isn't.
Step two is alignment: picturing what my ideal day-to-day looks like three years out, so the next quarter has somewhere to point toward.
Step three is planning: picking just two main quests, one for work and one for life, instead of the ten I'd be tempted to pick if I let myself.
It's a simple framework, but most of the value is in actually sitting down and doing it rather than skipping straight to goal-setting without the reflection underneath it.
I'm running this live as part of my Summer Reset workshop this Saturday (4th July), to reflect on the first half of the year and align on goals for the second half. You can register for free here - https://lnkd.in/ecBbfcRY
hopefully see some of you there :)
And every single time I'm reminded how much clarity comes from actually doing it rather than just turning it over in my head.
Step one is reflection: rating where things genuinely stand across work, health and relationships, not where I wish they stood, and journaling on what's working versus what isn't.
Step two is alignment: picturing what my ideal day-to-day looks like three years out, so the next quarter has somewhere to point toward.
Step three is planning: picking just two main quests, one for work and one for life, instead of the ten I'd be tempted to pick if I let myself.
It's a simple framework, but most of the value is in actually sitting down and doing it rather than skipping straight to goal-setting without the reflection underneath it.
I'm running this live as part of my Summer Reset workshop this Saturday (4th July), to reflect on the first half of the year and align on goals for the second half. You can register for free here - https://lnkd.in/ecBbfcRY
hopefully see some of you there :)
We don't have an office in London.
But I'm back here for a few weeks this summer and, with a few members of the team still based here, we need somewhere to work together.
Fortunately, we've got that in the form of WeWork, who we've been using since way back in 2020, when I started working from the one in Cambridge just after the lockdowns lifted. Almost every day I'd meet Angus, my General Manager, there and we'd sit in that same office and plan out videos and courses together. At that point it was basically the 2 of us and a whiteboard, and a fair amount of what the business does now got sketched out in those spaces - but WeWork allowed us to get together and get started, quickly and effectively.
These days the teamâs much bigger, and it's still really useful to have a space to go and work from when I'm back visiting London but especially for the rest of the team to use given that we donât have any physical office space anywhere other than Hong Kong.
Whatâs always been great about WeWork spaces is that you know exactly what you're getting, and wherever you are, there's usually a variety of locations to choose from and it's very easy to book a desk or meeting room and get a few hours of proper focused work done somewhere comfortable.
6 years on from that first Cambridge office, that's still the bit that makes it work for us and itâs something that flexes with us and scales up and down as we do, without tying us into some expensive lease in multiple different locations around the world.
If your company's at that point, the useful next step is booking a tour and walking through the space yourself, because it's much easier to picture your team in it.
Go to we.co/aliabdaal, book a tour at a WeWork near you, and use 10ALIWORKS for a monthly membership or ALIWORKS25 for pay-as-you-go On Demand desks and meeting rooms đ we.co/aliabdaal
WeWork #Ad
But I'm back here for a few weeks this summer and, with a few members of the team still based here, we need somewhere to work together.
Fortunately, we've got that in the form of WeWork, who we've been using since way back in 2020, when I started working from the one in Cambridge just after the lockdowns lifted. Almost every day I'd meet Angus, my General Manager, there and we'd sit in that same office and plan out videos and courses together. At that point it was basically the 2 of us and a whiteboard, and a fair amount of what the business does now got sketched out in those spaces - but WeWork allowed us to get together and get started, quickly and effectively.
These days the teamâs much bigger, and it's still really useful to have a space to go and work from when I'm back visiting London but especially for the rest of the team to use given that we donât have any physical office space anywhere other than Hong Kong.
Whatâs always been great about WeWork spaces is that you know exactly what you're getting, and wherever you are, there's usually a variety of locations to choose from and it's very easy to book a desk or meeting room and get a few hours of proper focused work done somewhere comfortable.
6 years on from that first Cambridge office, that's still the bit that makes it work for us and itâs something that flexes with us and scales up and down as we do, without tying us into some expensive lease in multiple different locations around the world.
If your company's at that point, the useful next step is booking a tour and walking through the space yourself, because it's much easier to picture your team in it.
Go to we.co/aliabdaal, book a tour at a WeWork near you, and use 10ALIWORKS for a monthly membership or ALIWORKS25 for pay-as-you-go On Demand desks and meeting rooms đ we.co/aliabdaal
WeWork #Ad
One of the most-viewed videos on my YouTube channel is about typing.
It's got over 10 million views but that same video probably wouldnât work today.
It came out of a random idea because I thought others might be interested in learning how to type faster. Iâd managed to get to 156 words per minute through all the record keeping and notes I'd have to make as a doctor in the NHS, but my typing speed became a bit of a thing so I thought I'd make a video and it ended up doing quite well.
The thing is, these days I don't type nearly as much. What I've realised is that even at 156 words a minute, typing was never actually my bottleneck. I speak at closer to 300 words a minute and that gap is not unusual - most people talk faster than they can type. In fact, the gap between how fast we can talk and how fast we can type is usually pretty large, and once you've actually noticed it, it's very hard to go back to just typing.
So one of the tools that I now rely upon on a daily basis is Wispr Flow, a voice-to-text tool that runs right across your desktop, so it works in Slack, Gmail, Notion, Claude, ChatGPT, wherever you already write. You press a key, talk, and it turns the way you naturally speak into clean, formatted text that's ready to go.
For me, where it's genuinely changed how I work, is with my AI tools. I used to give Claude these short, lazy prompts because typing out the full context felt like too much effort, so I'd get fairly mediocre answers back. Now I just ramble for thirty seconds, provide all the context and all the nuance in my head, and the outputs are dramatically better.
It's the same with first drafts. I talk the messy version onto the page and edit once the words actually exist, instead of sitting there warming up on a blank document.
If you'd like to try it, head to https://lnkd.in/eiktSubP and use the code ALI to get a month of Wispr Flow Pro for free.
#ad #WisprFlowPartner
It's got over 10 million views but that same video probably wouldnât work today.
It came out of a random idea because I thought others might be interested in learning how to type faster. Iâd managed to get to 156 words per minute through all the record keeping and notes I'd have to make as a doctor in the NHS, but my typing speed became a bit of a thing so I thought I'd make a video and it ended up doing quite well.
The thing is, these days I don't type nearly as much. What I've realised is that even at 156 words a minute, typing was never actually my bottleneck. I speak at closer to 300 words a minute and that gap is not unusual - most people talk faster than they can type. In fact, the gap between how fast we can talk and how fast we can type is usually pretty large, and once you've actually noticed it, it's very hard to go back to just typing.
So one of the tools that I now rely upon on a daily basis is Wispr Flow, a voice-to-text tool that runs right across your desktop, so it works in Slack, Gmail, Notion, Claude, ChatGPT, wherever you already write. You press a key, talk, and it turns the way you naturally speak into clean, formatted text that's ready to go.
For me, where it's genuinely changed how I work, is with my AI tools. I used to give Claude these short, lazy prompts because typing out the full context felt like too much effort, so I'd get fairly mediocre answers back. Now I just ramble for thirty seconds, provide all the context and all the nuance in my head, and the outputs are dramatically better.
It's the same with first drafts. I talk the messy version onto the page and edit once the words actually exist, instead of sitting there warming up on a blank document.
If you'd like to try it, head to https://lnkd.in/eiktSubP and use the code ALI to get a month of Wispr Flow Pro for free.
#ad #WisprFlowPartner