Ali Abdaal has Inspired Me BIG TIME!
Creative upswings and all that.
Who is Ali Abdaal? I didn't know either until lunchtime today. Since then, he's changed my life.
I don't know if you know, but my mental health hasn't always been great. I came out of a bipolar downswing at the beginning of this week, a downswing that I wasn't even really aware that I was in until I wasn't. And it felt fucking amazing. Wheeeee! I was feeling a glow, energy, and positivity in waves that I hadn't felt for months.
That led to productivity. I can do anything when I'm on an upswing; everything seems possible. All my ideas and plans on my last upswing suddenly feel good again. Time to get to work!
Knowledge Working Space
I've always been interested in the knowledge working space. I remember signing up for Backpack in around 2006, listening to Merlin Mann's interview with David Allen of Getting Things Done, reading David Sparks' posts about OmniFocus, reading Shawn Blanc, starting a blog, and another blog, and a music website and a photography website.
Then the downswing would come, everything would seem pointless, and I'd feel like I was a fraud. 'Who cares, right?'.
I've been going through these ups and downs for as long as I can remember. Now I'm on an upswing and feeling like it will never end, so I'm going to go with that and not think about the fact that it always does end. But I'm going to try and 'bank some creative capital' this time and every time from now on.
Ali Abdaal
This is where Ali Abdaal comes in.
Let's rewind a little back to a couple of weeks ago when I discovered a new-ish note-taking service called Roam Research. I found it through one of my favourite newsletters, Iain Broome's. He just happened to mention it in a tweet linking to his Substack blog.
I signed up because it sounded fantastic, but the upswing hadn't kicked in and I did nothing with it until this weekend. I've spent the last two days watching YouTube videos on how it works, and that was how I found Ali Abdaal. I've watched four or five of his videos today and am now reading one of the three books that he recommended.
Side note: this is another danger zone for me on an upswing - I buy stuff like I had ALL the money! I even made a note in my journal to rein that in this time around because it never ends well. And, of course, I can justify every single purchase! I'm now staring at the Joker keyboard on the IQUNIX store and trying hard not to buy it (I already ordered a Keychron K4 earlier in the week --- oops!)
But the books, right. I'm now reading Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon. It's really good.
I'm highlighting it in the Kindle app, which highlights will then be added to a page in Roam Research via Readwise. It's the sort of workflow that really excites me. Naturally, it will involve buying a subscription to Roam Research AND Readwise when the trials are up. This is what I was talking about!
Banking Creative Capital
Ali talks about passive income in this video.
He's a doctor working for the NHS in the UK. And he's making a comfortable living making content and from affiliate marketing. But wait, he's a doctor? Working for the NHS? I've been around UK hospitals enough to have an idea of how much work that is. And I'm complaining that I don't have time to make videos? What?
Nuts, right?
Not only that, but Ali's down-to-earth style in his videos really appeals to me and makes me feel a little less like an impostor. So, that's why I'm feeling inspired af right now. I have multiple projects in my head, some of which have content created going back to June 2019 and which I've done fuck all with because 'I don't have time'. So from now on, whenever I think I don't have time, I'll remind myself that I'm not a junior doctor for the NHS and stop fucking complaining!
So while I'm feeling positive, I'm going to get to work with some content and a new website that's in the works for my network marketing ideas. I know from having been part of the knowledge space for a long time that consistency is perhaps the main ingredient when it comes to algorithms and audience building, so if I can just get enough content ready and schedule it out, it could just work.
I think it's that lack of consistency that has held me back. I hear YouTubers talking about how they've been on YouTube forever, meaning five years. I published my first video in 2007 before even Google bought it. But I'm not going to regret the past; I'm going to start today and send a big shoutout of gratitude to Ali.
THANKS ALI!
**Featured Image copyright Ali Abdaal.