How to Enjoy Doing Hard Things (ft. Ali Abdaal) 

Thanks so much for having me on the pod Mark ❤ Had a lovely time + I’ve now binged every episode you’ve released, the pod is soo good 😊

3 incredible lessons from this video: 1. You do have to grind relentlessly before you can bring balance to your life (if you want to be financially successful) 2. The secret to being consistent at anything is finding a way to make it fun 3. Treat everything as an experiment rather than a do or die situation; and, reframe failure as simply data that helps you refine and retune your life to where it both brings results and feels good Awesome video guys!

this channel is slowly changing my life for the better and i am so thankful to mark manson for his passion in this field.

Holy fucking shit Some of the things you guys talked about was lingering in the back of my head but I couldn't really put my finger on it and it feels like you two just pulled it out and shoved it in my face Man you two are something

Watching this while procrastinating

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🚀 *Redefining Productivity* - Productivity redefined as intentional, effective, and enjoyable time use. - Expanding the concept of productivity beyond work to include intentional leisure activities. - Importance of defining productivity holistically for a balanced life. 03:52 🧠 *Productivity and Emotions* - Emotions as a fundamental aspect of productivity. - Productivity issues often stem from emotional resistance. - The challenge of embracing emotions within productivity discussions. 06:15 💡 *Balancing Quality and Quantity* - Recognizing the value of high-quality, focused hours over longer but less effective work periods. - Understanding the diminishing returns in productivity after a certain point. - Identifying areas in life where efforts lead to compounding returns versus diminishing returns. 10:08 🎯 *Optimal Productivity and Distractions* - Exploring the concept of an optimal number of distractions. - Embracing welcome distractions for potential serendipitous moments. - Balancing distraction-free focus with beneficial interruptions for productivity. 15:00 🔄 *Overlapping Skills in Medicine and RU-vid* - Teaching ability as a significant crossover skill between medicine and content creation. - Importance of patience, persistence, and finding intrinsic joy in the work for long-term success. - The significance of making work enjoyable for sustaining motivation and perseverance. 36:12 🤔 *Finding Joy in Tasks* - Finding enjoyment in tasks related to one's goals is crucial. - Adding fun elements to tasks alters their perception and enhances engagement. - Experimenting with small changes can significantly impact the experience of tasks. 37:42 😄 *Embracing Lightheartedness* - Overthinking and excessive seriousness hinder creativity and enjoyment. - Injecting humor and lightheartedness into professional tasks can create a positive impact. - Seeking forgiveness rather than permission can lead to creative approaches without fear of judgment. 39:38 🎭 *Balancing Perception and Authenticity* - Concerns about societal judgment lead people to lose touch with personal aspirations. - Many base their life decisions on others' expectations, losing touch with their own desires. - The pursuit of external validation often results in a disconnect from personal fulfillment. 41:05 🛠️ *Life as an Experiment* - Adopting a mindset of life experimentation helps in discovering personal preferences. - Running experiments aids in exploring potential paths and finding genuine fulfillment. - Failure becomes a source of valuable data when approached as an experiment. Made with HARPA AIhow

Never in a million years would i think a "self help" influencer would be saying playing a video game is productive.i like this guy already

"Nobody procrastinates watching Netflix or hanging our with friends" this was actually what prompted me to pursue CBT and finally get an ADHD diagnosis. Not being able to focus on fun things was the clue that something wasn't right.

thank you so much for this podcast, really enjoyed it! but dang, i did not expect that name drop at 16 min 😅

I have basically seen much self help content in my life but about 3 years ago i read your book and suddenly i did not have to listen to all of them . finally found something genuine

I just started reading alis book and i was like what does the give no fucks guy thinking about this book. I mean hes the guy who says its not possible to feel good all the time so is alis book based on false assumptions. Ill have to finish the book to understand.

Loved Marks books. Now gonna check out Ali’s! Great podcast! This gave me inspiration to apply this mentality to my life. My takeaways: 1. Don’t take work or yourself too seriously. 2. Care less about what other people think. 3. Going off script can be fun and exciting. 4. It’s important to reframe the idea of failure. Rather than seeing it as a loss, see it as a gain or new data. 5. Gotta cover the basics!

Mark I love how you make these videos in such a good light to helping peoples lives

So the basic message is do what’s fun. Do not be disciplined in order to achieve a higher ideal, as is being a full time doctor, settle for making a fun video. We definitely need more you tubers. Got it.

Marks podcasts are always fun, informative, and so much transparency.

This advice is so needed in todays 'grind it out' world. Thank you.

Two of my favourite "making life better" youtubers in one vid - WOW!

Two of my all time favorite and the most sane RU-vidrs in one pod. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Solid approach. I was always pretty serious and structured and rigid. Contrary to my fearful beliefs, things got better when I decided to chill and have fun with life. Go for it. Try it.

Two creators we deeply appreciate and admire. Great conversation and a tight edit. Grateful for this ep.

Wasn't expecting a collab between "not giving a fu*k" and "giving too many fu*ks."

This feature feels like when power rangers from different universes met each other. Love the content, keep it up guys!

Some of the most genuine and human podcasts. I feel like I can learn more from them because of the casual-ness and natural flow of the conversation. It's like I'm learning from people while being a person instead of learning from godlihood-ized unatainable symbols. Such a good feeling to feel that succes and these aspects of life are human and not fantasy.

Two of my inspirations are here. Thanks mark and ali.

YES FINALLY WE GOT ALI FUCKIN ABDAAL ON THE PODCAST LETS GOOOOOO

I'm glad I came across this video, I learned a few new things today. Who knew RU-vid could be so productive? 😊

I’m in the process of reading the book that I preordered. Life-changing doesn’t even begin to express how it’s already impacted how I view life and work If you are reading this, do not stop go, order the book now. ❤

I love how unique your topics are for podcasts! Straight-up, so many pointers to takeaway in each episode.

Thanks so much for hosting Ali. I’ve been watching his videos for about a year and now it’s led me to your great podcast.

The emotions connected to procrastination was a curious new component for me. I love how you, MM are open about your own challenges & how you seem to walk lightly through said potential challenges ! Good stuff. TU both

Finally a video with description thats actually a description and has all the important info I look for. Thanks!

Thank you so much Mark and Ali for this precious podcast. Mark's book was the first self help book I read in my life and Ali was the first youtuber I started learning about Productivity from. Seeing you two together and making an impact together is unsurprisingly amazing. Thank you so much.

This was great. I’m used to Ali doing the interviewing. Mark asked great questions, great conversations and brought out a different side of him I never get to see. They talked like old college friends catching up while educating. Love it!

I love these new podcast type formats where Mark get so many fascinating people onboard. Looking forward to more of them into the future.

I loved your book, Mark!! Today just discovered your YT channel and I loved it!! This is just what I needed to start my year. I was one of the people who had this misconception about suffering in order to achieve success and it couldn't be more far from happiness. That was a though but necessary punch, still thank you. Not to mention the "emocional baggage" we all carry around doing with our lives what others want. In my case, I wanted to be an actress, but I live in Costa Rica, so no industry and my parents convinced me of becoming an advertiser, which I like, because I can write, which is my other passion but I came to a point where I don't know if I'm really good at it or if it will make me happy at the end. I'll ask that to coleagues 10 years ahead of me, that advice was gold. Thank you so much!

Obvious once it’s pointed out This is one of those concepts which makes you think “why the hell didn’t I realised that before?” Makes perfect sense and once you realign your attitudes and reframe the tasks it’s bound to help. Thoroughly enjoyed writing this revue 😉

I see it as when we were all building legos toys, we were doing that not for the sake of seeing the figure, but for the process of looking at the step by step guide and putting on the pieces and then struggling and juggling around your mind on how to do it and then ask for help from your parent and then struggle some more, ah...that was true productivity, you, I, were all IN on that lego piece, no need for food, sleep or anything, we could be building legos for DAYS. That's what we need to get back to, to the "lego flow".

I had been procrastinating so much solely due to this narrative of productivity being gruesome and something just fundamentally changed in my brain and perspective after listening to this one !!! Thankyou Mark and Dr. Ali

44:49 Okay this portion just blew my mind, I've heard it before but it was a very good reminder: 'There's no such thing as failure, there's only information' aka reframing failure as data gathering.

This is the kind of content that's interesting at any age. I like Mark's candidness on sharing his experience on things that are difficult for most of us.

Years ago, one of the Vlogbrothers (I think Hank Green, because he does so much) said in a video that we need to "expand our idea of productivity to include joy," and it has stuck with me ever since. I'm not great at putting it into practice, but it is one of the reasons I'm so excited to get to Ali's book.

Another great episode of this fantastic podcast! Thank you, Mark!

Been watching your podcats for 6-7 months now. To be honest, you are the only adviser whose tips and lessons are universal

This podcast is cooly better than most ‘ productivity’ educational videos. I love the way he swears as it adds to a cool, casual style which makes you feel relaxed. Great content! ❤

This is a wonderful podcast between Ali and Mark. They both complement each other well and share insights and inspiration into enjoying like’s lessons. I’ll keep sharing and reading, reading, reading, all of their books.

I was thinking that but everybody was like you need to suffer, it can not be beneficial and make you happy at the same time. Somebody is talking about it finally, thank you!

I absolutely loved your podcast with Ali! Gave me so much value. Thank you ❤🎉

The second Ali said he was gonna play baldurs gate 3, I was sold

I love every one of your videos!! They have helped me in so many ways

I am genuinely amazed by how easy you make it to actually understand and apply things to everyday life! Thank you! xoxo

This is my first time watching the pod and getting to know Ali. Was an awesome start for a late morning jumpstart of the yr. Totally worth the time - certainly gonna watch other episodes throughout the yr.

Love your book - and podcast! Thanks for the great inspiration, frank talk, and even the wake-up calls. 🙃

I love the content. You guys really know how to make information entertaining and put in a way that’s so down to earth. Spectacular!

Discovering Ali and Mark has been two of the best things happemed to me from Intellectual and Frame of mind stand point. Lovely interview. Thank you!

You guys are so sweet, open, and warm in this video! I watched some content of you both and, in this episode, it feels extremely comforting and cozy to listen to you. It is popular nowadays to talk about men’s emotional availability and this to me is one of the greatest examples of it! Great thoughts, great vibes! Thank you!

Cái mindset của anh Ali Abdaal đỉnh thực sự , kiểu nó thông minh với authentic một cách khủng khiếp , thật sự là mình không biết là mình có cơ hội được gặp người xuất sắc như vậy ngoài đời như vậy không nữa . Kiểu là chúng ta sẽ có những định kiến cố hữu vô tình được truyền từ người này sang người khác , từ thế hệ này sang thế hệ khác , và tất nhiên là không phải của chúng ta cho nên là sẽ có mệt mỏi khi đi theo . Nhưng anh này sẽ kiểu là hmm , và kiểu quan sát xong tự trải nghiệm , cân nhắc với bản thân giống như thí nghiệm vào chính bản thân mình xem nó hiệu quả hay không thì next. Cá nhân mình thì mình cảm thấy lời anh ấy nói về quan điểm thất bại rất đúng . Nói chung là thực sự rất thú vị :)))

Excellent podcast! As a business person trying to reinvent a lost business to Covid, and being 55, some reaffirmed beliefs and comfort in being reassured of this new worlds path I’m trying to journey.

what a great pod...I have watched almost most of the videos you've posted in the past months and I clearly I am seeing a lot of changes in me... thank you mark

LOVE IT! This podcast was honest, sincere, extremely helpful, and fun! Thank you for making this podcast. More feel-good productivity for everyone!

Mark you’re podcast is the best ever gift that I can give it to my loved ones. Thanks bro❤

*Wow! I see the notification and Ali comes to Mark Podcast. So glad Ali to be here. Thnak you Mark for having him. Keep up! ☕🍹*

What I like about your content Mark, it's that it's insightful and informative but you also use humour to make great points and make difficult concepts 'stick'.

This is one of the best conversations I heard in awhile.

Thanks for a breath of fresh air. That's a nice change from all the grinding videos out there.

Forever grateful to come across you work😊. You have enriched my life with so much fun and wisdom. Love you man❤.

I loved this convo. Very authentic and relatable. Great interview + conversation. Thanks mark! ❤

Really loved this. I felt the end was the most impactful part for me that talks about experimenting with options for your life, which was something I used to do when I was younger, and for some reason have told myself I no longer have the time to try new things. Very motivating :)

I knew Ali from a pretty long time ago, and I was super excited to see you and Ali are going to have a conversation.😍

Love the podcast, so cool to see Mark take his thing to the next level with this format.

This is great timing for me. I really want to up my productivity next year and I completely agree that spending quality time with my people is being productive. Going to look for Ali’s book.

Love this. I'm enjoying the book as well. You both are so inspiring. Thanks!! ❤️ ❤️

I loved listening to your books on Audiobooks while I did 75 Hard….and then I found you here!!! You are so talented and kind!!! Thank you for sharing your work!!!

to be completely honest i fell in love with subtle art of not giving a duck this podcast feels like an extension of that book and always reminding me the things I need to give a duck about or not to give a duck

This single podcast is one that I needed at this time. This was a perfect drop for me. I learned a lot and now I have a larger book collection. Thank you!!!

thank you both of you!!

Great Podcast, thank you Mark & Ali for the many insights!

I love this particular episode and I have gained so much. Rethinking my view on productivity, effeciency and time management, Thank you so much

Of course he has a youtube channel & i'm happy af about that. I just finished reading his book. Such a 'Bro tip' way of writing. As a woman, I loved it! Now I can get even more life changing advice from this channel. God bless you Mark Manson

Great podcast! Huge fan of Mark’s advice.

Great podcast!! Thank you Mark and Ali for the great advices❤

Happy New year Mark . I am listening to your pods sinces December . You prepared me well for 2024. I am determined to change my life for good this 2024 and I am very grateful to you for all the episodes you have done . The life lessons one was an eye opener. I cried and cried because I felt why can't we be told the truth about life in our teens . We live our lives with such a wrong mindset. Your words on victimhood hit hard. Thanks for taking effort to make these videos. Forever grateful to you. Love from India .

Last year I beat myself up mercilessly because I had goals and my results weren't the desired outcomes for those goals. Reframing the things I do as "experiments" instead has set the tone for 2024 for me. So glad I watched this video right at the beginning of the new year 😁

I havent read your book but I love this podcast. have now listened to every episode.

Lol, I was just thinking about this crossover the other day.

It's interesting when you talked about not having motivation to exercise and how you had to discover making it fun, social and tracking it made it more doable for you. I think a lot of it comes down to what exercise meant to you growing up. Having grown up in a dance framework with intense discipline and the drive to get slightly better each class, I have a different framing and attitude around exercise. Nowadays I run and do resistance training without any difficulty being motivated to do it or having to track anything (yet I track almost every other aspect of my life) perhaps because it is simply a part of my identity. I don't enjoy working out with other people and much prefer just working away at it on my own. Just like when I was a dancer, nobody is going to motivate you to work harder in dance class so you just have to have that discipline and internal motivation. Dance has also gotten me very used to doing the same thing over and over again without switching it up. Every dance class has an order of exercises that doesn't change. It gets you used to the idea of just showing up and doing the work. It's probably that discipline early on that has helped me succeed at things that require you to stick it out (getting a PhD, becoming a dance champion at the amateur level, learning foreign languages).

Thanks for the great interview! I'm currently reading Ali's book and loving it.

In my world Mark's way of thinking and expressing is practical and disruptive and i can feel that i lear and expand just by listening this podcast 😊

To respond to the request for a comment on this channel I would like to say this: This channel is great because it discusses approaches to work and life which might be counter intuitive and which describe approaches that make significant aims and objectives more realistic to achieve. It’s no bullshit language is genuinely useful and I find it equips me with an attitude which gets away from the notion of work as being hard graft and slog (which it is from time to time) and gets me to focus on ENJOYING my toils. Great channel…. Genuinely enjoyable to listen to and I always come away from it with new ideas and new ways of perceiving the challenges I set myself. 🙏🖖🤩❤️👍

really nice pod and ty for your efforts to make it possible. Please continue making content like this as this really does help.

God I’ve been following Ali for a while and Mark more recently. This has got to be my favorite podcast episode so far

I especially liked the concepts of working longer with diminishing returns, and also compounding returns on productivity by doing a bit more. The diminishing returns absolutely play a part of my experience in my day job. In my creative pursuits, I ask what would make my future self happiest, and it usually involves doing a bit more, experimenting a bit more, maybe getting some more tedious preliminary work out of the way--and I think that often results in compounding returns on my satisfaction and joy in coming back to my studio the next time.

Feeling good is mostly about being present in the moment, unless that current moment is riddled with incredible physical pain.

I think so your work and this podcast will change my life for ever thanks you mark

Love Love Love these videos, Thank you Mark Manson!

I always love your work mark. Thank You vary much.

This podcast is awesome! ❤ I love love love the content and the episodes are always enjoyable to listen.

Ever since I read "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck," I have become a huge fan of your work. These podcasts are like tools that help to build upon the art of not giving a f**. I am thoroughly enjoying these podcasts for sure! Keep up the good work :)

Love your videos ❤ always helpful, insightful and inspires my best pondering !

Sa wakas natapos ko din, pinanood ko to ng half 4 days ago while taking notes, feel ko nababother ako kahit marami akong pinapapanood na random shit nasa isip ko pa din to. This is a nice pod. Thank you mga boss

Thank you for providing such a great information.this one is really helpful.