Podcast
My brother and I have a weekly podcast called Not Overthinking, all about happiness, creativity and the human condition. Search 'Not Overthinking' on any podcast app to check it out for yourself. Tweet me at @AliAbdaal to let me know what you think.
How can we treat children morally? Part 2
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In this episode, we talk some more about how we can treat children better. Specifically — what it means to "take children seriously", why we should take children more seriously, and how we can take children more seriously.
How can we treat children morally?
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In this episode, we review Ali's unemployment, talk about how to talk about workism, and Taimur finally elucidates some concrete ideas about how society treats children immorally, and how we treat children better. Some of the highlights from our discussion: Scrolling through social media is a form of passive leisure
Reimagining our relationship with 'Work', ft. Paul Millerd
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We're joined this week by Paul Millerd, who's spent a lot of time thinking, reading, and writing about 'work'.
Friends and Relationships ft Valentin and Cliff
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In this episode we chat to Valentin Perez and Cliff Weitzman about friendships, relationships, and the our ideas of the good life.
The Abusive Relationships of Productivity YouTubers
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In this episode, we discuss one of Taimur's new fledgling theories about the nefarious parasocial relationships that exist between 'productivity' content creators and their audience.
68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice - Part 3
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This is the third and final part of our "68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice" series, where we go through an excellent blog post by Kevin Kelly, offering his life advice after turning 68. Here are the highlights from the blog that we discussed and some of our thoughts: Optimise your
How To Understand Things
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In this episode, we discuss Nabeel Qureshi's recent blog post "How to Understand Things". We go through the post's main points, and talk about our own experiences of learning and understanding things, from school to university to today. Here are some of the highlights from the blog post and our
Envy and The Elephant in the Brain
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This episode is mostly a discussion of Robin Hanson's "The Elephant in the Brain", a book about the 'hidden motives in everyday lives'.
How To Convince Your Friends To Start A Blog
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In this episode, we explore we often fail to convince our friends to start having an online presence, and what a better approach might be. Possibly applicable to general "convincing" tasks as well.
68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice - Part 2
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This week, we dig into more pieces of life advice from Kevin Kelly's recent blog post "68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice".
Responses to our ‘racism’ episode
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In this episode we discuss some of the responses we received to last week's episode ("Racism, Black Lives Matter, and Figuring Stuff Out"), from hate mail to not-hate mail. Ali also unveils his life plan for the next few years, and Taimur goes on a bit of a rant about "legibility".
Racism, Social Justice, and Figuring Stuff Out
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This week we talk about the Black Lives Matter movement, social justice, and how our towards these issues have changed over the past few years. Please interpret charitably.
Thinking As Children
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We talk about Eric Weinstein’s recent podcast episode with his son, which sparks a discussion about how both of our thinking developed as kids and adults and why we should take kids more seriously.
68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice
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This week, we dig into the first few lessons from Kevin Kelly's recent blog post "68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice".
Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships - Transactional Analysis Part 3
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This episode is Part 3 of 3 in our Transactional Analysis series (make sure you listen to the last 2 episodes before this one!).
Life Positions and Games - Transactional Analysis Part 2
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In this episode, we continue our discussion about Transactional Analysis. We recap the Parent, Adult and Child zones of thinking that we mentioned last week, and move on to talking about the 4 different Life Positions and the Games People Play.
The Parent, The Adult and The Child - Transactional Analysis Part 1
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In this episode, we discuss transactional analysis. Taimur talks us through the ideas behind the theory, and how your internal mind can be split up into three parts - the Parent, Adult, and Child.
Money, Stories and Old People
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Money, Stories, and Old People | Not OverthinkingIn this episode, we talk about a few different things — how to think about giving money to those in need, whether it’s helpful to view our lives as stories, and how Taimur has been trying to develop more empathy with old people.Not
Vision, Leadership and Winning the Lottery - An Open-Ended Discussion
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In this episode we take a ramble through a number of topics from statistics to value propositions to what we'd do if we won the lottery to Animal Crossing. Enjoy!
The Principles of Productivity
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In this episode, we talk about Ali's favourite thing - productivity - much to Taimur's joy!
Taimur Teaches Maths - The Flaw of Averages
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In this episode, Taimur gives us a maths lesson. We learn about why it's bad to rely on 'averages' when making plans, and about how we can make better decisions by accounting for uncertainty.
Note-Taking and Quarantining
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In this episode, we mostly talk about note-taking — reasons to do it, and different systems and apps to facilitate it. We also talk about how quarantine life is going so far, and how we're trying to make the most of it. Some of the highlights from our discussion: There is
Not Overthinking - Coronavirus Edition
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This week we talk about the only thing there is to talk about right now — the Coronavirus crisis. We look back over the past few weeks to see how our thinking about the virus has changed, and we try and figure out how to get ourselves to emotionally care about
How would you spend your time if you knew you'd die in 2 years?
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This week we tackle the conundrum of "how would you spend your time if you knew you'd die in 2 years?".
Low Optionality and Adult Friendships
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This week we talk about a few topics that Taimur's been noticing more and more with a particular focus on an article about low social optionality and adult friendships.
40 Concepts for Understanding the World – Tweet Discussion
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This week we talk about @G_S_Bhogal's Twitter mega-thread of "40 Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World".
Motivation, Complaining and Conversationality – A Critique of the Podcast
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This episode features Calum, a junior doctor working in Scotland who spent 6 years in medical school living with Ali.
Margin, Dinner Parties and The Art of Gathering
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In this episode, we continue to discuss the difficulties of recording a podcast each week and look at Taimur's highlights from the book - The Art of Gathering.
Does travel broaden our horizons?
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In this episode (recorded on a car journey, sorry for the audio quality), we discuss the extent to which travelling, and living in different countries for extended time periods, actually broadens our horizons.
Book Discussion: The Courage to be Disliked
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In this episode, we summarise "The Courage to be Disliked" by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi.
Words That Changed Our Lives
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In this episode, we each talk about 3 words/phrases that have changed the way we think about things and see the world. We touch on Taimur's new addiction to David Dobrik's vlogs, and Ali doesn't stop going on about a magic convention that he attended this weekend. Some of
Book Discussion: The Wright Brothers
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In this episode, we talk about "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough.
‘Lad’ Culture – An Insider’s Perspective
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In this episode, we have a guest appearance from Jake, a junior doctor and recovering "lad". We discuss the meaning of being a "lad", the experience from inside the group and the feelings of those of us who feel implicitly excluded from boisterous, alcohol-heavy group dynamics. Some of the highlights
2019 - The Not Overthinking Review
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In (by far) our longest episode yet, we look back on 2019!
Social Interactions - Comfort, Messaging and Life Enjoyment
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In this episode, we discuss our favourite topic – Social Interaction – from the lenses of etiquettes of messaging, the pinnacle of the human condition amongst others.
How To Get Rich Tweetstorm Discussion
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In this episode, we discuss a Tweetstorm entitled "How to get rich (without getting lucky)" by Naval Ravikant (@naval).
External Appearances vs Internal Experiences
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In this episode we talk about the external appearances of different lifestyles and how they differ from the internal experience of living them.
Inner Rings: The Desire to Fit In - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we discuss our desire to fit in, to be part of the 'cool kids' group, to be part of what CS Lewis calls "The Inner Ring".
Intentional Socialising - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode we talk about how we socialise — the different types of social events we take part in, and how we take part in them.
Being Weird - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode we talk about 'being weird'. We explore the merits of being weird, the different ways in which people can be weird, and some of our personal experiences.
Conflict and Communication: The Roommate Relationship ft. Molly
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In this episode, Taimur acts as a relationship therapist and digs into the (strictly platonic, for the record) relationship between Ali and his roommate Molly.
Expand the Box
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In a recent podcast, my brother and I discussed the concepts of invisible shackles, the hidden scripts we follow through our lives. We discussed the analogy of The Box (ie: our cultural norms) and how the boundaries of the box limit our thinking. For example, I never imagined that a
Treating Your Personal Life like a Business - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode we talk about a new theory of Taimur's — that we should treat our personal lives more like businesses and treat our businesses more personally...
Small Talk and Social Awkwardness - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, Ali tells us about a party(!) he recently attended, and how he approached the social interactions there. We talk about how we approach conversations with new people, whether it's okay to talk about "work" at social events, and, of course, the idea of "small talk". Some of
Book Discussion: "The Magic of Thinking Big" - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we try a brand new format! We go through Ali's Kindle highlights, from 4 years ago, from the book "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz. We end up talking about mental restraints, making good conversation, setting goals, and a smattering of other topics. Here are
Will a new iPhone make us happier? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we try to formulate an algorithm for buying new tech. In light of Apple’s latest iPhone announcement, we try to figure out what makes people decide to buy need tech and how we should think about new purchases in terms of their contribution to our overall
Invisible Shackles & Life Scripts - Podcast Highlights
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As we grow, we're subconsciously exposed to various 'life scripts' that can have a profound effect on the way we lead our lives, without any conscious control on our own part. In this episode, we discuss some of the invisible shackles that bind us, and how to 'break free' from
What do we want from this podcast? - Podcast Highlights
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This episode of the podcast reflects on what we each want to produce through the podcast and how we should judge the quality of our episodes.
What's it like to be internet-famous? ft. Sara Dietschy - Podcast
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This week we're joined by a very special guest — Sara Dietschy, tech and creativity Youtuber and podcaster.
Is being negative ever acceptable? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we discuss whether negativity is ever okay...
Birds, Supersonic Jets, Internet Businesses and Trophy Hunting - Podcast Highlights
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Taimur and Ali feature as guests on the Episode Party podcast. Along with hosts Jack and Freddie, we discuss four episodes from four different podcasts...
How do we make friends? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we discuss our experiences in making friends and how the process evolves from being at school to university and beyond.
Procrastination, Money-making, Rejection etc - Answering your Questions - Podcast Highlights
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This episode is a Life Advice Q&A that Taimur and Ali did as part of Ali's 300,000 YouTube subscriber milestone video.
Startups, Coding and Making Money Online – An Interview with Taimur - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, Ali interviews Taimur about his life...
How should we give advice? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode we talk about whether we should give advice to others, and if so, how to go about it...
Is ambition a virtue? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we tackle the issue of ambition. What does it mean to be ambitious?
Why do we seek permission? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we address a question from a listener. She wants to become a content creator but is concerned that because she isn't 'qualified'...
![Ali's Journey on YouTube [Inbetweenasode] - Podcast Highlights](/content/images/size/w1378/2020/03/YuoTube-min-1.jpeg)
Ali's Journey on YouTube [Inbetweenasode] - Podcast Highlights
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This 'inbetweenasode' is an interview that Ali did on the Social Colours podcast: 'Journey of a Creator'.
What does it mean to be authentic? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we talk about authenticity and analyse what it means to be your authentic self.
How To Deal With Rejection - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode we look at rejection - how we've each reacted to rejections in our lives and why some rejections affect us more than others.
How much of our behaviour is status-seeking? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we discuss the concept of social status, and wonder to what extent the signalling of status contributes to our own behaviours.
How can we get into the habit of reading? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we discuss the challenges of developing a reading habit and how we should approach reading both fiction and non-fiction books...
Why do we struggle with motivation? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we talk about motivation and Ali tries to construct a grand theory to explain how we can identify and overcome the issues of motivation.
What makes an awkward silence? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we talk about awkward silences, why we think they happen, how we can stop them happening and whether we should stop them happening at all.
![Time management, motivation, productivity etc [Inbetweenasode] - Podcast Highlights](/content/images/size/w1378/2020/03/photo-1526492664619-72c7c4c62835.jpeg)
Time management, motivation, productivity etc [Inbetweenasode] - Podcast Highlights
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In this Inbetweenasode, Ali answers various questions relating to motivation, productivity, time management and that sort of stuff
How should we take advice? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we discuss some of the feedback we've got about the podcast so far and wonder to what extent we should change things up based on advice. We then generalise this to general life - how should we take advice effectively without over-correcting our internal models based on
Why everything is super low risk
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This week, I was listening to an episode of Gary Vaynerchuk’s podcast, in which he was interviewing Tim Ferriss. They were answering phone calls from listeners, many of whom were interesting in starting or growing their own businesses. A common thread in questions was the concern about the ‘risky’
Why do we love our jobs? - Podcast Highlights
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This is the first episode that features a guest! Paul Tern, a Cambridge-grad junior doctor who works in London, joins the discussion about why we love our jobs.
Why should you invest in a good kitchen bin? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we explore "Measure" — a mental model for spending time and money more effectively. Based on this framework, we conclude that everyone should get a good kitchen bin and a voice coach, and that Ali probably shouldn't get a Tesla.
Why do we struggle with consistency? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode we discuss how consistency in almost every domain is a super power, and come to a few conclusions about what helps us be more consistent with things like morning routines, gym workouts and writing practices.
Why do we hate networking events? - Podcast Highlights
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In this episode, we discuss why we hate networking events but love group holidays, and we try and figure out how to better connect with our fellow human beings.
Why are we scared to put ourselves out there?
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In this episode, we discuss why we were (once) scared to put ourselves out there and how we overcame that fear.
I'm starting a podcast!
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No motivational life advice from me this week I’m afraid (although I’ve included 2 Kindle Highlights below to make up for it). Instead, I want to tell you about a podcast that my brother and I have just launched. It’s called Not Overthinking, and it’ll be
Why do we like to be correct?
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In this pilot episode of Not Overthinking, we discuss our reasons for starting the podcast, and then have a chat about why we feel the urge to be correct in everyday conversation.
