Ali Abdaal - My Productivity System

00:00 - Ali: I have been refining my productivity system for about 8 years now. Today I want to walk you through exactly what it looks like in 2024. 02:00 - Ali: The foundation is what I call the "Feel Good Productivity" framework. The core insight is that productivity should not feel like a grind. If your system requires willpower to maintain, it will fail. Instead, design systems that feel good to use. 04:30 - Ali: My daily workflow starts with a morning review. I open Notion, look at my "Today" view, and pick my top 3 tasks. Not 10. Not 5. Three. If I finish those three, the day is a win. 07:00 - Ali: For note-taking, I use a system inspired by Tiago Forte's PARA method but simplified. Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive. Everything I capture goes into one of these four buckets. 09:30 - Ali: Time blocking is the single most impactful technique I have ever adopted. I block my calendar in 2-hour chunks. Deep work in the morning, meetings in the afternoon, creative work in the evening. 12:00 - Ali: Weekly reviews on Sunday evenings. I review what I accomplished, what I did not, and set intentions for the next week. This takes about 30 minutes and it is the glue that holds everything together. 14:00 - Ali: The meta-lesson after 8 years is this — the best productivity system is the one you actually use. Stop optimizing the system and start doing the work.