Person
Ali Abdaal's books and book recommendations
Across 5 podcasts. Every show Ali Abdaal appears on, in one place — not just one.
Ali Abdaal is an online creator and former doctor. He discussed and recommended several books across multiple podcasts, sharing how they shaped his thinking on productivity, business, and personal growth. On The Daily Stoic, he highlighted Daniel H. Pink's 'Drive' as a particularly enjoyable and resonant read, and he credited Ryan Holiday's 'The Obstacle Is the Way' as an influential discovery that helped him establish goals of profitability and helping others in his business. Also on The Daily Stoic, Abdaal recommended Bill Burnett and Dave Evans's 'Designing Your Life' along with its accompanying workbook, pointing to the Odyssey Plan exercise as a uniquely helpful way to map out future years. Appearing on How I Write, he noted that Austin Kleon's 'Show Your Work!' was a major influence in helping him overcome impostor syndrome and shift his approach to content creation. On My First Million, Abdaal advised creators to learn basic business principles by reading Michael E. Gerber's 'The E-Myth Revisited' and Gino Wickman's 'Traction' in order to apply practices like standard operating procedures and key performance indicators. Finally, on the same podcast, he recommended Jim Edwards's 'Copywriting Secrets' as a genuinely valuable resource for understanding the power of words in sales and marketing.
Books by Ali Abdaal
Books recommended by Ali Abdaal
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Make Time
Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky is a practical productivity guide designed to help readers focus on what truly matters each day by stepping away from endless content consumption and intentionally reclaiming their schedules.
Recommended“In in terms of specific tools for for for for for getting more done, single biggest step I found is something I came across in a book called Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. They call it the daily highlight.”
Where to get it
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The 4-Hour Workweek
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss is a highly influential lifestyle design manual that challenges conventional career paths and encourages readers to automate, delegate, and escape the traditional nine-to-five grind.
Discussed“But then I miss that Thursday and think, Tim Ferriss says batching is good, so why don't I batch a whole week? I film 15 videos in that week, allowing me to chill for six weeks but then find that this week in Austin, I didn’t feel like filming anything at all.”
Where to get it
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The E-Myth Revisited
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E.
Recommended“if someone's listening to this and they're a Creator if you learn like the basics of business like what is an sop and reading books like the emth and traction and things like that you end up with like oh [ __ ] I can apply all of these principles of business okrs and kpis and I can like oh”
Where to get it
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The Obstacle Is the Way
The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday is a popular self-help book that draws on Stoic philosophy to help readers reframe adversity as an opportunity for growth.
Recommended“ever since I discovered the obstacle the way and I realized that my 10year goal for the business is to be profitable while helping people”
Where to get it
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Traction
Traction by Gino Wickman is a foundational business book that introduces the Entrepreneurial Operating System, known as EOS, to help organizations streamline their operations and clarify their goals.
Recommended“if someone's listening to this and they're a Creator if you learn like the basics of business like what is an sop and reading books like the emth and traction and things like that you end up with like oh [ __ ] I can apply all of these principles of business okrs and kpis and I can like oh”
Where to get it
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Atomic Habits
Atomic Habits by James Clear is a widely acclaimed guide on habit formation, personal development, and systems design.
Discussed“the reason Atomic habits was so successful is because it was picked up by the demographic of women in their 30s in the midwest apparently which is like by far the biggest demographic of people who buy books and especially people who buy self-help books”
Where to get it
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A Minute to Think
A Minute to Think by Juliet Funt is a productivity and business guide focused on reclaiming cognitive space and escaping the trap of constant busyness in the modern workplace.
Recommended“There's a great book I was reading. It's called A Minute to Think by Juliet Funt. Very recent book.”
Where to get it
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Copywriting Secrets: How Everyone Can Use the Power of Words to Get More Clicks, Sales, and Profits...No Matter What You Sell Or Who You Se
Copywriting Secrets by Jim Edwards is a practical manual designed to help individuals craft effective marketing copy to drive online sales, clicks, and business growth.
Discussed“after I'd read $100 million offers Doom secrets copywriting secrets and we revamped the entire landing page the entire off of the entire product purely based on the advice of what Russell Brunson and Alex hosi have written in their books and just literally following the step-by-step method and that was when a single launch of the course did like”
Where to get it
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Designing Your Life
Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans is a practical guide written by two Stanford professors who apply design thinking principles to the challenge of career navigation and personal fulfillment.
Recommended“The most helpful exercise I've ever found for this is something called The Odyssey Plan from the book Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and another guy who are Stanford professors. Basically, the idea is that you imagine your life three to five years in the future if you continued down your current path, and you write out what that”
Where to get it
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Drive
Drive by Daniel H.
Discussed“and then I would read like I don't know one of your like your newsletter or one of your books or like drive by Dan pink and I'm like oh it's so good this stuff is so good”
Where to get it
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Happy Sexy Millionaire
Happy Sexy Millionaire by Steven Bartlett is a memoir and self-reflection that challenges conventional definitions of success, wealth, and happiness, encouraging readers to reevaluate what truly brings fulfillment in life.
Recommended“If anyone's listening to this who hasn't read the book, would recommend. Or the audiobook in particular, which is narrated by you.”
Where to get it
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Make It Stick
Make It Stick by Peter C.
Recommended“and there's a really good book called make it stick which is all about the science of successful learning and the authors basically say right up front in in the introduction that look if you're a student or any kind of learner and you're not happy with the way your results are going chances are you're just not testing yourself”
Where to get it
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Range
Range by David J.
Discussed“There's another book called uh range by david epstein where he talks about this basically in those exact terms he says testing spacing and interleaving are like the three sort of primary things for learning any skill whether whether it's like knowledge for a university subject or whether it's like tennis or golf or anything like that”
Where to get it
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Show Your Work!
Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon is a practical and inspiring guide designed to help creators share their processes, build an audience, and overcome the fear of putting their ideas into the world.
Recommended“but then what show your work taught me is that basically that you don't have to be a genius you don't have to be the guru”
Where to get it
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The Designing Your Life Workbook
The Designing Your Life Workbook is a practical guide that applies design thinking principles to personal development, career planning, and life satisfaction.
Recommended“the most helpful exercise I've ever found for this is uh something called The Odyssey plan from the book designing your life by Bill Bernett is”
Where to get it
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The Psychology of Money
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is a bestselling personal finance book that explores how behavior, ego, and worldview shape financial decisions rather than strict mathematical formulas.
Recommended“I think most recent one has been The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel. So what does he do well there? What he does well there is that he's got a lot of chapters, 20 something chapters. 20 chapters actually.”
Where to get it
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$100M Offers
$100M Offers by Alex Hormozi is a practical business guide that teaches entrepreneurs how to create irresistible, high-value product offers that practically sell themselves.
Discussed“after I'd read $100 million offers Doom secrets copywriting secrets and we revamped the entire landing page the entire off of the entire product purely based on the advice of what Russell Brunson and Alex hosi have written in their books and just literally following the step-by-step method and that was when a single launch of the course did like”
Where to get it
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Die with Zero
Die with Zero by Bill Perkins and William O.
Discussed“so um our mutual friend Bill Perkins when we were hung up with him in y in Austin when I when we tried to teach you to wake s yeah that that was a real fail uh I don't know I think if I do it the second time around the muscle memory will Ki will in but I I”
Where to get it
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Discipline Is Destiny
Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holiday is a compelling book that examines the power of self-control through historical examples and Stoic philosophy.
Discussed“we were like okay cool we can't call it discipline as Destiny because that would be a bit weird”
Where to get it
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Dotcom Secrets
Discussed“after I'd read $100 million offers Doom secrets copywriting secrets and we revamped the entire landing page the entire off of the entire product purely based on the advice of what Russell Brunson and Alex hosi have written in their books and just literally following the step-by-step method and that was when a single launch of the course did like”
Where to get it
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Four Thousand Weeks
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman is a time-management and self-help book that reframes productivity around the finite nature of human existence.
Discussed“one of the things I love about Oliver burkman's Philosophy from 4,000 weeks is there is simply too much [ __ ] to do and you will never have enough time for any of it for for all of it”
Where to get it
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Good Vibes, Good Life
Discussed“Good vibes? There was that book by Vex King called Good Vibes, Good Life. And I was like, good vibes, productivity? Maybe that could be.”
Where to get it
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How to Take Smart Notes
How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens is an instructional guide that outlines effective personal knowledge management systems and slip-box methodologies for better retention.
Discussed“uh oh i was actually taking notes from this book how to take smart notes uh which was actually about all of this like recall stuff uh and the power of testing and spacing when when it came to the con the context of understanding information from from notes”
Where to get it
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In praise of idleness
Discussed“so I was rereading um Bertrand Russell's essay In Praise of idleness um where he's basically talking about how this you know this attitude that the modern world inculcates within us”
Where to get it
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Jab, jab, jab, right hook
Gary Vaynerchuk's influential business book focuses on content strategy and the importance of delivering immense value before asking for a sale.
Discussed“and he famously says that if he like he's written a book called jab jab jab right hook but he says that if he could he would have named it jab jab jab jab like 20 times before the right hook”
Where to get it
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Law of Attraction
Law of Attraction by Michael J.
Discussed“This exercise was in a book called 'Attraction' by someone named Dino. I realized there were a lot of things in the bottom two quadrants—things I don’t like doing but am good at.”
Where to get it
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Live More Happy (updated Sharing Edition)
Live More Happy (Updated Sharing Edition) by Darren Morton is a resource focused on enhancing well-being through practical psychological and behavioral strategies.
Discussed“Darren Brown and his book happy which is about stoicism has a really good idea that I I often come back to”
Where to get it
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Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
Discussed“I was like, you know what? There's this other piece of advice I got from Safi Bahcall, I think, who wrote a book called Loonshots. Loonshots, yeah. Where he says FBR.”
Where to get it
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Steal like an artist
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon is a creative guide that argues originality is a remix of existing influences and encourages creators to embrace borrowing and imitation.
Discussed“playing around with hundreds of titles like Austin Kleon's book, Steal Like An Artist. Can we all show your work? Can we do a phrase like that, make it fun?”
Where to get it
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The elephant in the brain
The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson is an insightful exploration of human behavior, hidden motives, and the unconscious evolutionary reasons behind why people act the way they do.
Discussed“Have you have you come across a book called The Elephant in the Brain?”
Where to get it
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The Power of Now
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual guide designed to help readers transcend their analytical minds and find inner peace by fully embracing the present moment.
Discussed“I've been rereading 'The Power of Now,' and it offers such good advice: do things for their own sake.”
Where to get it
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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson is a popular self-help guide that uses blunt counterintuitive wisdom to help readers prioritize what truly matters in life.
Discussed“Mark mentioned that once he became rich, he faced all these problems related to status and money, and he realized that the principles in his book—the subtle art of not giving a f***—applied to his current situation.”
Where to get it
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Thinking, Fast and Slow
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman explores the dual systems of the human mind that drive how people think, make choices, and commit cognitive errors.
Discussed“I just read Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Here's a summary of my key highlights, a thread. That kind of stuff. And they'll get millions and millions of views.”
Where to get it
Appearances
Other mentions (6: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I come up with the concept, like, hey, I'd love to do a video about, I don't know, Ryan's new book. And we're like, okay cool, we can't call it 'Discipline is Destiny' because that would be a bit weird.”
“Maybe I could have been selling 'Justice' for more, but all of that was irrelevant because I was just in the middle of writing the book.”
“I was saying to you in that interview that, hey Ryan, you know I've just started writing my first book, any tips? You gave some really good advice.”
“Feelgood productivity it's coming out in January or December 26 right yeah December 26th feel good productivity it's about how to do more of a to you in a way that's right enjoyable meaningful sustainable”
“Obviously, I know about it, but I'm sure listeners would be interested in knowing what you're working on and tell us how the process has been because, to me, that's the most interesting part. Yeah. Um, so the book currently does not have a title; the working title is 'The Productivity Game,' which I'm not a huge fan of.”
“and at the time my specialist subject would have been the harry potter books and i still think it”