
Not Overthinking
The weekly podcast about happiness, creativity, and the human condition. It's us, Ali and Taimur Abdaal, occasionally joined by guests, talking about things to help us think, do, and be better.
Things like social interaction, lifestyle design, mental models... Things that are hard to examine, but important to explore. And hopefully, things that make for a fun and interesting chat every week.
We'd love for you to join us.
Latest episodes

Dec 27, 2020 • 1h 3min
2020 Not Overthinking Highlights
In this episode, we discuss the highlights of the podcast from 2020, Ali shares some of the advice he's received about how to be better with women, and we try and figure out how to create a members community for listeners of the podcast. Sponsored by BrilliantThis episode is kindly supported by Brilliant, the best way to learn maths, science, and computer science online. Brilliant focuses on helping you learn how to think, rather than just memorising methods and facts. Sign up at https://brilliant.org/notoverthinking — the first 100 people get 20% off an annual subscription.Join our Membership Community ThingIf you'd like to potentially join the Not Overthinking membership community thing (we discuss it halfway through this episode), please fill out your info here - https://airtable.com/shr1UZc8sWnhAEwJgLeave us a ReviewIf you enjoy listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. Here's a link that works even if you're not on an iPhone :) Send us an Audio MessageWe really want to include more listener comments and questions in our episodes. If you've got any thoughts on this episode, or if you've got a conundrum or question you'd like us to discuss, send an audio file / voice note to hi@notoverthinking.com. For any non-audio comments, drop us a tweet or DM on Twitter - https://twitter.com/noverthinking See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 21, 2020 • 59min
Probing Questions to Reflect on 2020
In this episode, we answer some reflective end-of-year review questions. We introspect about new ways we've had fun in 2020, new ways we've suffered in 2020, and what lessons we'd teach to others. Enjoy!-------------------------------------Sponsored by SkillshareThis episode is kindly supported by Skillshare. Sign up at skillshare.com/notoverthinkingpod.Leave us a ReviewIf you enjoy listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. Here's a link that works even if you're not on an iPhone :) Send us an Audio MessageWe really want to include more listener comments and questions in our episodes. If you've got any thoughts on this episode, or if you've got a conundrum or question you'd like us to discuss, send an audio file / voice note to hi@notoverthinking.com. For any non-audio comments, drop us a tweet or DM on Twitter - https://twitter.com/noverthinking ---What is this? Not Overthinking is a podcast about happiness, creativity, and the human condition. We talk about things to help us think, do, and be better. Things like social interaction, lifestyle design, mental models... Things that are hard to examine, but important to explore. And hopefully, things that make for a fun and interesting chat every week.Follow Not Overthinking on Twitter: https://twitter.com/noverthinking. Who are we? Ali is a junior doctor and YouTuber working in Cambridge, UK. He makes videos about medicine, technology, productivity and lifestyle design. His links: YouTube, Blog, Newsletter, InstagramTaimur is a data scientist and writer, working on his own startup Causal. He writes on his blog and as a columnist for Medium. His links: Blog, Twitter, Medium, InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 13, 2020 • 1h 2min
What do we want from life?
In this episode, we discuss some thought-provoking questions designed to help us (and you) figure out what we want from life. This turns into a commitment we make to one another to consciously work towards our ‘rock star’ goals.LinksThe Forcing FunctionSponsored by BrilliantThis episode is kindly supported by Brilliant, the best way to learn maths, science, and computer science online. Brilliant focuses on helping you learn how to think, rather than just memorising methods and facts. Sign up at https://brilliant.org/notoverthinking — the first 100 people get 20% off an annual subscription.Leave us a ReviewIf you enjoy listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. Here's a link that works even if you're not on an iPhone :) Send us an Audio MessageWe really want to include more listener comments and questions in our episodes. If you've got any thoughts on this episode, or if you've got a conundrum or question you'd like us to discuss, send an audio file / voice note to hi@notoverthinking.com. For any non-audio comments, drop us a tweet or DM on Twitter - https://twitter.com/noverthinking See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 6, 2020 • 1h 2min
Disappointment, Seriousness and Sincerity
Ali shares a disappointing moment from his week. They discuss Alan Watts' framing of life as a game. Taimur shares lessons from therapy sessions. Elaborate description of a problematic meme. Topics include disappointment, seriousness, sincerity, therapy, and problematic memes.

17 snips
Nov 30, 2020 • 1h 26min
An Existential Crisis
In this episode, Taimur talks about the existential crisis that he's going through. We try and figure out what our real goals and motivations are for the things that we're doing.LinksVenkatesh Rao TweetHow to be a loserPain is not the unit of effortTrying to TrySponsored by BrilliantThis episode is kindly supported by Brilliant, the best way to learn maths, science, and computer science online. Brilliant focuses on helping you learn how to think, rather than just memorising methods and facts. Sign up at https://brilliant.org/notoverthinking — the first 100 people get 20% off an annual subscription.Leave us a ReviewIf you enjoy listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. Here's a link that works even if you're not on an iPhone :) Send us an Audio MessageWe really want to include more listener comments and questions in our episodes. If you've got any thoughts on this episode, or if you've got a conundrum or question you'd like us to discuss, send an audio file / voice note to hi@notoverthinking.com. For any non-audio comments, drop us a tweet or DM on Twitter - https://twitter.com/noverthinking See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

5 snips
Nov 22, 2020 • 1h 18min
How authentic are we on this podcast?
In this episode, Ali moans about how he always comes across poorly in podcasts while Taimur always comes across well, and how this doesn't accurately represent how we are in real life.--------------------------------------------------------------------Sponsored by SkillshareThis episode is kindly supported by Skillshare. Sign up at skillshare.com/notoverthinkingpod.Leave us a ReviewIf you enjoy listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. Here's a link that works even if you're not on an iPhone :) Send us an Audio MessageWe really want to include more listener comments and questions in our episodes. If you've got any thoughts on this episode, or if you've got a conundrum or question you'd like us to discuss, send an audio file / voice note to hi@notoverthinking.com. For any non-audio comments, drop us a tweet or DM on Twitter - https://twitter.com/noverthinking ---What is this? Not Overthinking is a podcast about happiness, creativity, and the human condition. We talk about things to help us think, do, and be better. Things like social interaction, lifestyle design, mental models... Things that are hard to examine, but important to explore. And hopefully, things that make for a fun and interesting chat every week.Follow Not Overthinking on Twitter: https://twitter.com/noverthinking. Who are we? Ali is a junior doctor and YouTuber working in Cambridge, UK. He makes videos about medicine, technology, productivity and lifestyle design. His links: YouTube, Blog, Newsletter, InstagramTaimur is a data scientist and writer, working on his own startup Causal. He writes on his blog and as a columnist for Medium. His links: Blog, Twitter, Medium, InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 17, 2020 • 1h 23min
John O'Nolan on Life as a Nomad, Ghost and Optimising for Happiness
John O'Nolan is the developer, founder and CEO at Ghost which he has grown to a $2.7m/year business. He has become a digital nomad in recent years and has been working remotely whilst travelling the world for well over a decade. John shares the lessons he’s learnt over the past decade, from setting up Ghost to successfully living the nomad life to why we should optimise for happiness rather than revenue.Sponsored by BrilliantThis episode is kindly supported by Brilliant, the best way to learn maths, science, and computer science online. Brilliant focuses on helping you learn how to think, rather than just memorising methods and facts. Sign up at https://brilliant.org/notoverthinking — the first 100 people get 20% off an annual subscription.Leave us a ReviewIf you enjoy listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. Here's a link that works even if you're not on an iPhone :) Send us an Audio MessageWe really want to include more listener comments and questions in our episodes. If you've got any thoughts on this episode, or if you've got a conundrum or question you'd like us to discuss, send an audio file / voice note to hi@notoverthinking.com. For any non-audio comments, drop us a tweet or DM on Twitter - https://twitter.com/noverthinking See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

28 snips
Nov 9, 2020 • 2h 3min
Austin Kleon on Writing, Creativity and The Importance of Idleness
This is an 'inbetweenasode' and features an interview Ali did with Austin Kleon as part of his Deep Dive series last month. Austin Kleon is the bestselling author of a trilogy of books about creativity and originality in the digital age. His three books - Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work! and Keep Going - have sold millions of copies around the world and inspired thousands of people, including myself. In their conversation they talked about Austin’s books, the value of writing daily and also the important balance between idleness and creativity.Books MentionedHow To Do NothingHow To Be IdleA Million Miles in a Thousand YearsFinite and Infinite GamesDocumentaries MentionedSupermensch - The Legend of Shep Gordon--------------------------------------------------------------------Sponsored by SkillshareThis episode is kindly supported by Skillshare. Sign up at skillshare.com/notoverthinkingpod.Leave us a ReviewIf you enjoy listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. Here's a link that works even if you're not on an iPhone :) Send us an Audio MessageWe really want to include more listener comments and questions in our episodes. If you've got any thoughts on this episode, or if you've got a conundrum or question you'd like us to discuss, send an audio file / voice note to hi@notoverthinking.com. For any non-audio comments, drop us a tweet or DM on Twitter - https://twitter.com/noverthinking ---What is this? Not Overthinking is a podcast about happiness, creativity, and the human condition. We talk about things to help us think, do, and be better. Things like social interaction, lifestyle design, mental models... Things that are hard to examine, but important to explore. And hopefully, things that make for a fun and interesting chat every week.Follow Not Overthinking on Twitter: https://twitter.com/noverthinking. Who are we? Ali is a junior doctor and YouTuber working in Cambridge, UK. He makes videos about medicine, technology, productivity and lifestyle design. His links: YouTube, Blog, Newsletter, InstagramTaimur is a data scientist and writer, working on his own startup Causal. He writes on his blog and as a columnist for Medium. His links: Blog, Twitter, Medium, InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 1, 2020 • 1h 15min
Is it immoral to publicly share revenue numbers?
In this episode, we discuss Taimur and Mack's setup of co-living in the Caribbean while Ali's stuck in rainy England. We then wonder aloud at length about whether Ali is a bad person for posting his revenue numbers on social media.Sponsored by BrilliantThis episode is kindly supported by Brilliant, the best way to learn maths, science, and computer science online. Brilliant focuses on helping you learn how to think, rather than just memorising methods and facts. Sign up at https://brilliant.org/notoverthinking — the first 100 people get 20% off an annual subscription.Leave us a ReviewIf you enjoy listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. Here's a link that works even if you're not on an iPhone :) Send us an Audio MessageWe really want to include more listener comments and questions in our episodes. If you've got any thoughts on this episode, or if you've got a conundrum or question you'd like us to discuss, send an audio file / voice note to hi@notoverthinking.com. For any non-audio comments, drop us a tweet or DM on Twitter - https://twitter.com/noverthinking ---What is this? Not Overthinking is a podcast about happiness, creativity, and the human condition. We talk about things to help us think, do, and be better. Things like social interaction, lifestyle design, mental models... Things that are hard to examine, but important to explore. And hopefully, things that make for a fun and interesting chat every week.Follow Not Overthinking on Twitter: https://twitter.com/noverthinking. Who are we? Ali is a junior doctor and YouTuber working in Cambridge, UK. He makes videos about medicine, technology, productivity and lifestyle design. His links: YouTube, Blog, Newsletter, InstagramTaimur is a data scientist and writer, working on his own startup Causal. He writes on his blog and as a columnist for Medium. His links: Blog, Twitter, Medium, InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

6 snips
Oct 25, 2020 • 1h 2min
Book Discussion - The Psychology of Money Part 2
This is the second part of our discussion of Morgan Housel’s book The Psychology of Money. We continue to explore some of the key points, like the role that luck plays in success, why poor people buy lottery tickets, and the differences between getting wealthy and staying wealthy.LinksThe Psychology of MoneyThe Psychology of Money – Book Summary & NotesMorgan Housel's WebsiteMorgan Housel's TwitterSponsored by SkillshareThis episode is kindly supported by Skillshare. Sign up at www.skillshare.com/notoverthinkingfor a 2-month free trial. It's a good alternative to YouTube.Leave us a ReviewIf you enjoy listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review on iTunes / Apple Podcasts. Here's a link that works even if you're not on an iPhone :) Send us an Audio MessageWe really want to include more listener comments and questions in our episodes. If you've got any thoughts on this episode, or if you've got a conundrum or question you'd like us to discuss, send an audio file / voice note to hi@notoverthinking.com. For any non-audio comments, drop us a tweet or DM on Twitter - https://twitter.com/noverthinking ---What is this? Not Overthinking is a podcast about happiness, creativity, and the human condition. We talk about things to help us think, do, and be better. Things like social interaction, lifestyle design, mental models... Things that are hard to examine, but important to explore. And hopefully, things that make for a fun and interesting chat every week.Follow Not Overthinking on Twitter: https://twitter.com/noverthinking. Who are we? Ali is a junior doctor and YouTuber working in Cambridge, UK. He makes videos about medicine, technology, productivity and lifestyle design. His links: YouTube, Blog, Newsletter, InstagramTaimur is a data scientist and writer, working on his own startup Causal. He writes on his blog and as a columnist for Medium. His links: Blog, Twitter, Medium, InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.