My Productivity Desk Setup - Ali Abdaal in Dailymotion
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How to Change your Life in a Year - 3 Simple Ideas : https://dai.ly/x933u78
dailymotion.com/arshian
How to guarantee you regret your life:https : //dai.ly/x93180y
My honest advice to a perfectionist:https : //dai.ly/x9319i4
My honest advice to someone who’s doing too much : https://dai.ly/x9319ty
My honest advice to someone who feels behind in life : https://dai.ly/x931a78
My honest advice to someone who wants financial freedom : https://dai.ly/x931ex2
If I Wanted to Be a Millionaire Before 30, I'd Do This : https://dai.ly/x931gzm
The Best Book I've Ever Read about Making Money : https://dai.ly/x931j9y
How to Go From $0 to $10,000 a Month in 4 Steps : https://dai.ly/x931kb6
How to Make $10,000 Month Writing Online : https://dai.ly/x931l42
How to 10x Your Income The 4 Ladders of Wealth : https://dai.ly/x931ldm
Why You Feel Lost in Life by Ali Abdaal : https://dai.ly/x933252
How to Figure Out What You Really Want in Life : https://dai.ly/x933hm8
How to Change your Life in a Year - 3 Simple Ideas : https://dai.ly/x933u78
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hey guys, welcome back to the channel.
00:14If you're new here, my name is Ali.
00:16I'm a doctor working in Cambridge and in this video, I'm going to be taking you through
00:18a tour of my 2019 productivity desk setup.
00:21So I'm going to talk through everything on this desk, all the peripherals, the desk,
00:24everything like that.
00:25But before we get started, I just want to say a massive thank you, huge, huge thank
00:28you to anyone who's subscribed to this YouTube channel or who's been watching these YouTube
00:31videos over the last two years.
00:32As a massive nerd, I've been fantasizing about, you know, having the perfect desk since I
00:36was like five years old.
00:37And so now I genuinely think like, I can't really imagine things getting much better
00:40than this.
00:41So thank you so much.
00:42If you've been watching these videos, it's because of you that, you know, I can now live
00:44this sort of life where I've got this sick desk set up and then I can now make a video
00:47about it.
00:48Anyway, let's get onto the meat of this video.
00:50And let's start with the desk.
00:51And this is the Jarvis electrical standing desk from Fuli.
00:55Fuli very kindly sent this to me just to try out a couple of weeks ago, and I've been
00:58absolutely loving it.
00:59And this desk has different height settings.
01:00So if I press number one, then it goes on standing desk mode.
01:04And then I think the autofocus is not going to keep hold of me with the camera.
01:09I have no idea if I'm in focus, I'm probably not, because it's probably focusing on this.
01:12But yeah, that's setting number one.
01:13I think from now on, I'm always just going to have a electrical standing desk because
01:16it's just so nice.
01:17Like anytime, if I'm editing and I'm getting super bored or something, or if I'm studying
01:21for an exam and I'm getting super bored, all I have to do is switch the setting and then
01:24I feel like I have this second wind of energy.
01:26Let's now move on to the next big thing.
01:28And that is this enormous monitor.
01:30And this is the LG 49 inch UM something, something, something.
01:33And this is an absolute beast.
01:34In my previous desk setup, I had a 34 inch ultra wide monitor, and I thought that was
01:38wide.
01:39But this, this, this thing is 49 inches.
01:41That's just ridiculous.
01:42You might think, what's the point of having a 49 inch ultra wide monitor, but it's basically
01:45like having two 27 inch monitors side by side, just without the bezel thing in the middle
01:50of it.
01:51And so my main use case for this is firstly, when I'm editing on Final Cut, I can just
01:53have all 49 inches for editing.
01:56So I've got the whole timeline across the whole thing.
01:57It's also great for multitasking because then I can do a triple window setup.
02:01So I have a window in the middle, which is like 27 inches in the middle over there.
02:05That's my main window.
02:06And then off to the side, the left hand side and the right hand side, I have other apps.
02:09And I can just kind of juggle these apps around.
02:11Let's say I get an email.
02:12I just open up superhuman using Alfred that goes in one window.
02:15Let's say I get a message on Slack, boom, that goes in another window.
02:18And it's just so nice.
02:19And this monitor is floating in midair, thanks to this heavy duty Ergotron monitor mount.
02:24This does come with a stand, but I thought, you know, it's just a bit cooler having the
02:28monitor sort of looking like it's floating in midair.
02:30And I don't like the fact that there is a huge bulk when you have a stand with a monitor.
02:33And the thing that's powering the monitor and powering the whole setup is my trusty
02:3715 inch MacBook Pro with retina display and touch bar.
02:40And the great thing about this monitor is that it's a single USB-C cable that connects.
02:44And so I'm living that one cable life where if I'm going away, I just unplug the cable,
02:48take my laptop out and go away.
02:49And then when I get back home, put the laptop back in that stand thing, plug the cable in
02:53and I'm good to go.
02:54Speaking of the stand, this is this some fancy walnut stand thing that I bought from I think
02:59fy.com.
03:00This just looked really cool when I saw it.
03:02And if you're wondering, the MacBook skin is a sticker that I got from dbrand.
03:05I think that's their marble version.
03:06I just think it looks a little bit nicer than the black unibody finish of the MacBook Pro.
03:10For the speakers, we've got a generic set of Logitech speakers that I literally bought
03:13about five years ago from Amazon, maybe for about 20 or 30 pounds.
03:17And they have served me fine ever since.
03:18I am looking to upgrade them, but to be honest, I don't really need to at this point.
03:22And usually if I'm listening to music, I just play it on the HomePod, which there's one
03:24in the living room and one in the kitchen.
03:26In terms of peripherals for the mouse, I'm using the Logitech MX Master.
03:30I think this is the MX Master 1.
03:32The keyboard that I'm using is the original Apple wireless Bluetooth keyboard.
03:36I've actually been using this exact keyboard since 2007.
03:39I bought it off my friend James when we were in year nine, the ninth grade.
03:43This exact same keyboard for the last 12 years.
03:46It's just like the best thing ever.
03:47It's so good.
03:48And then on the left-hand side, I've got the Apple Magic Trackpad.
03:50This is quite nice, because I like having both the mouse and the trackpad available,
03:53especially for editing, because then I can do stuff with the mouse, and then I can scroll
03:57through the timeline with the trackpad.
03:58Other things on the desk, I have got two lamps from Tomons.
04:02One of them is that Pixar-looking lamp over there.
04:03I usually have it pointing in the corner where it gives some kind of nice glow.
04:07And then I've got a more orangey, glowy one over there.
04:09And these lamps are powered by Philips Hue light bulbs that I've got throughout the living
04:12room and also in my bedroom.
04:14And that means I can change the scenes to whatever colour I want.
04:16We could have read, or relax, or concentrate, which is kind of blue, or energize, or arctic
04:22aurora, savannah sunset, tropical twilight.
04:26And this is the one that I like using.
04:28I call it ice and fire, like a little sort of teal and orange sort of look.
04:32And yeah, other things on the desk, I've got these two Japanese cups that have been featuring
04:36in my desk setups since about 2014, when I visited Japan for a research project.
04:41One of them is for pens, and one of them is for coins.
04:43So those go on either side.
04:45And of course, because I consider myself a tech YouTuber, I have this fake IKEA potted
04:48plant that, again, I've had for several years.
04:50There was this psychology study that I read about, where it shows that if you have greenery
04:54in your office or in your working space, that increases creativity.
04:57So that was what I told myself when I was buying this plant, not that I just wanted
05:01to copy every other tech YouTuber.
05:02Speaking of plants, behind me we have a Kentia palm, which is a really good house plant.
05:07It's quite hard to kill.
05:08It's quite sturdy.
05:09You have to water it about once a week.
05:10And yeah, I just think this is a really nice addition.
05:12It's like a real plant.
05:13I was going to go for fake plants, like in addition to this, but my mum vetoed the idea
05:16of me having fake plants in the house.
05:18But she let me keep this one because, I mean, I had it already and it would have been a
05:20waste of money.
05:21So all the other plants in the house are real, which is slightly annoying because I do have
05:24to remember to water them once a week.
05:26But you know, as a 25-year-old adult now who pays bills and taxes and stuff like that,
05:30I thought, you know, it's not that hard watering plants once a week.
05:33Let's talk a bit more about furniture.
05:35And the chair I'm using is actually this standing desk stool from Fuli.
05:39They sent me this along with the desk.
05:41The idea behind the stool is that it doesn't let you sit still.
05:44You kind of have to rock.
05:46And so I find that when I'm sort of in front of my desk all day, I do actually have to
05:50work my core a little bit just to stay upright.
05:53And then on the right-hand side of the desk, we've got two Alex drawer units from Ikea.
05:56Again, let's talk about cable management now.
05:58And actually, this is the best job I've ever done with cable management.
06:01And this Java standing desk makes it really easy because it's got these metal bits underneath
06:05it that are quite good at holding cables.
06:07And the fact that I've got so much space on the right-hand side where the Alex drawer
06:10units are mean that the whole mess of cables and plugs and all that stuff is sitting behind
06:14the chest of drawers and you can't really see them.
06:16A few more things I have on my desk.
06:17I always have a deck of cards with me.
06:19I have been into close-up magic and stuff like that since the age of 17.
06:23So when was that?
06:24That was eight years ago.
06:25Wow, that is a long time.
06:27And so whenever I'm watching something on YouTube or if I ever have idle hands and I
06:30need something to do with my hands, then I just get out the deck of cards.
06:33And I also have a coaster with a coffee cup usually.
06:35This had some peppermint tea because it's half past midnight now and I'm burning the
06:38midnight oil but peppermint tea is quite good because it relaxes me before bed.
06:42This is a lovely little coaster that was made by one of my friends, Marcus, and it's Clam
06:45Rats which is like the first initial of eight of my university friends.
06:50It's all very wholesome and it's got little different symbols that symbolise different
06:54bits of a holiday that we all went on together.
06:55And actually on the theme of productivity, I've recently started watching documentaries
06:59on my desk on this monstrosity of a 49-inch monitor while having food.
07:03And I've not really watched proper TV for the last five years since starting university
07:07because I just kind of thought, oh, watching TV is a waste of time.
07:09But since I discovered documentaries recently, I've kind of changed my mind on that front
07:13and I've actually been watching stuff that actually helps my life.
07:15And that is hopefully a seamless segue into CuriosityStream who are very kindly sponsoring
07:18this video.
07:19CuriosityStream is the world's leading documentary streaming subscription platform founded by
07:23John Hendricks who's the founder of the Discovery Channel.
07:26And on CuriosityStream, you can find thousands of documentaries to stream.
07:28There were two that I particularly enjoyed.
07:30One of them was about meditation and why meditation works and it was this researcher kind of going
07:34through meditation and then doing brain scans and showing how legit meditation is.
07:38And that's actually encouraged me to start trying to meditate a little bit more in my
07:41life.
07:42And another one was about why we sleep.
07:43So that was a real eye-opener, pun not intended, and made me change a few things about my sleep
07:49habits because I realized that actually I'm not getting as much sleep as I need to.
07:52And I really don't want to get dementia and Alzheimer's and stuff when I'm older.
07:55So sleep is the time where, according to the documentary, which is based on research, our
08:00brain helps kind of wash away the stuff that accumulates throughout the day, all these
08:04various waste products.
08:05So I really enjoyed those two.
08:06And actually one that I watched earlier today while having my gourmet burger kitchen takeaway
08:11was part of a nutrition series, which is all about the benefits of plant-based diets and
08:15why we should have more fruit and veg in our diets.
08:17And I was watching that while munching on a falafel burger, so the falafel burger was
08:20quite plant-based.
08:21But yeah, I've started now watching these documentaries anytime I have dinner in front
08:25of my desk.
08:26And I just feel like that's an extra dose of productivity in my life, you know, just
08:29to go with the theme of the productivity desk setup.
08:32So if that sounds like something that you might also be into, then please do visit
08:35curiositystream.com forward slash Ali and enter the coupon code Ali at checkout.
08:39And that will give you a free 30 day trial in which you can sample any of the documentary
08:43titles that you like.
08:44But yeah, thanks very much for watching this video.
08:45I really hope you enjoyed it.
08:46If you like this video, there's going to be in a playlist over there somewhere that has
08:49more of my desk setup tech themed videos.
08:52So hopefully you'll find those enjoyable as well.
08:54Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.
08:55Bye bye.