Ali Abdaal’s Feel Good Productivity is not just a book about productivity. It’s a book about making life count, about making each day more enjoyable, and about reclaiming joy even in the middle of work you may not love. That’s what makes it one of my favorite books.
Ali is a YouTuber, but also a doctor, and that combination shows. He knows how to hold your attention, explain complex ideas simply, and back them up with solid research. The chapters flow without fluff or filler — every page is dense with ideas, references, and practical advice, but never heavy. It feels like a conversation with a friend who’s been where you are, who understands both the burnout of relentless efficiency and the possibility of living differently.
I often say it’s not AI that has outrun traditional education, it’s YouTube. Because YouTube taught us how to learn — short, clear explanations of the most sophisticated topics. Ali comes from that world, and it’s clear in his writing: he brings the best of YouTube’s clarity and the best of medicine’s rigor into one book.
For me, this book was a revelation. I was always known as the “most productive, most effective” student, the overachiever who could achieve anything with sheer discipline and efficiency. I built a career where even my lunch breaks were calculated in six-minute increments — because six minutes was a billable unit of work. I lived like that for decades. But even with success, there were times of burnout, moments of desperation, or months that felt like years of trying to catch up with life.
Ali’s message is different. He reminds us that life is not about squeezing out every drop of efficiency. Sometimes you don’t need to achieve more. Sometimes you need to add joy, even to tasks you don’t like. And paradoxically, when you do less but enjoy it more, you often achieve more — the true meaning of the 80/20 rule.
This book feels like a fresh breeze for overachievers. It gives you permission to pause, to fail, to change direction, to experiment — and still feel good about it. It’s not toxic positivity, not a “hustle harder” mantra, but a balanced and deeply practical approach to work and life.
One more thing: Ali is the only person I cannot listen to on 2x or 4x speed. Normally, I consume books and videos at high speed, but Feel Good Productivity is too dense, too rich. I had to slow down, take notes, reflect. And that, to me, is the highest compliment a book can get.
This is a brilliant, must-read book. Not just for people chasing productivity, but for anyone who wants to enjoy their days more, and live with less burnout and more meaning.
