What I Would Do If I Were a Student Again

[00:02] these days, right? Unemployment crisis, cost of living crisis, AI taking over that you thought you were going to get still be around. There's all sorts of uncertainty. And so, for whatever it's

[00:14] take in this video about what I would do if I were a student during these don't know who I am, hello. My name is Ali. I'm a doctor turned entrepreneur Times bestseller, Feelgood Productivity. I was a medical student at Cambridge

[00:27] University from 2012 through to 2018. And I started this YouTube channel back students in particular and medical applicants. And then I became like the to study for their exams back in the

[00:40] years old. I've got a wife and a child. Oh man, I don't know where the time videos opining about stuff, I'm going to opine about life as a student. So being a student is like playing an openw world video game. Now, within this open world

[00:54] video game of being a student, you've kind of got like, let's say this is your start point where you metriculate if you're in a fancy place or you enroll if you're in a less fancy place and you've got like your main quest line that takes

[01:08] got like your main quest line that takes you up to graduation. world video games, there's a lot of like branching off side quests that you could

[01:22] do that branch off the main story line. Either way, you know, the march of time is still taking you towards graduation. But while you are being a student, you don't have to just follow the main story line of study for the exams, take the

[01:35] boxes, and end up graduating. You can in fact run side quests. Now, what are some Sometimes people do the side quest of sports. I had friends who were super team. I played bon for my college team. I had a friend who was played rugby for

[01:49] a very reasonable side quest that you could embark on. If you wanted to, you could embark on the side quest of alcohol and or substances. Lots of cup of tea, but you know, I knew a lot of people who were super into the

[02:02] alcohol and or substances thing. You could run the side quest of clubs, by which I mean nightclubs. You could run the side quest of joining like the you know I was part of an ac capella group while I was at university.

[02:17] Oh my god. I also did the side quest of being the director of the hospital random stuff like that that you can do. You can do music, you can do theater. So there's the main quest that takes me to graduation and there are all these

[02:31] think it's firstly it's worth approaching university or college life secondly, it's worth asking the question, what is the point? Like what are we actually trying to do here? One, two, three. I would like to profer for

[02:45] your consideration that there are four kind of main objectives that we implicitly have when we are students or maybe explicitly.

[03:00] person for advice, you know, what they "Oh man, I just wish I'd taken the time to enjoy it more." They'll say, for time in your life where you're going to have freedom because then you're going

[03:12] and have a child and like, "Oh my god, like the next time you're free is when osteoarthritis in both of your knees." So really focus on enjoying the experience. Kind of like playing a video game. What's the ultimate point of a

[03:24] video game? Well, the point is to enjoy the experience. What in many ways is the point of life is to enjoy the experience. The philosopher Alan Watts said something like, you know, life is like a musical symphony. The point is to

[03:37] enjoy the music. The point is not to race to get to the end or to the climax or the crescendo or anything like that. The point is to enjoy the music as it's the experience of playing the video game or student life. We want to enjoy the

[03:49] experience of being a student at college or university. Fantastic. But we won't pay all of this money uh and spend all this time at university if the only goal people, the only goal is to enjoy the experience. Fair enough. But I think for

[04:02] simply to enjoy the experience. Of course, we do want to enjoy the doing a degree at a college or university is to learn stuff, right? Some combination of knowledge and skills. So, for example, I did medicine

[04:16] I have some knowledge about like how the human body works and physiology and stuff that I've long since forgotten. But I also learned skills during my degree such as how to diagnose patients and how to deal with an arhythmia and

[04:29] practical skills associated with the stuff that you learn at university. So, is to enjoy the experience and also to learn stuff. Fantastic. We're enjoying stuff. The third point of going to college or university is for a lot of

[04:43] people to get the certificate. I'm not saying this in a derogatory kind of way. you have to have the certificate that says you've graduated medical school. a doctor. And this really I think is the key part of why people spend so much

[04:56] just about enjoying the experience, you could get it far more cheaply. If it was skills, you know how to learn stuff on YouTube, right? you could if you really you stuff and it would still be cheaper than university. To be honest, I went to

[05:10] and most of what I learned in terms of the knowledge I learned off of YouTube videos are easier to follow than lectures even in Cambridge University. this that's about getting the certificate, right? And the implicit

[05:24] not so that we can nail it to our wall. The reason we want the certificate is so that improves our job prospects. That is the whole idea behind the certificate. specific certificate like you can't be a doctor without a medical degree

[05:38] is kind of like an indicator of credibility. Let's say you know McKenzie certificates i.e. people who went to fancy universities. They don't really don't really give a toss about the knowledge and skills you acquired at

[05:52] they care about at least in the initial screening process is that you have got credibility so that it allows them to sift through the 20,000 people who are people a job. So part of the point of university and college is to get the

[06:07] appropriate certificate such that it can enhance a job prospects and then the for a lot of people is something that we can call make friends if you're a normal you are on LinkedIn. Good. So these are the four points of university. We want

[06:20] and skills. We want to get the certificate so that it enhances our job network. Now I think these are all very very very good reasons to go to college asking me like oh do you think college university is still worth it and it's

[06:33] like well it depends on what your goal is and it depends on what you're that if you're a student like yes of course you want to do this stuff you things improve your job prospects and make friends and network. There is a

[06:46] the main quest the reason you're playing this game from the start up up until graduation is because you want college or university to prepare you for real life. In particular, you want college and university to allow you to get a

[07:00] to interrupt the flow of this video to tell you about an amazing AI study students. So essentially me and my team have partnered up with various founders of other AI apps for students and we have come together to create the

[07:14] ultimate AI bundle for students. This is a collection of six AI tools that can university or college experience. We've got Jenny AI which is amazing for which is an amazing way of like you know if you've written stuff to make sure you

[07:27] There's Voice Pal the app that my team and I have built to help you take notes writing and also to help you record your lectures and turn those into notes. know, if you're working on maths equations and problems and stuff, it

[07:40] solve them so that you can learn to do them for yourself. There's not, which is there is Site Shore, which makes it of references if you're writing essays or dissitations or articles. Now, if you

[07:52] individually, it would cost you more than $1,000 a year for it. But because bundle for students, you can get them all all together bundled for way, way, you're interested, go to studybundle.com or check out the link in the video

[08:06] limited time only if you are a student. So, do please check that out. Anyway, let's get back to the video. I know it sounds unsexy to say this, but like going to need to have a way of making money. You're going to need some sort of

[08:18] economic engine because without money, you ain't going to live. And so in a way you ain't going to live. And so in a way this kind of like

[08:30] students, we're doing a degree in subject XYZ in order to be able to make which is why we need to get the certificate. And of course along the way, we're going to be learning stuff. Learning stuff also helps us make money

[08:45] course, we're going to make friends. Uh that will just help us in life. And can help you make money as an adult in the real world. And of course, we want all of this stuff is happening. So, the reason I'm doing all this exposition is

[08:59] cuz I want to show you my working as to why how we've landed on make money as an adult in the real world is kind of like a key factor here. And of course, that we use to make money as an adult in the real world to be fun and fulfilling

[09:12] and flexible, right? However, it's not quite that simple anymore because yes, there are certain degrees that pretty much directly lead to a job. Medicine still to this day is one of those things sort of that directly leads to a job,

[09:27] Whether you're the top of the year or whether you're the bottom of the year, they still call you doctor and now you have graduated and for the most part there is a job for you. This is not entirely true depending on what country

[09:39] country is this that the other. Like in the UK, the system that I'm quite graduated medical school last year and there actually weren't enough jobs. Shock, horror. These people joined med school like six years ago and they were

[09:52] have a job for life. You have a way and a job for life basically means you have a reliable, secure way of making money in the real world in a way that's people, these poor medical students who joined back in like 7 years ago were

[10:05] there are actually not enough jobs. That is a tricky position to be in. And degrees. I was reading a thing on Substack yesterday from some girl in LA who was lamenting the fact that she did an English literature degree and she was

[10:19] finding it impossible to get a job. Most degrees, I suspect the degree that you are doing statistically is not a vocational degree like medicine that degree in something that's a bit more broad where actually it's not just

[10:32] sort of onetoone connection. It's a bit degree in accounting and finance. Now that could unlock a job within accounting and finance as an accountant or as a investment banker or as a uh

[10:44] that and the other. You could do a whatever GDL to convert to law. You whatever GDL to convert to law. You could like most degrees don't constrain market. So this is a video about what I would do if I were a student. I would

[10:56] recognize that merely completing the main story line, the main quest of starting and then graduating, just doing that is actually not enough to set me up for life in the real world in the current state of society with AI and

[11:12] economics that we are currently living in. Just doing the main story line is not enough to prepare you for the real world. Now, this is kind of like, again, say you're playing a video game and you ignore all of the side quests and you

[11:25] just do the main story line. Now, as you're playing your video game, your you to at this point, I want you to imagine two different video game characters. We've got character A and we've got character B. Character A just

[11:38] runs the main story line and ends up at graduation. But character B runs the main story line, but she does side quest A, side quest B, side quest there, side quest there, and also ends up at graduation. Which of these two

[11:52] level? Maybe this character might be at level 30 by the time they arrive at a a would be at level 50 by the time they arrive at graduation. Because by doing generally gain more experience, you get more loot, you get more gear, you level

[12:07] stuff. you are a higher level when you get to graduation compared to someone who just exclusively followed the main story line. Now, why does this level matter? Well, I think the level matters because much like in a video game, the

[12:21] job market is kind of based on what is your level and what are your skills. So, following the main story line, i.e. just doing your exams and taking the boxes graduation, but you never did any side quests and you never actually worked on

[12:36] your fishing or your alchemy or your cooking or your leather working or your underleveled by the time you get to graduation. A, you have less experience B, you didn't bother leveling up your skill trees. And C, you probably had a

[12:51] of the fun of video games is like in kind of doing the side quests and stuff and not just single-mindedly following the main story line. So if I was a student again, obviously I would not follow path A. I would not get to

[13:03] graduation being underleveled. I would follow path B where I would figure out what are the side quests that I can do because yes, of course, I still want to certificate, and enjoy the experience, but I also want to level up. Now, let's

[13:18] skills. Let's say this is the skill of the guitar. So if you wanted to, you while you're at university. I learned how to play the guitar when I was in my sing a couple of songs and I did a bit of busking and so I was doing some

[13:31] amount of, you know, leveling up the skill of guitar. Now, when it comes to the goal of being able to reliably make money as an adult in the real world in order to have financial security, what is the value of leveling up the trade

[13:45] skill of playing the guitar? Well, you could be a professional musician, but professional musician are very low. And if you're just picking up the guitar for university, man, good luck making it as a professional musician because everyone

[13:57] they were a kid. Secondly, you could be a guitar teacher. Like, okay. But like, probably agree that learning how to play the guitar, unless you're like freaking worldclass John Mayer levels, learning to play the guitar, like the basics of

[14:10] being a campfire guitarist, is um sort of a lowinccome skill. That's not to say the guitar. It's a great hobby. I enjoy it. It's good for my fun and make money as an adult in the real world, which we've established as being

[14:25] optional side quest that you could do is you could decide when you get to university, you know what, I want to pick up chess, right? And so, I'm going to level up my trade skill of being a chess player. And so, I'm going to go on

[14:39] evenings. And I'm going to stay up way too late just playing stuff on Chess. I'm going to watch these chess Twitch streamers and chess whatever. and club and maybe I'll get my rating up to

[14:52] 2,000. Now again, unless you become grandmaster level at chess. Chess is also a relatively low income skill. Unless you are Magnus Carlson or a that much money from chess. It is not

[15:06] the real world. Maybe if you're an attractive girl and you are streaming also sufficiently attractive and also like good on camera and stuff, then you can combine the skill of chess with the skill of being good on camera. And now

[15:20] a chess streamer. But again, if I had my time at university and I was a beginner becoming a chess streamer as being my method for making money as an adult in generally not sensible decision to make because it relies a lot on luck. Maybe

[15:34] what's another skill that you could choose to learn? Well, let's say this is like a laptop and this is the skill of coding. Let's say you decide, even if degree, let's say you're doing a accounting degree or a medicine degree

[15:48] or a law degree, whatever. Let's say you decide, you know what, on the side, I'm going to learn the skill of coding. I'm going to learn how to build a website, how to build a web app. I'm going to I'm going to learn how to AI vibe code

[16:00] takes to build an app on Swift or on Android. I'm going to figure out what how to fix bugs and what unit tests are. I'm going to figure out what CSRF means these little projects and I'm going to learn those things from YouTube

[16:14] or code school. Maybe I'll join my college or university's coding club or entrepreneurship society and get together with other people. And maybe oh holding a hackathon for like next weekend. Why don't I get together with

[16:28] hackathon next weekend and we can see if we can build something cool in 24 hours. You are this person might be choosing to level up the trade skill of coding. Now, does having the skill of coding improve your odds of making money as an adult in

[16:42] the real world? Yes, it absolutely freaking does, right? Of course it does. could, if you wanted to, you suddenly unlock the ability to get a job as a developer working in tech. Tech salaries are huge, especially in places like the

[16:54] you to get a remote job. Back in the day, in the 2010s, you could just learn of these jobs. These days, of course, it's more competitive, but learning how to code unlocks quite a lot of income earning potential for you. Whether it's

[17:09] working for someone else, i.e. a job, or whether it's working for yourself, i.e. you choose to start your own business, you have the ability, you suddenly business where you're building an app or building a website. That unlocks the

[17:23] I have a friend, we have a whole case study video about him. He learned to coding while he was at university. Even though he wasn't taught coding in his degree, he did some side projects. He and I attended a couple of hackathons

[17:35] management consulting for 5 years and then decided to quit and then decided to build an app. It's a video editing app called Fire Cut that helps video editors build that is because he knew the basics of coding. And within a within like 2

[17:47] months, he was making $10,000 a month from his app. And now 2 years later, he's making like $1.2 million a year from his app. and it's recurring revenue customers all around the world and he's making way more money than he was even

[17:59] because he had spent some time at university as a student learning to another skill tree you could develop. I'm really going to learn how to design stuff in particular, how to design tech

[18:12] like apps and websites and like web apps and user interface and user experience. So, let's say I do UI and UX design. And of interesting. I' I've been intrigued by, you know, why are Apple products

[18:26] how does the Airbnb website have such a just look so bad? But like, obviously, it still works. You know, you might be can watch some YouTube videos about UI and UX design. And now you can dabble

[18:39] with a few different projects and you could level up your trade skill of user interface and user experience design. Is that a lowinccome trade skill or a high income trade skill? That is a very high income trade skill because again these

[18:51] rich tech companies are always looking for UI and UX designers. I have a lot of who are funded to the tune of tens of millions of dollars and one thing they constantly lament is how few good UI and UX designers there are in the market. So

[19:05] design, you could be doing a degree in law or medicine for all anyone cares, trade skill by doing side quests related to design. And now you get to graduation of design. Maybe you've even leveled up the trade skill of coding. And having

[19:19] the trade skill of coding plus design, man, there's a word for that. They call developer because you're able to understand the design side and you're also able to understand the software and the architecture side. And those people

[19:31] of them out there that are actually good. And so if you are actually good designer who knows who knows code and will become like a product engineer substantially because there's a lot of startups and a lot of established tech

[19:44] you remotely on your own terms for pretty large salaries again allowing us to complete or to fulfill our objective world. Don't just do these kind of side

[19:56] nightclubs is good. What does it level up? It levels up, which is sort of it makes you lose stats on your liver. Um, it makes you lose points on like your eardrums. It probably helps you make more friends. I mean, although in

[20:11] in nightclubs generally tend not to be friends that stick around for very long clubbing scene evaporates. Like, just focusing on the side quest of doing your odds of making money as an adult in the real world. If that's something that

[20:23] you care about, it's unlikely to teach you relevant skills. Just doing alcohol help you make money as an adult in the real world. Doing sports, unless you're to help you make money as an adult in the real world. These are all very fun

[20:37] these things. I'm saying in addition to these things, think about doing high these things, think about doing high income side to level. Yeah, we're going to call these side quests to level up high income skills. Side quests to level

[20:54] high income skills. Side quests to level up high income skills. SQ T L U H I S. branding this. I did not learn the skill of branding and I'm just making this up as I go along. So, I would say please do some side quest to level up high- income

[21:08] Coding is a high- income skill. Copywriting. Uh the ability to write stuff that persuades people to take action is a high- income skill. If you can as a good copywriter, for example, increase the conversion rate on a

[21:22] company makes more money and then therefore you've made them more money drives capitalism and so you then have higher value because you've helped income skill you could learn is sales. If you know how to sell things, then

[21:36] in that interfaces with like the free market. So for example, if even if you become a lawyer, you might not think sales is useful as a lawyer. But when not doing the law but to win new clients, you can bet your ass that like

[21:50] helpful in that. Learning how to use AI really well, learning how to build AI systems and AI agents and learning how to use AI automations and build AI really really really valuable highinccome skill that will become more

[22:02] learning the skill of statistics and data analysis, not in the sense of like, you know, just doing it for a degree, but being able to sort of go into a understand the data that they've got in their data warehousing, being able to

[22:16] figure out like what queries and like SQL queries and databases and that turn that data into insights that can allow that business to make more money or to help more customers. That is a high income skill because very few

[22:28] just ask Claude or Chad GPT, say, "Hey, I'm looking for some high income skills quests while I'm a student at university, while I have all this copious amount of free time. In many ways, the point of university is not the

[22:41] degree. The point is not graduation. The point of university and college is that it's a scaffolding. It is a very nice period of your life where all you have to do is hang out and learn stuff. You just got to hang out and learn stuff.

[22:55] Now, if you are someone who hangs out and learns stuff that results in never going to be broke, right? You're always going to have a job. You'll be you you will have had high income skills. You you will have developed

[23:08] market in this capitalist world that we live in. If you are someone who spent thinking that, oh man, if I just do my degree, it'll help me make money as an graduation and you'll be like, crap, it's really hard to find a job probably

[23:22] leveling up your character, leveling up your high income skills. That is the one students. Think of university as a video game where the goal is not simply to speedrun the main story line. The goal is to also level up high income skills

[23:37] graduation, you're an absolute weapon of a character. You have leveled up beyond You've got the skill of, I don't know, coding or design or video editing. You know public speaking. Maybe you know statistics. You've dabbled in all these

[23:51] different arts. So that now when you are applying for jobs or maybe thinking of starting your own business, you have the ability to add value to the marketplace. Because adding value to the marketplace, if you are in a profession that

[24:03] doctors in a state funed healthare system, but pretty much everyone else. the free market, then your ability to make money as an adult in the real world directly correlates with your ability to add value to the market, i.e. to develop

[24:16] people's lives that they are willing to pay for. So, please don't waste your recognize that you have an incredible opportunity right now because you're a on your hands. Like, if you think you don't have free time as a student, just

[24:30] really going to hit you. You have copious amounts of free time as a student. I would really recommend you please use that time to develop high- certificate, make friends, and network. Obviously, um obviously enjoying the

[24:43] I don't need to tell you that because, you know, hopefully you know that experience, we can level up a high- income skills and that will help you be that you can actually make money as an adult in the real world unlike all the

[24:57] welfare. And if you enjoyed this video and you're interested in this thing of making money as an adult in the real world, I have this video over here which talks about how getting rich is a again kind of like a game. I I use less of a

[25:09] more like getting rich is a game. And if you care about making money as an adult money actually works and understanding the language of business will be incredibly helpful. So, I really recommend you check out that video.