“I Was Motivated by the Fear of Being Shackled to a Job I Didn't Enjoy.” Ali Abdaal Admits at SEF 2022

The famed online entrepreneur has 3.62 million subscribers on YouTube alone
 
Sharjah, 18 December 2022
 
 Uber-popular YouTuber and businessman Ali Abdaal enthralled audiences of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF) 2022, by giving expert advice on how to enhance professional success, during a session aptly titled ‘Creating the Energy for Your Passions.’
 
28-year-old Abdaal, who started his YouTube channel shortly after graduating, talked about productivity and energy while sharing his journey from a doctor to online sensation, podcaster and budding author.

Citing his own example Abdaal said, when he was in medicine, he saw a lot of doctors who seemed to be stuck in their jobs. “When I asked them ‘if you won a lottery would you still do medicine?’ they were all, ‘oh no, I’d leave or do it part-time.’ I did not want that kind of future for myself.  So, I realised, I like medicine but I want to be able to make money outside of medicine, so I can enjoy the job rather than feel I have to do it.”
 
Abdaal said it was crucial to seek out mentors, role models and supportive communities to help provide guidance and encouragement in order to achieve personal goals. 

“The main thing I look for is if people are energising or draining me. There are some who are pent-house people, when you meet them, you feel uplifted. Then there are those that make you feel down in the dumps. So, it’s not necessary to be with like-minded people, but to surround yourself with people who energise you or you energise each other.”
 
According to the Co-founder of 6med, a startup that offers integrated programmes to help prepare students for medical school, power, play and people are the three ways an individual can harness energy. “Having a feeling of power, autonomy, control, confidence in our work makes us generate energy. Approaching our work with a sense of play, not taking it too seriously, treating it almost like a game, generates energy. And  surrounding ourselves with the right kind of people generates energy.”  
  
Held under the theme of ‘Where We Belong,’ the two-day Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival, brings together a community of creators and changemakers to drive collaboration and produce meaningful impact.