Ali & Taimur Abdaal

Not Overthinking

Society EN ↓ 159 Folgen

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.

Autor

Ali & Taimur Abdaal

Kategorie

Society

Podcast-Website

notoverthinking.com

Neueste Folge

17. Nov 2025

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Thinking as Children 31.05.2020

We talk about Eric Weinstein’s recent podcast episode with his son, which sparks a discussion about how both of our thinking developed as kids and adults and why we should take kids more seriously. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice 24.05.2020

This week, we dig into Kevin Kelly's recent blog post "68 bits of unsolicited advice". We go through the list and talk about a bunch of the advices (?) that resonate with us. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships 17.05.2020

This episode is Part 3 of 3 in our Transactional Analysis series (make sure you listen to the last 2 episodes before this one!). We dig into many of the different social games that people play: "If It Weren't For You", "Why Don't You — Yes, But", "Courtroom", "Uproar", "Blemish", and a few others. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/pr...

Life Positions & Games - Transactional Analysis Part 2 10.05.2020

In this episode, we continue our discussion about Transactional Analysis. We recap the Parent, Adult and Child zones of thinking that we mentioned last week, and move on to talking about the 4 different Life Positions and the Games People Play. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Parent, The Adult and The Child - A Discussion of Transactional Analysis 03.05.2020

In this episode, we discuss transactional analysis. Taimur talks us through the ideas behind the theory, and how your internal mind can be split up into three parts - the Parent, Adult, and Child with examples taken from the book I'm Ok, You're Ok by Thomas Harris. Enjoy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Money, Stories, and Old People 26.04.2020

In this episode, we talk about a few different things — how to think about giving money to those in need, whether it's helpful to view our lives as stories, and how Taimur has been trying to develop more empathy with old people. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Vision, Leadership and Winning the Lottery - An open-ended discussion 19.04.2020

In this episode we take a ramble through a number of topics from statistics to value propositions to what we'd do if we won the lottery to Animal Crossing. Enjoy! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Principles of Productivity 12.04.2020

In this episode, we talk about Ali's favourite thing - productivity - much to Taimur's joy! Or, more precisely, we talk through the structure and some of the key points from Ali's upcoming Skillshare class on productivity including Parkinson's law, the Pareto principle amongst other myths, laws and principles... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https...

Taimur Teaches Maths - The Flaw of Averages 05.04.2020

In this episode, Taimur gives us a maths lesson. We learn about why it's bad to rely on 'averages' when making plans, and about how we can make better decisions by accounting for uncertainty. Sorry for the poor audio quality — Taimur had some technical difficulties this week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-i...

Note-taking and quarantining 29.03.2020

In this episode, we mostly talk about note-taking — reasons to do it, and different systems and apps to facilitate it. We also talk about how quarantine life is going so far, and how we're trying to make the most of it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Not Overthinking: Coronavirus Edition 22.03.2020

This week we talk about the only thing there is to talk about right now — the Coronavirus crisis. We look back over the past few weeks to see how our thinking about the virus has changed, and we try and figure out how to get ourselves to emotionally care about things that are distant from us. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy...

How would you spend your time if you knew you'd die in 2 years? 15.03.2020

This week we tackle the conundrum of "how would you spend your time if you knew you'd die in 2 years?" We discuss some of the different ways of framing and thinking about this question, and to what extent it can help figure out what we're doing with our lives. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Low Optionality and Adult Friendships 08.03.2020

This week we talk about a few topics that Taimur's been noticing more and more — low social optionality (applied to adult friendships), the plight of kids in society, and treating your personal life like a business. We also touch on the ideology of social media lynch mobs/"haters". See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sel...

40 Concepts for Understanding the World - Tweet Discussion 01.03.2020

This week we talk about @G_S_Bhogal's Twitter megathread of "40 powerful concepts for understanding the world". A whirlwind tour of a bunch of mental models that you may or may not have come across before. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Motivation, Complaining and Conversationality - A Critique of the Podcast 23.02.2020

This episode features Calum, a junior doctor working in Scotland who spent 6 years in medical school living with Ali. Calum has listened to every episode of the podcast so far, and shares some critique about the format, the vibe and some specifics about motivation, complaining and conversationality. Enjoy! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art...

Margin, Dinner Parties and The Art of Gathering 16.02.2020

In this episode, we continue to discuss the difficulties with recording a podcast each week, which turns into a conversation about margin & keeping afloat vs optimising for the long term. We then talk about a dinner party that Taimur hosted, which turns into a discussion about The Art of Gathering, a book that explores these issues in much greater detail. Enjoy! See Privacy Policy at https://a...

Book Discussion: The Wright Brothers 02.02.2020

In this episode, we summarise "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough. It's a biography of Wilbur and Orville Wright, best known for inventing the airplane. It contains timeless themes relevant to any and all forms of human endeavour, so in addition to being an amazing story about a turning point for the human race, there's a lot we can learn from it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/priv...

Does travel really broaden our horizons? 26.01.2020

In this episode (recorded on a car journey, sorry for the audio quality), we discuss the extent to which travelling, and living in different countries for extended time periods, actually broadens our horizons. Our guest Suhail talks about his experiences moving to the UK from Pakistan, and then Suhail and Taimur discuss the ways in which living in the USA has (or hasn't) broadened their own life p...

Book Discussion - The Courage to be Disliked 19.01.2020

In this episode, we summarise "The Courage to be Disliked" by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi. It's one of the very few books that Taimur's actually read, and the concepts it presents are provocative and go against a lot of the dominant narratives of the current cultural milieu. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-...

Words that changed our lives 12.01.2020

In this episode, we each talk about 3 words/phrases that have changed the way we think about things and see the world. We touch on Taimur's new addiction to David Dobrik's vlogs, and Ali doesn't stop going on about a magic convention that he attended this weekend. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Lad" Culture - An Insider's Perspective 05.01.2020

In this episode, we have a guest appearance from Jake, a junior doctor and recovering "lad". We discuss the meaning of being a "lad", the experience from inside the group and the feelings of those of us who feel implicitly excluded from boisterous, alcohol-heavy group dynamics. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my...

2019: The Not Overthinking Review 29.12.2019

In (by far) our longest episode yet, we look back on 2019. First, we go through the Not Overthinking catalogue — we talk about the episodes that stood out to us (both good and bad!) and our key takeaways from each. Then, we reflect on how 2019 went for us personally — we each dig into 3 areas of personal growth that we had this year. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California P...

Social Interactions - Comfort, Messaging and Life Enjoyment 22.12.2019

In this episode, we discuss our favourite topic - Social Interaction - from the lenses of (1) comfort, (2) etiquettes of messaging and (3) the pinnacle of the human condition. We wonder about the value of a minimalist messaging policy, and try and figure out why we find it easier to get on with non-white people. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https...

How to get rich (without getting lucky) - Tweet Discussion 15.12.2019

In this episode, we discuss a Tweetstorm entitled "How to get rich (without getting lucky)" by Naval Ravikant. We touch on (1) wealth vs money, (2) financial freedom, (3) long-term thinking, (4) leverage, and (5) becoming the best in the world at what you do. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

External appearances vs internal experiences 08.12.2019

In this episode we talk about the external appearances of different lifestyles and how they differ from the internal experience of living them. We also dig into Ali's mindset when it comes to YouTube and business, and whether it's best to always be thinking about creating economic value. Honestly, we talk about quite a few different things in this episode without much of an overarching theme. Oh w...

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