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Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal

How I Grew to 1M YouTube Subscribers in Medical School - Kharma Medic

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Nasir KharmaguestAli Abdaalhost

Mar 28, 20221h 37mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Cold open: From hyper-scheduled living to being present (therapy impact)
Nasir describes how he used to obsessively track time and mentally plan the next task, even while in conversations. He explains how therapy helped him relax his relationship with time management while still getting things done.
- •Nasir says he was constantly thinking about what’s next instead of being in the moment
- •He used to track how long nearly every activity took, down to small daily tasks
- •Therapy helped him realize he can accomplish goals without working until midnight or squeezing work into every gap
- •He describes adopting a more relaxed attitude while maintaining productivity
Setting the stage: a final-year medic with a fast-growing YouTube channel
Ali introduces the podcast and frames the conversation as both a story of YouTube growth during medical school and a deeper look at meaning, productivity, and therapy. He positions Nasir as a medical student creator known for productivity and student-focused content.
- •Ali introduces Nasir as a final-year medical student at King’s College London and creator of KharmaMedic
- •Ali previews topics: YouTube origin story, rapid channel growth while studying, and lessons from therapy
- •Ali notes the conversation will explore meaning, work, and evolving views on productivity
The long road to medical school: Greece, Canada, then the UK
Nasir shares his early ambition to study medicine and the setbacks that rerouted him through Canada before landing in UK medical school. He explains how the struggle to get accepted shaped his desire to help others on the same path.
- •Nasir says he applied to top universities after high school in Greece and didn’t get accepted
- •He chose a Plan B: studying in Canada, where he had citizenship
- •After undergrad, he applied to medical school in Canada and the UK, and got accepted in the UK
- •He describes wanting to help others get into medical school after his own difficult journey
Canadian university vs UK medicine: GPA pressure and “playing the game”
Nasir compares the Canadian/American GPA system with the UK exam structure, highlighting the constant pressure of cumulative grading. He reflects on how course selection strategies and small advantages can strongly affect outcomes.
- •Nasir describes the GPA system as creating continuous performance pressure across all years and assignments
- •He contrasts this with UK end-of-year exams and different weighting of early years
- •He describes the benefit of taking a wide variety of courses in Canada (including non-science options)
- •He says even a strong GPA may not be competitive enough for Canadian medical school admissions
- •He notes students can “play the game” by selecting easier courses for a higher GPA
Studying smarter and choosing careers through real exposure
Asked what he wishes he’d known earlier, Nasir emphasizes studying efficiently rather than just longer. He also explains how real-world experience (and even YouTube career content) can help people decide what to do professionally.
- •Nasir says his earlier mindset equated more hours at a desk with better results, but that balance matters
- •He recommends focusing on high-yield material and using tools like past questions and group study
- •He explains that early ideas about being a doctor came from movies, but real hospital exposure made the role concrete
- •For career uncertainty, he argues work experience is the best way to learn what a job is really like
- •He adds that YouTube can be a useful second-best way to understand careers through firsthand accounts
Starting YouTube to help applicants: early traction, hustling, and perfectionism
Nasir explains how his original goal was to help a small number of people get into medical school, and how that led him from forums to YouTube. He describes how he promoted videos early on, managed perfectionism, and built momentum through feedback.
- •Nasir says the channel began after his forum posts got no traction, so he tried YouTube instead
- •He describes direct outreach on student forums and using DMs to avoid getting banned for linking content
- •He says early positive feedback made the weekly grind feel meaningful, even when numbers were small
- •Nasir describes being a perfectionist but refusing to let it stop publishing
- •He frames his mindset as: decide you’ll do it, then do it—without overthinking feelings in the moment
Growth strategy and staying intrinsically motivated: consistency, niche, and sponsor trade-offs
Nasir walks through slow early growth, a breakout study vlog, and his beliefs about consistency plus improvement. He explains how he chooses topics, why he avoids over-optimizing, and why sponsorships can threaten the “fun” that sustains the channel.
- •Nasir says he posted weekly for about a year and a half before reaching only several thousand subscribers
- •He describes a study vlog that “blew up” and brought a major subscriber jump
- •He argues consistency is necessary but must be paired with learning and iteration
- •He balances making what he wants with making it appealing and clickable, without letting the algorithm fully dictate topics
- •He says sponsorships often turn videos into stressful work, so he does them rarely to preserve longevity
Medicine vs YouTube: why he still wants to be a doctor (and what “meaning” means)
Ali challenges Nasir on why he still prioritizes medicine despite the autonomy and income potential of full-time content creation. Nasir explains he expects medicine to provide a uniquely intense and satisfying form of service, while acknowledging he may revise his view once he starts working.
- •Ali lays out the trade-offs: medicine’s long hours and stress versus YouTube’s autonomy and earnings
- •Nasir says he expects more satisfaction from patient care than from other career paths
- •He emphasizes the “high stakes” and intensity of hospital work as part of the appeal
- •Nasir explicitly reserves the right to change his mind once he experiences life as a working doctor
- •They discuss cultural narratives that link hard work, stress, and virtue, and how younger generations may prioritize balance differently
Decision-making without obsessing over outcomes: a poker-inspired framework
Nasir introduces a philosophy drawn from poker: make the best decision with the information available, then detach from the result. Ali connects it to committing to process while staying equanimous about outcomes.
- •Nasir explains the difference between making a correct decision and the outcome being influenced by variance
- •He says he tries to avoid second-guessing by focusing on decision quality at the time it’s made
- •Ali relates this to focusing on controllables rather than outcomes like bestseller status
- •Nasir says he makes as few decisions as possible day-to-day to avoid spiraling into overthinking
- •They agree introspection is useful, but too much can become counterproductive
Therapy and the productivity identity: burnout signals, boundaries, and a new relationship with time
Nasir describes how feeling unusually unmotivated led him into therapy, which he says changed how he thinks and lives. He discusses becoming less “robotic,” loosening obsessive time tracking, and reframing the endless to-do list so life can feel more present and sustainable.
- •Nasir recalls struggling to get out of bed and noticing reduced enjoyment despite usually being consistently upbeat
- •He says therapy helped him identify feelings he’d avoided by staying constantly busy
- •He describes treating therapy in a structured way: note-taking, action plans, and weekly experiments
- •He shares a major shift: relaxing at night (like watching a movie) and accepting minimal productivity loss
- •They discuss accepting that messages and tasks may remain undone and prioritizing what matters most
- •Nasir mentions a therapist question: “Who are you doing this for?” and discusses boundaries when supporting others
Relationships and privacy online: selective sharing and avoiding audience interference
Nasir explains how he and Alexia intentionally keep their relationship out of the public eye despite occasionally appearing together in travel content. He describes the risks of letting strangers comment on relationship dynamics and why he maintains strict separation between public persona and private life.
- •Nasir says everything shown online is carefully selected, and he wants zero outside input into his relationship
- •He avoids “relationship Q&A” style content and prefers casual appearances like travel clips
- •Ali shares his own experiences with viewers projecting narratives onto on-camera interactions
- •Nasir emphasizes that audiences don’t know creators beyond what’s chosen to be shown
- •He says he promotes Alexia’s content and is proud of her work while staying wary of online pressure
- •Nasir identifies communication as central to their long-term relationship, including past long-distance habits
Health habits: exercise as routine, simple training structure, and making fitness enjoyable
Ali asks Nasir about staying fit and what he would suggest for someone with inconsistent exercise and lots of food delivery. Nasir emphasizes enjoyment as the foundation of sustainable exercise and shares his current gym routine, food approach, and why he likes running.
- •Nasir says he exercises largely because he genuinely enjoys it, not from obligation
- •He describes exercise as a long-time way to clear his mind and offload stress
- •He outlines a simple weekly gym split: push, pull, and legs/cardio
- •He says he doesn’t track macros because it adds stress, and he tends to eat more to gain mass
- •He recommends finding an exercise mode you enjoy (sports, running, gym) to make it sustainable
- •He discusses ingredient delivery services as a way to reduce the friction of cooking and shopping
- •Nasir says he runs outdoors and listens only to music for energy and momentum

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