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Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal

You're Not Lazy: How To Learn Anything Faster - Cliff Weitzman Founder of Speechify

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Cliff WeitzmanguestAli Abdaalhost

Feb 23, 20231h 43mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Growing Up Dyslexic and Learning English Through Harry Potter
Cliff describes struggling to read as a child in Israel, his dad recording Harry Potter on cassette, and moving to the US at 13. He learned English by listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks repeatedly and has listened to about a hundred audiobooks a year since.
- •Cliff fell asleep in books as a child, and his dad began reading to him and recording cassette tapes
- •He learned English by listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks twenty-two times
- •His family moved to the US because his dad saw English as opening opportunities for his kids
- •In school he hacked together audiobooks and asked teachers to let him summarize chapters verbally
- •He built text-to-speech software to get through a summer reading book before college
What Dyslexia Actually Feels Like
Cliff explains that dyslexia is a decoding problem rather than words flipping around, and that reading a sentence costs him the effort of mental long division. He also describes being called lazy and how his early ambition kept him working at it.
- •Reading a sentence takes as much energy as long division in your head
- •Dyslexia is described as a decoding disability tied to phonemic awareness, not a reading disability
- •Children with dyslexia or ADHD are often labeled lazy by teachers and parents
- •He spent school breaks trying to learn to read because he wanted his dad to be proud
Boundless Ambition and Life at Brown
Ali asks about Cliff's childhood ambition, and Cliff describes believing he could be a billionaire, prime minister and pop star. He then covers choosing Brown, inventing his own renewable energy major, and talking his way into advanced classes.
- •Cliff believed from about age four that he could do anything and still daydreams constantly
- •He performed on TV in Israel by age 12
- •At Brown he designed his own major in renewable energy engineering
- •He took design courses at RISD and got professors to waive prerequisites
How Speechify Began: Tyler, Hackathons and Text-to-Speech
Cliff describes his brother Tyler's coding talent, his own failed attempts at coding, and winning hackathons by organizing teams. He then explains how the first text-to-speech tool grew from a Mac app into a PDF-to-audiobook tool for his classes.
- •Tyler built 47 iPhone apps by age 17 and now leads the AI team at Speechify
- •Cliff won four of his first eight hackathons by pitching ideas and rallying teams
- •The first tool let him highlight text and hear it read, then grew to parse PDFs
- •He paired listening with instrumental background music to soothe his ADHD
Why Speed Listening Is a Superpower
Cliff says he retains and comprehends material while listening at very high speeds, and that listening is a skill built by practice. He argues that listening beats reading because most of the brain's effort goes to comprehension rather than decoding, and Ali agrees from his own experience.
- •Cliff listens and reads along at once, which helped him learn to sight read
- •Fluent listening typically takes about ten audiobooks
- •Speechify's speed ramping raises speed by five words per minute every 1,000 words
- •About 97% of brain effort goes to decoding when reading versus 3% when listening
- •Humans evolved for listening, while reading is described as a hack
Answering Critics: Hustle Culture, Retention and Reading 100 Books
Ali raises criticisms that fast listening is toxic productivity and that reading fewer books deeply is better. Cliff replies that he listens to fantasy for joy and offers his tree-of-knowledge model, where books stick when you have existing context for them.
- •Cliff listens to fantasy at 3X because he loves it, not to be productive
- •Attention spans and media speeds have shifted, and he says adapting yields rewards
- •His tree-of-knowledge model says new information needs existing branches to land
- •He re-listens to favorites such as How to Win Friends and goes to primary sources as he learns more
Fitting Books into Dead Time and Speeding Up Everything
Ali describes quickly absorbing a dense nuclear history audiobook, and Cliff walks through how he listens all day during otherwise dead time. Cliff then compares audiobooks to music, explains why he speeds up video too, and says offloading decoding to a computer is like using a calculator.
- •Ali got through a 12-hour nuclear book in about three hours of driving and gym time
- •Cliff listens three to four hours a day during dead time
- •He compares audiobooks to Hamilton, music and lyrics, saying books enrich his life more than TV
- •He plays YouTube at 3X and movies at around 2.5X with Video Speed Controller
- •Outsourcing reading's decoding work to AI is likened to using a phone for long division
Podcasts vs. Audiobooks and Taking Notes
Cliff and Ali compare podcasts and audiobooks, with Cliff recommending a history podcast and saying podcasts now carry fresher ideas. They then discuss note-taking, where Cliff relies on his mental model, Apple Notes, a contacts-based CRM, and Speechify features.
- •Cliff recommends the How to Take Over the World podcast for biographies
- •Ali uses audiobooks for foundations and podcasts for deeper nuance on familiar topics
- •Cliff keeps no formal note process and describes his knowledge as a connected mental map
- •He uses Apple Notes and phone contacts with notes to remember people
- •Speechify is building sentence-level notes and searchable podcast communities
Brown Dinners, Comfort Challenges and Cold Outreach
Cliff explains why he doesn't drink or use drugs and how he built social confidence at Brown through multiple dinners a night and comfort challenges. He then describes his method of making a list of 100 experts and cold messaging them, and how he learns functions by befriending top practitioners.
- •He joined tables at the dining hall, eating three dinners a night for the first two months of each semester
- •He mixed Tim Ferriss's comfort challenges with Dale Carnegie's advice on smiling
- •He lists the top 100 people on a topic, messages them and follows up until a call happens
- •He studies practitioners in performance marketing, content and hiring to learn each function as CEO
Why Connect with People: Love, Value and the Don Katz Email
Ali asks why Cliff wants to befriend so many people, and Cliff gives his three life goals: becoming his best self, love and creating value. He tells the story of the thank-you email to Audible's founder Don Katz that started a relationship.
- •His top goals are to be his best self, maximize love and create value for others
- •Love is likened to fire that can light another flame without being diminished
- •He wrote thank-you notes to those who helped him, including Don Katz
- •He sends many cold messages and hires people through the same approach
- •When you exhaust books, he says, people are the next frontier
Overcoming the Fear of Cold Messages
Ali admits he feels drawn to Cliff's approach but fears effort and ego-driven rationalizations. Cliff says he reaches out out of curiosity rather than fame, keeps messages to about three lines, and notes that about 80% of people say yes.
- •Ali notes his mind produced reasons not to do what he secretly wanted
- •Cliff cares about people's stories and character, not their fame
- •A short message with praise, credibility and a proposed time gets about 80% yes
- •He once got a lunch with Jack Dorsey at 18 by persisting through intermediaries
- •Giving more value than you receive makes life richer
Adding Value Publicly and Founder-Product Fit
Cliff and Ali trade stories of sharing helpful content with no payoff in mind, from Ali's study notes and talks to Cliff's Medium posts and YouTube tutorials. Cliff argues for founder-product fit, building the thing you needed yourself.
- •Ali's study-notes sharing and an exam-technique talk led to his YouTube channel
- •Cliff's patent walkthrough and Speechify screen recording each drew large audiences
- •Cliff says to put good energy into the world and not try to arbitrage
- •He forwards positive things said about people to them
- •Founder-product fit means building what you needed most when you were young
Avoiding Procrastination with Gratitude Messages and Phone Locks
Cliff says he does procrastinate, but when low on energy he sends gratitude messages instead of scrolling social media. He also locks his phone with parental controls, leaving a code he doesn't know so apps are limited to minutes a day.
- •Gratitude texts replace endless scrolling when he's unfocused
- •He set up parental controls on his phone and doesn't know the passcode
- •Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok each get about two minutes a day
- •Others on his team can unlock apps briefly if he needs them
Organizing Your Life: Booking Ahead, Inbox Habits and Flexible Plans
Cliff explains how he keeps relationships alive by scheduling time in advance, living with friends, and treating most plans as movable. He says he doesn't pursue inbox zero, schedules meetings about four weeks out, and books flights day-of.
- •He books hangouts and quarterly friend trips far in advance
- •He tried inbox zero, got ill, and now relies on people re-messaging about important items
- •He suggests meeting times about four weeks out and sends invites himself
- •He treats flights like a subway system and says most meetings can be moved
- •He doesn't look at prices when spending on food, Ubers to see friends, or gifts
Putting More Love into the World: Asking, Gym Buddies and Vulnerability
Cliff shares tips for relationships: ask people to hang out, don't fear double texting, and suggest easy repeatable activities like the gym or meals. He also describes seeking out people who make him better, asking deeper questions and bonding through vulnerability, before Ali closes part one and Cliff makes his asks.
- •Nobody gets mad about being asked to hang out, and following up repeatedly is fine
- •Asking someone to the gym, coffee or a meal is easy to say yes to
- •He seeks friends who make him better and asks questions that skip small talk
- •Bonding over ambition or vulnerability builds connection
- •Cliff invites feedback on Speechify and says he is hiring comedians and a London videographer

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