Starting a YouTube Channel to Stay Productive in a Pandemic
I’ve always wanted to start a YouTube channel, but it wasn’t until I graduated from university in the midst of a worldwide pandemic that I started to dedicate the time to actually doing it.
I’m privileged to have been accepted to a Masters program at McGill. However, after much thought and prayer, I’ve decided to defer my acceptance, and instead take a year off and develop myself. I’ve always wanted to experience how it’s like to not have an institution to structure my day around, and to test the limits of my internal motivation. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the acceleration of the adoption and proliferation of key technologies and frameworks, such as work from home, teleconference meetings, and online education. Adapting well to these technologies will be paramount in the days to come. I believe that my biggest takeaway from university has been the ability to teach myself, and so in order to take advantage of the aforementioned trends while documenting the journey, I’ve decided to start a YouTube channel.
The goal is to challenge myself to stay productive and to hold myself accountable to that while motivating others to do the same. Along the way, I hope to connect with new people (feel free to reach out to me!) and hone my creativity through videography. I’m setting up a year-long challenge, split up into weekly segments of productivity. Each week will have its own theme, from establishing a morning routine to nutrition and preparing a meal plan to curating a reading list. To ensure that I don’t procrastinate throughout the week, I will also set daily goals.
I’m finding it difficult to settle on a theme for the channel. I’ve heard that picking a niche helps in growing a YouTube channel. I’m interested in poetry, history, philosophy, business/startup culture, Islam, healthcare, web development, and data science, amongst other things. Wish such a wide array of interests, I’ve decided to opt against picking one theme and instead try to showcase all of these interests in one place. After all, I want to expand my horizons, not limit them. It’s not that I don’t believe in the power of specialization, it’s that I rather be a generalized specialist.
That being said, much of my work will be in data science. I’m working with teams at McGill and Harvard, which is enabling me to learn quickly. Big data is giving rise to the fourth industrial revolution, and I want to be a part of that. My particular interest lies within AI/machine learning and its applications in healthcare, and that’s what I hope to have at the core of my work schedule for the upcoming year.
I’ve already made some healthy changes, such as deactivating my Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, and I’m already reaping some of the rewards. I’ve started a Twitter account to post bite-sized takeaways from online lectures and readings. I’ve made a commitment to read at least one book a month. I’ve started working on a web development startup. I’ve binge-watched the Y Combinator Startup School series, and read some of Paul Graham’s famous essays. I’ve taken many computer science courses on LinkedIn Learning and Udacity (highly recommend the AI in Healthcare nanodegree!). And I have much more on my to-do list.
You can find my YouTube channel here. I’m excited for what’s to come, and I hope you are as well. Thank you for joining me!
