Everyone has something valuable to teach. Um the world needs more people sharing what they know. So don't wait until you feel experienced enough or have enough figured out. Just start. You will learn along the way.

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, wherever you are and wherever you're watching from. Today we're traveling around the world a little bit. We're going over to Oslo, Norway to talk to Time Dawood, who is going to be here today to talk to us a little bit about the growth that he's had in his channel, the things that he's doing as a creator on YouTube, and we'll share some of the experiences that we had at Tref, the Tromso Educational Film Festival that I was just at. So with that said, we got an exciting show today. Welcome to God that you're here. Glad that you're listening. I'd like to welcome Time Daywood to the Visual Lounge. Hey Time. Hello.

Thank you for having me.

And I and let's just close it here. I know there's time. You get time, you get tame, you get all sorts of names. Uh, but I heard in time it is Norwegian enough, so we'll go with it. Absolutely. All the versions are perfectly fine as well. Well, we're I'm so glad that you're here. And it was so wonderful to actually get to meet you in person because I, you know, I talked to a lot of people on the show, and some of them I know in person, but uh you and I are in very different parts of the world, and it was just an awesome experience to get to to see you, but also to hear uh you get to present your one of your videos at the Tromso Educational Film Festival.

Absolutely. It was a like a I haven't been in that city uh either in Trumpso. Um beautiful city, beautiful mountains as well. It was nice seeing you as well. Uh I presented my video about sepsis in that educational film festival. And um, of course, like uh hosted uh you presented me as well uh to the scene. Yeah.

Um well let's before we get too far into it, let's let's remind people of uh a little bit of your journey because you've got a unique journey, uh, you know, and you're doing a I think a unique topic for a YouTube creator. Because we often think about people doing entertainment or maybe they're doing a podcast, technology. But uh tell us a little bit about your background and introduction to becoming a creator.

So I did talk a little bit about like the last time we had a uh podcast, uh, but uh my journey into uh content creation and education was very like it was very coinc coincidential, uh if I can say like that. Uh I started medicine in the first semester. I I I do have a slight dyslexia. So I had a hard time like studying uh different subjects in the first semester of medical school. So what I did was I tried to find like different ways of studying. And one way led to another, like uh I ended up like trying uh making simple presentations on PowerPoint and just like recording my voice, didn't have any, uh didn't have any equipments or anything. So and you know, the easiest way to re-listen to those uh re-recorded lessons is through just uploading it to YouTube and just like listen to it um when you're in the bus or or train or something. I would do that before the class, uh, and I just like would like listen to the video a couple of times before the class without ready for the class. Um and I just continued this way. So one topic after another, I just started making those lectures and people started commenting and saying that these lectures were helpful. So I just started like uploading it to YouTube and people started commenting, saying how helpful they were. And um yeah, so I just continued throughout medical school. I thought it was like a nice hobby. Uh, and I genuinely felt nice doing like helping people, uh, if it makes sense. So yeah, I just like continued throughout medical school. Uh and I was in the 12th semester, graduated medicine and got started with um with uh working as a medical doctor at the at the hospital. Um and funny enough, I thought about quitting YouTube and just focusing on medicine, just focusing on focusing on the clinical aspect of of medicine, just specializing in and forgetting about YouTube, you know, because it was always like a just a hobby. And then, you know, faith has a weird way of just showing up in your life in some way or another. But I got burnt out and and and I had was forced to take a break from medicine, and which led me just to focus. I thought, let me just see where this can go. Let me just grow YouTube, grow um the educational uh what I started, anatomy. And um I just pushed that part. I just tried to finish the whole all the topics in anatomy. I just tried to see what more can I do. Maybe I can like made make written uh notes of those videos. And I just did that. And the the YouTube just grew from there and and now it's my full-time job. Uh, and I'm happy like I could I can help people um learn or get through their exams uh and pass their exams with ease. Um, I love this more.

I love this story because I think this speaks to like that natural power that video has, right? Like I think a lot of people know that there's a lot of things that video can do. It's good for a lot of things, it's not good for everything. But I love your story because you were someone who was trying to figure this out for yourself. Like you're trying to learn. Like just that was your goal, right? Just you wanted to learn, and it was video became the kind of the mechanism to help you to do that, even though it wasn't about watching the video, it was about making the video. You know, often we learn a lot when we have to teach something. Uh, so I just I love your story because it is just that it's such a great example. And then to see that you've gone from, you know, like just kind of random uploads to uh where are we at now? Are we almost almost 400,000 subscribers on your channel?

Almost 400, yeah.

Okay, so we need a few more people to go out and subscribe and we'll get to so uh in this process, uh what do you think have been some of the biggest lessons for you? To be, you know, being a medical doctor is impressive enough, but to become a creator, like what what lessons have you learned that you think, gosh, if I'd only known towards the beginning, it would have maybe made your life a little easier. You would have been maybe able to make better videos out of the, you know, earlier on. You make great videos. I your septus video is a great example of really good work. Um, so but what advice would you give?

Well, I've learned a lot of things. So it's like uh it's a it's it's a journey that never that always like feeds you with knowledge, kind of. Um and I when I started, I didn't have like any knowledge on video editing or making lectures or or or anything, right? Or even medicine. Like I was a medical student that first semester. So one thing that I learned was how to make presentations, how to animate, then I learned how to uh video uh record, how to record like uh myself and the camera, and then a little bit how to edit, and just like kept growing on in that knowledge. Um and you just like try to find different ways of presenting, find different ways of making your your like your process easier as well. Um one thing I learned like uh like through the journey is I wish that I had outsourced uh video editing quite early. Because video editing, don't get me wrong, it's quite fun. And using the the video editing program Camtasia is quite like it makes your life easier as well, because it has a lot of um uh like it it's it's structures in a way that's very easy for people like me who have never like edited before. Um but I am not a video editor. I am uh my profession is like it's it's in within the medical field. And so I enjoy the most when I uh make the presentations, when I do the research behind every video, when I like do the medical aspect of the of the videos. But then when I start like video editing and stuff, I notice that the process becomes like slower. So if I had video if I had outsourced the video editing quite early, I'm pretty sure I would uh finish quite a lot of videos like uh to the states. So that's like one thing I would uh change uh had I could do anything like differently, it was it would be outsourcing the video editing. But um, yeah, uh doing everything yourself is also a journey because you learn a lot.

Um yeah, you you I I'm my guess is you learn kind of what you like, your style, so that you can then communicate. But I I'm curious for you, as you look at like I mean, you know, I think when I talk to you, I get the impression that you're kind of surprised at what's happened, right? That you know, almost 400,000 people have have subscribed to your channel. They're they're really the comments you said, you mentioned you get comments from all over the world, which is amazing. What do you think resonates about your videos with people that maybe is different than what's else is out there? Because it does seem like there's always a variety of people who do content, but like, is it just the topics that you're covering, or is there something else about what you think? And I I know this is probably a very you're a very humble person. Uh and this is a question that's asking you to put pull yourselves out of that humility a little bit. But uh I I I am curious about what you think really connect why your videos connect so well with your audience.

Well, I I also that's one thing I had to like think about. What why did my channel, out of like all um all the other channels that do medicine, to teach medicine as well, why why did my channel uh like reach a lot of people? And I think one thing that I uh came to figure out was that the way I teach, like the visual aspect of teaching, um, resonates with the majority of people studying medicine, especially like the subject is anatomy, and anatomy is like it's meant to be taught visually. It's meant to be taught like uh hands-on, on a cadaver, visually. It's not meant to like only be only be teached like um just reading reading text. So I think that's one thing that uh helped um the channel as well grow because there's a lot of like visuals. I only show like organs and different in different uh views, and like this is the liver from behind, this is from below, this is from in front. So it's as if you are uh holding the organ yourself and and and kind of studying it. That's one thing. The other thing I think um like you have to find a unique style and keep consistent with that style. So one of the lectures I have, like I've started with like black background and just showing the figures, and I just kept uh kept that style throughout all my videos. Of course, you do try to upgrade, you do try to learn better ways to present, but you just keep that that uh same style consistent throughout your videos, and that makes the viewer like they already um they can foresee what type of quality or what type of lecture they will be receiving when they click on your videos. And that's also one thing that I think uh helped the channel grow as well, that people uh recognize already how your lectures are. Um so those that's two things I think were the main reason why my channel kind of uh grew the way it did. Um But yeah, of course, there may be like a lot of other reasons as well. Of course.

We we we we don't know what's behind all the all the reasons people will choose one thing over another, but I'm curious because a lot of people who listen to this podcast um are not YouTube creators. They're creating content for their university or their organization, uh maybe for their customers even. And I'm curious because you're teaching a subject, like you said, one, it's very anatomy is very visual, but it's also incredibly complex. It's you know, uh I've I've never taken an anatomy class, but I'm I've I've I've looked a little bit and I know it is there's a lot going on with any system that you might be presenting, and there's a lot of nuance and there's obviously a lot of vocabulary. So we're talking about things that are fairly complex here. But when I've looked at your videos, and particularly the sepsis and septic shock video that we screened at the uh Tromsow Educational Film Fest, was you do have a way of breaking it down in kind of a to a very, I don't I don't want to say simple because I don't want to downplay what you're doing, but you make it feel like this is a very approachable topic. What advice can you give us about how you do that? Um, and it sounds like you you said something earlier that I'm kind of keying in on is that you're not really a video guy. You're the guy that's like, I want to research and understand and learn everything, and then you want to share it. Um so that might seem like it maybe it's part of the answer, but what would you say about again, how how do you go to break about breaking down and approaching things so it could be simple? And is there lessons for the rest of us, mere mortals?

Well, um I one thing that I always like noticed when I was sitting in the lecture and and like I had a problem with at universities was that when I listened to a lecture, I always sat there like, but why does this happen? Or why why was why why is this structure relevant? And then the lecturer would just go on and talk about the next one. And this is how the disease is, and this is how the disease is treated, and the next one. And then while he's continuing the lecture, I would go back and still like have these questions in my mind, why do you use this medicine? Or why do you would like those are the things that I feel are the gaps that I feel are missing within lectures. So for example, you watched a sepsis video which was which was presented, and I tried to I first off, I tried to make like a proper outline, like what is the most logical way to start? Well, that is what is sepsis, right? And what is the definition of sepsis? Um uh like the the international definition of sepsis, what causes sepsis, what are the symptoms? Those are the things that I think is very important to know in the beginning. And then as a medical student or as a doctor, like how in-depth would you want the symptoms to be presented? Like uh sim one of the symptoms of sepsis are hypotension, like low blood pressure. Why does sepsis cause low low blood pressure? Show it, like you know, show it like what happens in the body, um, like show all the steps that happen from the beginning to end so that you don't you fill those gaps and then keep that consistent, keep that consistent. And before going on to the next section of the of teaching, for example, treatment, try to like um lead one topic into the next one by uh saying like saying all the symptoms and then saying, okay, so these are the symptoms, let us see how we treat each of those symptoms. And you do that by uh doing this. So you kind of lead into the next topic. And I think that way of teaching is like you give those, I don't know if you they say it in English, but you there's something called red thread. Is that something you say in English? Yeah, yeah. Follow the red thread. Um kind of you you tie everything together. So like I'm not saying like uh it's just the way I wish someone had taught me when I was in medical school, when I was studying biomedical science and medicine, and also before that in high school. Um, and so I just this that's the thing I try to keep consistent also throughout my videos, is just fill those gaps.

Yeah, well, I appreciate one thing you said that I think uh resonated with me was particularly the show, right? It sounds like you you want to make sure that it's a video being a visual medium. You want to show the impact, you want to show the outcome, you want to show the thing, not just say the thing. And I'm sure there's some amount of you you you just gotta say things, you can't always show every little thing, but that seems like that's a really powerful piece of what you're able to do, particularly in a complex uh subject topic like anatomy or just medicine in general. Uh the next question I have for you is like, and I feel like the other challenge I see inside of people making videos is they want to include everything. And it sounds like you you are kind of catering to that idea, like, hey, let's fill all the gaps that we can. But is there a point where there's too much information? Do you do you ever run up against that?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I had this problem recently, actually. Um, because when I was a student, I tried to stick only to that topic. But then after I graduated, I started like, you know, I'm not saying that I'm like, I just I have been through every subject in medicine. And so you see things in a little more holistic way. So what is the what is the um relevance of this structure? So I was talking, for example, about the um the ear, the inner ear, or the let's say, for example, the tongue, the gustation, um the the sense of taste. Because the gustator organ is an anatomical organ, right? Uh but at the same time, it's more physiological. So that's when I thought, okay, should I make the video like seven, eight minutes long and just talk about the tongue? Or should I talk about or should I fill in the gaps and talk about like everything related to this? And so I started like, okay, I started scripting. Okay, this is this is how the tongue is anatomically. This is how the tongue works. And then I started thinking, okay, but but why does it work like that? And then I started going into a rabbit hole of textbooks to research articles because uh there's been so much new information about the taste and taste perception and and cells that I just started like going into this rabbit hole and just like it started including all the new research, everything. And the video actually went from being eight uh eight minutes long to I think twenty nine or twenty-eight uh minutes long. And I noticed this was too much. And so um, so yeah, that's that's one thing that I uh that I learned quickly after that video when I started re-rewatching it, was that um I really need to dial down the the uh the other uh like the extra stuff kind of.

Well, it's a time time and place thing, uh right? Like you gotta write time, right place, right, right topic. Uh it does the other thing I'm hearing you say that I think is really interesting and fascinating to me is you've said why a lot. Um like why is this? Why is that? And I know like there in in business, there's a you know, the kind of the process of asking five whys or whatever, but uh, but it feels like that becomes a key piece of how you're determining and thinking about your your subject matter is like why is something like this? Why is it this way? Why and but that's is that is that something you would say is a key piece of good video creation for you?

I think yeah, it is, especially when you're teaching. Uh it depends on what type of style you're doing, kind of, but what if you animate a lot, if you try to show the process, as my videos are doing, uh asking why just fills those it it helps you with the next animation, if it makes sense. Um because it it's it shows you you're able to animate the whole thing correctly uh by just asking why and going into details. Um so I would say yeah, asking why also um it makes it easier to learn kind of the topic.

Yeah, absolutely. So at Tref, uh you were given an award. Congratulations, the Open Education Award, which I think is well deserved. But this is an award that's given to someone who makes their content available for for free to view. Um, and obviously there's you know, YouTube on in of itself as a creator, there's a whole business side of it too. But for you, why has it been so important to be able to make sure those videos that you're making are freely available to people and not just, you know, maybe maybe behind just uh you could put them behind a paywall or Patreon. And maybe you do some of that too. But I'm curious about like why what's impetus for that in terms of beyond just I know you started how you start, you talk told us how you started, but is there a reason why you continue to kind of just keep publishing freely?

It is, yeah. Um, and I think most business business people is going to uh look down on this idea, but I am very um I'm very for that education should be free. Uh learning, if if you want to learn something, that process should be free. It shouldn't be behind a paywall. Everyone should have access to to learning um uh and learning medicine as well. I think that's that that aspect is very important. So I when I started, I never went into creating those uh lectures um like with the my with the mindset of earning money from them. I always wanted to make this free, kind of. And I just continue it that way. I just like I want every every lecture to remain free so that everyone uh kind of it's it's accessible for everyone. So um so yeah, it's just and it's now recently while I'm like recently now that I'm doing this full time, there is kind of a a little like for example, uh like extra stuff that is that is behind a paywall, for example, the uh written written parts of those videos or or extra quizzes or exams, of course. But the main parts of the uh of what I do will always remain free forever and ever.

Yeah, well well, I love that. And I you know, look, we're not gonna we're not gonna slight you for for trying to eat and and have have an income, you know. But but I love that but I love that thinking though, that like education is so valuable and you're putting it out for everybody to have an opportunity to learn. Let me ask you this because we are getting close to time where we do we'll we'll want to wrap up here, but I I I'm curious, you got to sit through watching, I think we screened 25 uh different uh presentations, and I know you know, like you don't see all of them because you know, different conversations, things that happen at those events. But from you, as you watch these these educational videos, people who are doing things very differently from you, was there anything that you took away from them? Film festival, they thought, oh, that was super uh helpful for you as a creator.

I think for the like one like one thing when I uh listened to the name Educational Film Festival, I thought it was going to be like a lot of lectures. And then I started watching these short like these uh filmmakers present their movie, and they have all have their own uh way of of delivering a message, and I think that's what teaching is is delivering a message, whatever it is. Um and I quickly realized that there's so many different ways to do this, and people there's so many like talented people out there, and everyone have their own of their own way of of sharing their knowledge, and this was so beautiful to see. And that's why I think like more people, everyone should like explore at least uh how do I what is my way of teaching? Because I think your way of teaching maybe resonates with somebody else, uh, and so on. So uh yeah, that's uh I was really impressed by all the people that that share the knowledge uh through those movies.

You know, I I will echo what you said. I was so impressed by some like some of them were like moving, like oh my gosh, kind of touched, really just pulled at your heart, others were so informative. Uh so yeah, it it was all different styles. So I I'll echo what you said. I think that was that was an impressive thing for that organization to pull together to to you know to bring for us. So, well, time, as we as we get ready to wrap up here, is there any last pieces of wisdom or advice? So if someone's out there saying, you know, I've got this subject matter and expertise, I and I would love more people to know about whatever topic it is. You know, I think we we were joking about the beginning of the show, you know, if you're an economics professor, maybe you're an instructional designer and you're teaching people um a methodology or or whatever, is there is there advice you'd give to someone who's like uh on the fence about trying this or doing this?

It is if there's one piece of advice I would give is this everyone has something valuable to teach. The world needs more people sharing what they know. So don't so one uh valuable uh tips I could give is don't wait until you feel experienced enough or have enough uh figured out. Just start, you will learn along the way. And honestly, I would especially encourage people in the medicine, in the medical field to do the same. There's still so much space in online medicational education um for different teaching styles, perspective, and and and ways of explaining things. So yeah, that's that's the advice I would give, at least.

I I love it and I think it's uh well well-earned and uh well-given advice. Well, well, time for as we wrap up, you know, you've obviously got some projects you've been working on. We were talking about if if people want to learn from you, they want to connect with you, uh, you want to share something with them that you think would be valuable, where can they where can they find that?

Well, I do read every comment that is applied that is that is commented on YouTube. So definitely check out the YouTube channel, uh, write some comments. I do read every comment, even though I'm not able to uh respond to every comment. Otherwise, I'm always available on uh Instagram if you feel free to leave a message there, or also on the website. If you go into the website and then contact, and then I do read that email as well. So uh yeah.

Well, and you're being humble again, uh, but you are working on a book. Can we talk about that? Uh of course. So give us give us the give us the the the 20-second pitch. What's your book that you're working on and how do we pre-order if we can?

Well, um taking all my experience, I would say 10 years of experience now in teaching medicine, um I collected all that knowledge and I'm now compiling a visual textbook that is made to make anatomy very, very easy to understand. And so I'm working on this textbook and it will be available on my uh websites. Um and I will uh put some information out there on how to pre-order and how to uh order it as well when it's done. So hopefully this textbook will help a lot of people. Um that it it will be focusing on teaching everything detailed and also visual.

Yeah, I I well I love that. And I think it's worth noting because this is, you know, I think it speaks to who you are as a person, again, but willing to share that knowledge and uh and uh everybody who's listening to this, it's not just uh a 30 pager or a hundred pager, it's gonna be a tome, it's gonna be a textbook, it's gonna be awesome. 900, 1,000 pages, not sure yet, but probably uh around there. We can't wait to see it because I'm sure I'm also uh confident that it's gonna be uh beautifully done. So well, Tim, as we like to wrap up every show, we always ask our guests for a final take. And you've kind of given us one, but is there maybe there's another one you'd like to give? So, Time, what is your final take?

Well, there's I did say it in the beginning, I think. I I I will repeat it because it's so important, is that everyone has something valuable to teach. Um, the world needs more people sharing what they know. So don't wait until you feel experienced enough or have enough figured out. Just start, and you know, you will learn along the way. Um yeah. And do do try to teach online, try to put to put those lectures out for free. Trust me, you will get so much uh feedback uh when you do that.

I love it. Well, Time, thank you for joining me in the Visual Lounge. Thank you so much, Matt. Appreciate it for having me. Well, all right, everybody, we've got all the links below. We're gonna put the sepsis video, we're gonna put links to uh Time's website and all that stuff so you can go out and watch his great work. I love what he's talking about here is that everyone has something to teach. And if it's you're working inside an organization, you're trying to help your customers, trying to help your staff, that's things that you can help them to learn and grow on. And his message about asking the why and showing are really powerful methodologies that you can use when you're making those Camtasia videos or whatever videos that you're making. And I'd encourage you that as you're learning, get out there and try it. Try some things out, experiment because as you do that, you're going to learn more and more about what works and what doesn't work. And don't worry about the what doesn't work too much, because we all have stuff that we try that doesn't work and it's okay. You can you can try again the next time and it's gonna get better and better every single time. With that said, we like to end the show the same way every single time. We want you to get better at what you're doing. We want you to get better at using video, images, media to help encourage others to learn the things that you're teaching about. And we hope you take a little time to level up every single day. Thanks everybody.