From Average to Elite: The 1% Playbook for Your 20s

The Compound Effect in Real Life

Weekly round-up

Hey friends, welcome back to Frugal Chic - where financial intelligence meets fashion.

In this letter, we’ll discuss:

• The mindset shifts that separate the 1% from everyone else

• The exact steps to get there

Lately, I’ve been fixated on this idea of what makes someone successful? We often attribute it to having a fancy title at work, a huge paycheck or having lots in savings.

In my opinion, the biggest indicator of success is someone enjoying what they do, however prestigious that thing is. This involves the ability to tap into the flow state - An optimal experience of pure enjoyment of an activity, so much so, that you get lost in it.

You lose track of time, you’d do it regardless of outcome and you might say ‘you’re addicted’.

The next level up from that would be this flow state eventually allowing for that work to sustain you, to get ‘paid to exist’.

There’s a group of creators online who are doing exactly that, leveraging lucrative personal brands and building time, location and financial freedom. I was kindly featured as an example here as I recently quit my 9-5 in fashion to pursue content creaton full-time.

So not that I am some success story, as I am only 24 and still very much figuring things out - I think you have to speak things into existence, plus I have learnt a few things along the way that have truly shifted my mindset that I would love to share with you.

@socialunicorns on IG

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

— George Bernard Shaw, playwright

But first, things I’ve consumed over doomscrolling:

1. Naval Ravikant x Modern Wisdom: 44 Truths About The Harsh Game of Life - it’s 3 hours long and I listened to on spotify, but had it in the back while running errands.

2. Reading Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: the classic book that laid the foundations for Cal Newport’s Deep Work

3. The Koe Cast: Life is a Pyramid Scheme I listen to all of Dan’s content, it really changed the way I view making content and entrepreneurship.

Deep dive

The Mindset Shifts

1. Find your anti vision:

   We often think in our 20s, we must find what we want. The issue is we have so little life to judge from, it’s hard to know what we want. I was always envious of people who knew ‘ok, I want to go into law, or medicine’, who had a set path. While it’s a privilege to have the choice of what we want to do, that can also lead to decision paralysis. The way I combatted this is actually finding out what I don’t want. Creating an anti-vision means simply knowing the kind of life you want to avoid. A common trait in successful entrepreneurs, is they often recall a time that gave them a breaking point, maybe it was facing burnout in their career, or deciding they didn’t want to work in a cubicle. The key is, rather than deciding exactly the area of business they wanted to go into, they instead just established what they didn’t want. This is a lot easier than picking through the millions of career paths today - because let’s be real, most of us in Gen Z likely won’t have one type of career anyway.

2. Be Delusional and Have Audacity

   One of the best things I ever did for my finances, and my life overall, was to set delusional goals, like saving £100k by 24. To many people, this sounds unrealistic, often for good reason. In their circumstances, it might genuinely be impossible. But speaking selfishly about my own situation: it was audacious.

   I didn’t come from wealth. I had no background in marketing or branding. I’d only recently worked as a junior sales manager. Yes, living at home helped at the start, but here’s what’s telling: I later saved the same amount in less time because I’d grown my income. The real game-changer wasn’t my circumstances, it was the audacity to set the goal in the first place.

   That audacity forced me to become someone capable of achieving it. You don’t get 1% results doing what 99% of people do.

3. Bias Towards Action

   Stop waiting for the perfect moment. Stop consuming endless content about “how to start.” Stop making another mood board or vision document.

   The difference between dreamers and doers? Doers take imperfect action.

   I launched my newsletter before I felt “ready.” My first videos were objectively terrible. My early savings strategies were messy and evolved over time. But each imperfect step taught me something no amount of research ever could.

   You learn by doing, not by planning to do. Start before you’re ready, because you’ll never feel fully ready anyway.

4. Be Lazy = Be Efficient

   The best entrepreneurs aren’t workaholics, they’re strategically lazy.

   Being “lazy” doesn’t mean avoiding work. It means refusing to do unnecessary work. It means asking “how can I get 80% of the results with 20% of the effort?”

   I automate everything I can. I batch-create content. I say no to meetings that could be emails. I outsource tasks that drain my energy but don’t require my unique skills.

   Your time is your most valuable asset. Protecting it isn’t lazy, it’s intelligent.

   Work smarter, not just harder. The goal isn’t to be busy. It’s to be effective.

Action plan

1. Write down 5 things you don’t want in life

2. Set 5 delusional goals

3. Start building wealth by investing assets. This section is kindly sponsored by XTB who are giving new users one free Rolls Royce Stock when you sign up and make a deposit. Your capital is at risk. The value of the stock may fluctuate. Limited availability. T&Cs apply

4. Set one automated system, a direct debit for your savings, a simple funnel for your social media strategy.

That’s it for this week.

As always, thanks for being here.

Mia xx

Resources

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