49 Comments
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withfrith's avatar

Thanks for this read Mia, I really struggle to prioritise tasks that will move the needle for me. My usual morning is get up and feed/muck out the horses first but even a power half hour before that would get me set up knowing I've done something for 'me' first, as a priority. Im going to give it a start tomorrow!

Mia McGrath | Frugal Chic®'s avatar

Thanks so much. I defintiely struggle too so this post is holding myself accountable aha! best of luck x

Sydney's avatar

I resonate with your comment. Getting high-energy dogs turned my entire morning upside down, but reclaiming the first 30 minutes of the day for myself sounds doable. Thanks for this read, Mia!

Kika's avatar

I really enjoyed this read! I usually like to start my day with a meditation or a cup of coffee, but today was one of those days that I had to wake up early and work on a personal project before anything else. I thought I’d be tired for the rest of the day, but I felt so accomplished and energized. I have been trying to make sense of this feeling, and then stumbled upon your post. Just wanted to echo that the one hour rule works!

Cynthia Garcia's avatar

I love this! What I appreciate most is your clarity around ownership. If you wake up and immediately start working for someone else’s agenda (the algorithm, your inbox, your boss) you slowly train your nervous system to live reactively. And that becomes your baseline. I love how you urge us to decide to prioritize our own ideas, goals, and projects first.

Holly Johnson's avatar

This was eye opening! Not only did it provide useful advice to engineer a productive day but I also feel it gave light to the time economics of influencing - something I’ve not really seen covered before. Super valuable, thank you!

lisa khiev's avatar

Such a valuable piece. Info I've absorbed plenty of times through the years, but it is nice to hear your perspective and personal experience.

Gabriella Gofis's avatar

As someone who has entered content full time in the last 6 months and struggling to find structure… thank you!!

Shivani Gulati's avatar

I’m a doctor balancing day/night shifts with a regular publishing schedule on Substack and this advice is invaluable. Thanks so much Mia!

George Sullivan's avatar

Loved it

mf's avatar

I recently read a book that actually quotes a lot of work by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, it's called "Hyperfocus" by Chris Bailey, and this post summarizes pretty well the main purpose of the book, with the difference that, in the second half of the book, he introduces the "scatterfocus" mode, which, essentially, is how to get to unfocus your attention but with intenttion in order to connect dots of the information that we consume daily, mostly in our "focus mode". Besides all the distractions that we have to fight with nowadays, there's also a complement of "fear of being annoyed" that we avoid at all costs in modern society, and I truly believe that the whole point of turning back into the analog mode is to let us be bored again, to help us connect the dots, to think by ourselves, to get back into our own heads, with no background noise, just us.

Mia McGrath | Frugal Chic®'s avatar

Thank you, I will check it out.

Jennifer Cortorreal's avatar

One of the best productivity advise I’ve read in a while - thank you!

Kerry Maguire's avatar

I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you.

Teguan Harris's avatar

Very insightful!

Christiana Nicole's avatar

This was fabulous, thank you for sharing so transparently! Gave me a lot to think about

Roxanne C.S. | The Cozy Hours's avatar

I love this so much Mia. I am one of those who has kids, so it's virtually impossible for me to wake up and have much time to myself before anything else happens, other than my morning coffee. My work starts only after I'm back home from school drop off, but that means I've gotten my physical activity done for the first half of the day!

I'm not sure how successful I'll end up, but as you said, actions will compound and the results will show eventually. It's amazing (and inspiring) what you've achieved in such a short time!

Mia McGrath | Frugal Chic®'s avatar

Thanks so so much and sorry it's not more inclusive advice :)

Roxanne C.S. | The Cozy Hours's avatar

No no don’t feel bad, no need to apologize! 💝

Her Own League by Emerald's avatar

great read! success is built on commitment and sustainability over time ♡

Ifa Melati's avatar

This is such a good read, inspired me to get back to be more consistent in content making. Thank you Mia!