My Journey with Mitchell McCullough’s Approach
So, I wanted to share a bit about my recent dive into something I’d heard about – the Mitchell McCullough way of, well, getting things done, I guess. It wasn’t like I was looking for a new guru or anything, but man, I was swamped. You know that feeling? Always busy, but at the end of the day, you look back and wonder what you actually finished. That was me, big time.
It all started pretty randomly. I was complaining to a buddy over coffee about my never-ending to-do list and how I just couldn’t focus. He casually mentioned this Mitchell McCullough fellow, said he had some interesting ideas about structuring your day, not necessarily about working more, but working smarter. Skeptical, but desperate, I decided to at least look him up.
Digging In: What’s This McCullough Thing?
First thing I did was a bit of online searching. Wasn’t a ton of flashy stuff, which I kinda liked. It seemed less about hype and more about practical steps. From what I gathered, McCullough’s core idea wasn’t revolutionary, but it was the way he packaged it. It was all about carving out these super-focused blocks of time and being absolutely ruthless about distractions. He also talked a lot about prepping for these blocks, almost like an athlete preparing for a game.
I found a couple of blog posts, supposedly summarizing his principles. Things like:
- Time Blocking: Not just to-do lists, but actually scheduling tasks into your calendar like appointments.
- The “Sanctuary” Rule: Creating a physical and digital space completely free of interruptions for those blocks.
- Pre-computation: Doing all the thinking, planning, and resource gathering before the focused block starts, so you just execute.
I thought, okay, sounds simple enough, maybe too simple. But what did I have to lose?
Putting it to the Test: My McCullough Experiment
So, I decided to give it a real shot for a week. My main goal was to finish one significant project proposal that had been haunting me for ages.
Day 1 was a bit of a mess. I scheduled my first two-hour “McCullough Block” for the morning. I told my family, put my phone in another room, closed all my browser tabs… and then I just stared at the screen. My brain was so used to constant pings and task-switching, the silence was almost deafening. I probably spent half the time just resisting the urge to check my email. Got a tiny bit done, but mostly felt antsy.
Day 2, I tweaked things. I realized “pre-computation” was key. The night before, I broke down the proposal into tiny, manageable steps. I gathered all the documents I needed, wrote down specific questions I wanted to answer in that block. When the block started, I had a clearer roadmap. It was better. I actually managed to write a whole section.
By Day 3, I was getting into a rhythm. The “Sanctuary” rule became my best friend. I even put a “Do Not Disturb (Seriously)” sign on my door. It sounds silly, but it worked! I found that having everything prepped beforehand made a huge difference. I wasn’t wasting precious focus time trying to remember where I’d saved that one crucial file or what I was supposed to do next. I just… worked.
I started using a simple timer. When it was on, I was McCullough-focused. When it was off, I let myself breathe, check messages, whatever. This on-off switch seemed to train my brain a bit.
What I Found Out
Okay, so what happened? Did I become a productivity machine overnight? Not exactly. But I did finish that darn proposal by the end of the week. And it was good quality work, not rushed. That felt like a huge win.
Here’s what I really took away from trying out this Mitchell McCullough-inspired approach:
- Intentionality is powerful. Just deciding “this is my focus time” and preparing for it made a massive difference compared to my usual scattered approach.
- Distractions are more insidious than I thought. Removing them, even for short periods, was like lifting a fog.
- Preparation is half the battle. That “pre-computation” idea? Golden. It takes time upfront, but saves so much mental energy during the actual work.
- It’s not about perfection. Some blocks were better than others. Sometimes I still got distracted. But I just reset and tried again with the next block.
It wasn’t a magic bullet. And honestly, I don’t follow it super strictly every single day now. Life happens. But I have this tool in my back pocket. When I have something important that needs deep focus, I know how to create that McCullough-style environment for myself. I’ll block out the time, do the prep, and silence the noise. It’s more of a principle I’ve adopted rather than a rigid set of rules.
So yeah, that was my little experiment. Maybe not earth-shattering, but it definitely helped me get a handle on things. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, maybe looking into Mitchell McCullough’s ideas, or just the core concepts of focused work he seems to talk about, might be worth your while. Just my two cents from the trenches!
