Welcome to A Day Well Spent (a Substack Bestseller with 8000+ readers)
If you’re ready to design what happens next — instead of letting life just happen to you — I’m glad you’ve found this.
Hello and welcome.
I’m Leyla Kazim. Let me explain everything you need to know about my newsletter ‘A Day Well Spent’ in a few short minutes.
Mission
I will help you to:
wake up to the world — awareness
break free from the systems that do not serve you — energy
redirect your reclaimed energy towards realising (in every sense) the life you actually want — freedom
Awareness → Energy → Freedom
But what does that mean?
My goal each week is to help you understand what it is you actually want and live a life centred around autonomy, where you spend most of that time doing what you enjoy.
It sounds radical, huh? In today’s society, it is.
To achieve this, I need to re-wire your mind’s programming that’s been screwed with for years by societal conditioning.
If you spend enough time reading my words, you will:
End the ‘wtf am I doing with my life?’ loop
Recognise that your energy and attention is the most valuable currency
Only trade it for things that move you closer to the life you want
Increase your sense of self-empowerment, self-belief and confidence
Feel inspired to shift from inertia to action
Begin to intentionally pave your own path to your future
Experience regular doses of accountability and connection
Sign up now so you can make these transitions sooner.
(also, my Substack is a bestseller and read by over 8000 people in 115 countries — cool huh!)
This is the place for you if:
You are tired of drifting through life in disengaged autopilot mode
You recognise no one is coming to save you (so let me at least try)
You want to learn the skills and mindset needed for a self-built life
You want to reclaim your time, energy and agency
You believe ‘The System’ is broken and you want to take back your power
You understand, to some level, the interconnectedness of all things
You recognise the power of thought as your untapped potential
You want to be less cerebral and more present in your body and nature
You were not put on this earth to have meetings, pay off debts then die
A bit about me
In short
I went from: bullshit office job that was eroding the core of me → forging a media career in TV and radio (still what I do) → pursuing a land-based life in Portugal.
I have already implemented two seismic life re-designs 10 years apart (no doubt there will be more). And I am only 40.
It was approximately 2013 when one deceptively simple but actually notoriously difficult to answer question began to finally influence my trajectory:
What do I actually want my life to look like?
I’ve managed to figure out the answer to this (after a lot of self-reflection, questioning and work) and gone after it – twice.
I have designed a life where I spend most of my time doing what I enjoy and earning money along the way. I value freedom, being the architect of my own existence and genuinely believe the Universe opens doors for me because I allow it to.
And I also believe – deep in the marrow of these here bones – that all of this is also available to absolutely anyone else who wants it.
I play with a straight bat and I don’t offend easily. I say it like it is and some people don’t like that — that’s OK; I understand it’s difficult to be forced to face your own shortcomings. But it’s the only way we grow.
And one of my absolute favourite things in the world is witnessing the moment this pretty penny drops for someone for the first time:
‘designing and living a life I actually want to inhabit is — possible for me, too.’
🧨 KER-POW
Not only is it more than just possible, you already have the main resource you need to figure out and implement that life strategy: your own agency.
You likely just need a generous dose of self-belief, a hefty sprinkling of self-empowerment – and a hand on the shoulder from someone who’s done it before (twice) to help you find your true north.
Hi!! 👋 that’s where I come in.
Details
In 2007 I walked straight out of university into a software company and felt the first niggles that spending sunny days indoors was not natural.
In 2013 I spent an entire year doing absolutely zero work (like, actually) for a corporate machine just to prove my job was a farce. No one noticed.
Life re-design #1: In 2014 I left the office forever. I spent nine months traveling the world and realised I could never work for someone else again.
In 2015 I began forging a media career in two of my passions — food and travel — eventually becoming a permanent presenter on BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme in 2019.
In 2022 I became a critic on MasterChef UK and found the three acres in Portugal that would become the foundation of my next chapter.
Life re-design #2: In 2025 I turned 40 and moved my existence from London to rural Portugal to start building a home powered by the sun and a life dictated by the soil.
I navigated the traditional path for almost a decade until I finally chose to decouple myself from the social conditioning that leads to the most tragic version of squandering our brief time on this glorious planet: going through the motions.
That is when I accessed what I call: a life of my own making, on my own terms.
It’s one of joy, positivity, vitality and purpose. This kind of life isn’t for everyone (hard to believe 🤷🏽). And that’s fine.
But I’m desperate for more people to recognise that if it is what they want, the power is in their hands to create that kind of life too.
My unhinged promise to you
In this newsletter, I promise to:
Give you every part of me — brace yourself for the unfiltered side of me and my life most don’t see
Admit when I look stupid or weak — I will be honest about the times I still question myself and wtf am I actually doing? etc.
Be a radiator, not a drain — I will deliver energy, hope and inspiration rather than negative clickbait or vulnerability porn
Not sugar-coat or pussy-foot — because truths that are hard to swallow are the juiciest
Prioritise connection — I genuinely want to know more about you; I reply to every comment in-depth (we have great chats here)
Cheer you on like I’m on commission
Promise me this in return…
I don’t want you to respond in any particular way to the things I have to say. I simply want to make you think. Because when you give yourself time to do that — deeply — things start to change.
That mental overhaul is what enables you to become the architect of a life you literally throw yourself out of bed for.
Sign up now so you can transition to this way of life sooner.
How we’ll connect
I don’t write to satisfy an algorithm. You will hear from me when I have something important to share, usually in the form of a weekly essay:
No bs columns — honest (some might say, blunt) dispatches on life design and architecture, sovereign living and the raw reality of pursuing a land-based life in Portugal
Space to breathe — every couple of months I take a week away from Substack to give bus both a break
So here I am. Your no bs, straight-talking, new favourite enabler who wants to see you flourish so hard, other people won’t be able to stop themselves from snarking, ‘who the hell do they think they are?’
That’s when you know you’re on the right track.
*hair flick*
I hope you’re ready and strapped in. It’s going to be a thrilling and fun ride.
(Warning: I use the word bullshit quite a bit because – there’s just so much of it around?)
The best of A Day Well Spent
Why invest in premium A Day Well Spent?
Most people go for the £59 (€70) annual subscription. It is the best value.
For an investment of £59 a year, I will help you overhaul your psychology and rewire the programming that has kept you stuck where you are for all this time. The return on investment for that £59 is obscene.
If you aren’t willing to spend £59 on reclaiming the life of your future self, then I just don’t know what to tell you.
It’s back of the sofa money compared to the cost of a life full of inertia and regret. Do yourself a favour and subscribe to my premium tier right now.
Stop wasting your brief time on this earth doing anything other than moving closer towards the life you want.
And if you’re really serious, join The Hearth 🔥 top tier. It includes a 30 minute 1-to-1 call with me and all I will say is.. Well actually, I’ll leave that to my members:
Thanks for reading. And don’t forget to subscribe and start paving your own path, one essay at a time.
