Hello Reader, We're in that strange little pocket of time that shows up every year. Somewhere between December 25 and January 1, the usual markers blur. You check the calendar and still aren’t quite sure what day it is. Monday feels like Saturday. Saturday feels like… nothing in particular. It’s easy to rush past this stretch—to treat it as filler before the “real” year begins. But this in-between space has a quiet gift. When the usual cadence loosens, so does our grip on certainty. And in...
2 days ago • 1 min read
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 44 | December 27, 2025 Hello Reader, There’s a particular sound that shows up at the end of a year. It isn’t bells or carols. It isn’t noise. It’s quieter than that. It sounds like a song you’ve heard a hundred times suddenly landing differently. Like listening to Time by Pink Floyd and realizing the clock in the background isn’t theatrical anymore—it’s personal. Or hearing Dreamer by Supertramp and recognizing that the dream being sung about feels...
4 days ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, Yesterday I noticed something about the jade plant on my study's deep window sill. It’s been in the same pot for a long time. I water it on a steady cadence. I make sure it gets light. And yet—it looks exactly the same. No new leaves. No visible growth. Just… alive. It struck me that this is exactly what this week is for. With Christmas only a few days away, and the calendar folding in on itself, this isn’t a week for expansion. It’s not a week for reinvention or big pushes or...
9 days ago • 1 min read
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 43 | December 20, 2025 Hello Reader, There are moments when a line lands in your mind with the weight of something you didn’t realize you’d been carrying. A sentence, a phrase, an image that turns out to be a pressure valve — releasing something that’s been quietly building. That happened to me this past Sunday morning. I was in the middle of a working session, the kind that starts slow and honest before the rest of the day wakes up. And out of nowhere,...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, We’re deep into the holiday stretch now—the week where days blur, obligations multiply, and your calendar starts behaving like it has a mind of its own. This is the point in December when most people try to push a little harder. But that usually leads to the opposite of what we’re hoping for: more friction, more fatigue, less presence. There’s a gentler way through this week. It starts with a single question: “What kind of day is this?” Not emotionally. Structurally. Because...
12 days ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, I’ve been thinking about It’s a Wonderful Life again. Partly because it’s December—and we’re deep enough into it now that the shine has worn off. Partly because I recently listened to an episode of the What Went Wrong? podcast that unpacked how that film almost didn’t survive—and why it still endures. What stayed with me wasn’t the trivia. It was the reminder beneath it all. George Bailey doesn’t get a new life. He gets the same life back—just seen differently. That matters....
14 days ago • 1 min read
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 42 | December 13, 2025 Hello Reader, Lately I’ve been noticing how easy it is to look like you’re working without actually working. The little signals we send — green dots, busy calendars, quick replies, bodies in rooms — can all stand in for real engagement. It’s productivity as performance, a kind of low-grade theatre we’ve all learned to act in. But when the performance starts replacing the purpose, something slips. The day fills up while the work...
18 days ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, We’re about to step into that strange pocket of the year—the final non-holiday week of 2025. The one that looks tidy on the calendar but rarely behaves. It’s a week that tends to ask more of us than it has any right to: wrapping up projects, closing loops, tying bows, attending gatherings, showing up for others, showing up for ourselves, and preparing for the holidays… all at once. It’s the week where the world turns inhuman—deadlines tighten, calendars crowd, and expectations...
19 days ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, Yesterday in the Grand Connection’s Grand Productivity Group I shared three free tools that can help you work with more intention — not by adding pressure, but by giving your thoughts, your focus, and your habits a clearer place to land. I wanted to pass my choices along to you as well, because each one serves a different layer of how we relate to our time. No overlap. No noise. Just three calm companions you can try without spending a cent. Here they are. Amplenote: For...
21 days ago • 1 min read