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The Practice of Productiveness

He Made the Movie | The Lantern

Published 20 days ago • 2 min read

The Lantern

by Mike Vardy

Vol. 1, Issue 47 | January 17, 2026

Hello Reader,

There’s an unlikely lesson hiding in The Room.

By most standards, it’s a failure. The performances are awkward. The dialogue is strange. The story barely holds together. And yet, people keep showing up. Years later. Together. On purpose.

The reason isn’t quality. It’s completion.

Tommy Wiseau made the movie. He didn’t wait until it was perfect. He didn’t stop because it might be misunderstood. He finished it and released it.

What happened next wasn’t what he planned—but it was real. The film found an audience, not despite its flaws, but through them. And instead of resisting that reality, he eventually leaned into it.

That’s the quiet takeaway.

Meaning doesn’t always arrive by design. Sometimes it emerges through contact—between the work and the world.

You can’t refine that relationship in private.

You have to make the thing first.

Look

Casey Neistat shared a story that quietly dismantles excuses without ever raising its voice. It’s not really about motivation, or grit, or comparison—though it brushes up against all three. It’s about action taken without negotiation. No caveats. No conditions. Just movement, anyway. Watch it here.​

Listen

In this conversation between Barrett Brooks and Jeff Sheldon reflects on what it means to keep making meaningful work over the long haul. From turning down Shark Tank at the height of a viral moment to choosing craft over scale, Jeff’s story isn’t about chasing outcomes—it’s about staying in relationship with the work. The discussion moves through perfectionism, entrepreneurship, marriage, and the emotional cost of mastery, revealing how intentional creation isn’t a single decision, but a practice renewed over time. Listen here.​

Learn

The Attention Cottage offers a gentler way to think about focus—not as something to seize or defend, but as something you tend. Like a small place you return to, it suggests that attention works best when it’s livable, not optimized. The piece reframes distraction, effort, and presence in a way that feels human, durable, and surprisingly practical—without asking you to do more or try harder. Read it here.​

The Final Flicker

You don’t learn what your work is for by holding onto it. You learn by letting it go.

Make the thing. Release it. Let the response shape the next turn.

That’s how the light finds its way.

See you later,
Mike

P.S. This coming week I’ll be hosting The READY Retreat, a focused, guided experience designed to help you realign your time, attention, and intentions for what’s next. It’s an exclusive for TimeCrafting Trust Premium members and you can join for as little as $14 USD/month here.

Thanks for reading.

Your time is valuable, and I don’t take it for granted. In a world pulling us in all directions, thanks for choosing The Lantern.

Productivityist Productivity Services Inc. | 1411 Haultain Street, Victoria, BC V8R 2J6
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The Practice of Productiveness

Thoughts and practices for working with time—not against it.

I’m Mike Vardy, and I help people build a better relationship with time — not by controlling it, but by working with it. Through my writing, courses, and community, I explore how intention and attention shape a more meaningful life — one rooted in the original idea of productiveness over productivity.

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