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.
Rejection is a Skill (and Here’s How to Build It)
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Hello Reader, Here’s something you might not hear often: Rejection is a skill. In this week’s episode of A Productive Conversation, I sit down with Alice Draper—founder of Hustling Writers and host of My Rejection Story—to unpack how building rejection resilience can quietly fuel your productivity, creativity, and clarity. One idea that really stuck with me? “Imposter syndrome is a form of self-rejection. And that’s the most insidious kind.” If you’ve ever talked yourself out of hitting publish, sending a pitch, or asking for an opportunity because you felt like you weren’t “ready,” this conversation is a must-listen. We get tactical, too—Alice shares:
You can listen to the full episode here Even if you don’t hit play, take this with you: The fear doesn’t vanish. But the more you move through it, the less control it has over you. Talk soon, P.S. A curated selection of podcast episodes of A Productive Conversation are available in short-form audio over on Blinkist. You can check it out here. (And just a heads up: not every episode is featured—Blinkist picks select ones to spotlight.) |
The Practice of Productiveness
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.
Hello Reader, Thanks to the TimeCrafting Trust Book Club, I’ve been spending time with Meditations again. Not reading it straight through, but returning to it—letting certain passages meet me where I am, rather than trying to extract something from it all at once. Three ideas have stayed with me. These three ideas don’t feel new. In fact, they feel familiar in a way that’s almost unsettling—like they’ve been quietly shaping how I think and work long before I could name them clearly. You don’t...
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 2, Issue 5 | March 28, 2026 Hello Reader, There are moments when procrastination doesn’t feel like avoidance. It feels… reasonable. A pause. A pivot. A moment to gather thoughts before beginning. In those moments, it’s subtle. Almost supportive. It creates space. And sometimes, that space is useful. It allows for reflection. It introduces just enough tension to sharpen attention. A form of eustress—pressure that prepares rather than overwhelms. But left...
Hello Reader, I released a conversation yesterday with Jon Acuff about procrastination—and one idea kept surfacing: It’s not laziness. It’s friction. Sometimes that friction looks like overwhelm. Sometimes it looks like fear. And sometimes… it’s just not knowing what to do next. If you want to dig into that, you can listen here. But below is something simple you can try right away. Write down six tasks. Roll a die. Do the one it lands on. That's it. It sounds almost too simple—but it works...