Hello Reader, If you’ve ever wondered why some days flow while others feel like a slog, the answer might be above you—literally. In this week's episode of A Productive Conversation, I speak with Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, a circadian science pioneer who’s spent decades researching how light affects our health, energy, and attention. He helped locate the human circadian clock and has led efforts to reshape the lighting environments we spend most of our time in. We explore how the wrong kind of light can silently sabotage your sleep, your focus, and your long-term health—and what simple shifts can get your internal clock back in sync. But there’s another layer to this conversation—one that doesn’t show up on a spectrum. It’s about the relationship we have with time itself. You don’t have to conquer time to connect with it. In fact, the tighter your grip, the more elusive it becomes. While Dr. Moore-Ede shows how light can reset your internal clock, the piece I share here offers a reflection on how loosening your grip on time might be the thing that helps you feel most aligned with it. Try this today: Take five minutes and step outside—no podcast, no scrolling. Just be in the light. Notice the rhythm of the day. Not to own the moment, but to meet it. That small shift? It’s a step toward time devotion. Talk soon, P.S. If this idea of syncing with your energy—not just your schedule—resonates, you’ll want to check out The Productivity Diet. It’s my latest book, and it explores how to align your focus, time, and tasks with the rhythms that actually work for you. You can get your copy here. |
The Lantern is a thoughtfully curated weekly email from Mike Vardy designed to help you craft a better relationship with time. Each edition brings you insights, inspiration, and practical tools through a simple yet powerful framework: Look (a thought-provoking video or visual), Listen (a compelling podcast or audio insight), and Learn (a deep dive into a key concept, article, or book). Designed to inform, inspire, and illuminate, The Lantern helps you navigate time with clarity and intention—without the overwhelm.
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 22 | July 26, 2025 Hello Reader, It starts with a moment: you're in a grocery store, navigating your cart like it's a bumper car. You stop. You look around. And you realize—no one else seems to be aware of where they are, either. Spatial awareness used to be instinctual. You’d step aside when someone approached, feel the rhythm of shared space, make micro-adjustments without thinking. But now? It's like everyone is moving through fog—detached from the...
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 21 | July 19, 2025 Hello Reader, We often treat attention like a switch: on or off, focused or distracted. But attention isn’t binary—it’s directional. It moves. It loops. It fades and returns. And over time, it carves grooves—patterns that shape how you work, how you think, and how you feel about both. If you’ve ever had a day where you “worked all day” but accomplished very little… or a moment where you were technically off the clock but couldn’t stop...
Hello Reader, For most of my adult life, I convinced myself that music had to take a back seat. Podcasts, audiobooks, silence. Those became my companions for focus, for learning, for “productive” listening. But something shifted recently. I found myself craving sound again—not just any sound, but music. Not noise to fill the air, but intentional listening that stirred something deeper. And right around that same time, I started using a tool that didn’t just play audio, but helped me shape it....