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.
The line that lingered...
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Hello Reader, I watched One Battle After Another the day that it won the Oscar for Best Picture, and one line has stayed with me ever since. “Time doesn’t exist, yet it controls us anyway.” In the film, the resistance uses it as a code phrase. That alone is interesting — a sentence about time acting as a kind of signal between people trying to move freely within a system that seeks to control them. But the line stuck with me for another reason. If time doesn’t exist in the way we often imagine it — as something we can store, own, or manipulate — then the strange reality is this: it still ends up controlling us. Deadlines. Schedules. The clock on the wall. The quiet pressure that tells us we’re behind, or running out. The problem isn’t time itself. The problem is our relationship with it. When that relationship is neglected, time becomes something that feels external and oppressive — a force acting on us rather than something we move with. It becomes something that dictates rather than something we collaborate with. But when we cultivate a relationship with time — when we shape our days with intention, rhythm, and reflection — the dynamic shifts. Time stops feeling like a controller. It starts feeling more like a companion. That subtle shift changes everything. Because while time may not exist in the way we often describe it, the way we engage with it absolutely does. And that engagement is something we can craft. P.S. If that idea resonates, that’s exactly what I help people explore inside Your Clockwise Week. It’s a simple way to step back from letting the clock dictate your days and instead design a week that moves with your energy, attention, and priorities. A few founder’s rate spots for just $29 are still available if you’d like to explore what your own clockwise week could look like. |
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.
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 2, Issue 6 | April 4, 2026 Hello Reader, I found it at Dollarama. The World According to Tom Hanks by Gavin Edwards, tucked in among the seasonal decor and reading glasses. For a bit more than a dollar — dollar stores don't exactly live up to their name these days — I walked out with something I didn't expect: a list of ten commandments distilled from the life of America's most decent human being. You can see all ten here. I've been sitting with the ninth one...
Hello Reader,I was lucky enough to spend time with my mom last week during a work trip. It was great to see her for the first time in a couple of years – and just a few days before her birthday. Today her birthday arrived. There’s something about that kind of time that feels different. Not slower, not faster, just… more noticeable. Like you can actually feel it passing instead of trying to manage it. Most days don’t feel like that. Most days feel like something to keep up with. Or get...
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...