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The Practice of Productiveness

The Right Distance | The Lantern

Published 1 day ago • 1 min read

The Lantern

by Mike Vardy

Vol. 2, Issue 9 | April 25, 2026

Hello Reader,

I'm writing this a week ahead of when you'll read it. I just got back from several days of travel and I know another trip is coming. So I'm using the window while I have it.

That's exactly what I want to talk about.

Getting ahead feels like a win. And it is — for a moment. But here's what I've noticed more than once: the further ahead I get, the easier it becomes to stop maintaining the lead. The urgency that drove the preparation quietly dissolves. No fire, no edge. So the habits that got me ahead start to slip... because they don't feel necessary anymore.

Until they are.

You know the moment. The buffer you built three months ago has been quietly depleting while you coasted. The interviews recorded in a burst? Down to the last two. The content calendar you built out for a month? Ran dry two weeks ago. You're behind on the very thing you did to get ahead and you didn't see it coming because comfort had already turned to complacency.

Being ahead isn't just a target. It's a range. Enough runway to breathe, not so much that the urgency disappears entirely.

Too close and you're scrambling. Too far and the pressure that sharpens your thinking goes missing. And then you stop treating the buffer as something to maintain and start treating it as something you already have.

Know your range. Hold it on purpose. The buffer doesn't reward you for building it. It rewards you for maintaining it.

The Final Flicker

Being ahead is a tool, not a trophy. Find the distance that keeps you sharp without keeping you anxious and then stay there intentionally, not by accident.

See you later,
Mike

P.S. That last line — stay there intentionally, not by accident — is the whole conversation I'm planning for this Saturday. I'm going live at 9 AM PT on YouTube to dig into what intentional living actually looks like in practice, day to day. Join me if you can. Click 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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