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.
What's Your Procrastination Persona?
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Hello Reader, Did you know that we’re smack dab in the middle of National Procrastination Week as I send you this? Indeed, this week serves as a timely reminder that none of us are immune to the allure of procrastination. Interestingly, the term ‘procrastination’ originates from the Latin ‘procrastinare’, which literally means ‘to defer until tomorrow’. Historically, this wasn’t always seen in a negative light; it was simply part of planning and prudent delay. However, over time, the concept of procrastination changed. Maybe ‘tomorrow’ became too vague, too undefined, leading procrastination to morph into the often negative connotation it holds today? No one really knows how this shift in procrastination’s reputation happened. But it’s crucial to remember, not all procrastination is detrimental. In fact, understanding your unique approach to procrastination can unveil powerful insights into how you work best. This is why I’ve crafted a short quiz to help you discover "Your Procrastination Persona." It’s free, quick, and not only illuminates your procrastination style but also offers a fun peek into your productivity character. As we make our way through a week that explores procrastination further, here’s to embracing and understanding our procrastination – turning what may seem like a flaw into our superpower. See you later, P.S. Listen to Nir Eyal's insights into the misunderstood world of distractions complement our exploration of procrastination on this recent episode of A Productive Conversation. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, my YouTube channel, or visit the episode page here. |
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 I18 | June 27, 2026 Hello Reader, Today my neighbours to the south mark their independence. I'll leave the fireworks to them but the word has been turning over in my head, because independence isn't really a holiday. It's a relationship status. You're either free in a thing or you're captive to it. And there's one relationship almost all of us are quietly captive to. Our relationship with time. Look at how we treat it. We bargain with it. We try to...
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 2, Issue I18 | June 27, 2026 Hello Reader, A word has been following me around, and it keeps surfacing in places I don't expect. First it was Jerry Seinfeld, in a GQ video, holding up a Bic pen of all things. He called it quintessence — the quality of being perfectly, completely itself. A Bic pen can't be improved without being ruined. He was borrowing the idea from a small 1983 book that catalogued objects with that same quality: the Oreo, the Slinky, the brown...
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 2, Issue I17 | June 20, 2026 Hello Reader, Earlier this month I posted a short video calling World Productivity Day paradoxical. A man named Kevin commented on Facebook, thoughtfully, and with some heat. His argument was economic: that productivity, in a capitalist context, is really just a sophisticated way of asking the poorest people to work harder so the wealthiest can accumulate more. And that the antidote is redistribution: returning more value to the...