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.
Hello Reader, Productivity makes a quiet promise: anything can be moved with enough effort. Break it down, schedule it, show up consistently, and it yields. Most of the time the promise even holds. But everyone is carrying at least one thing it can't touch. A relationship that went silent. A version of yourself that didn't happen. A chapter that closed without your signature at the bottom. A wish that things were different, standing right beside the knowledge that they won't be. There's no...
Hello Reader, There's a line in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that gets passed around like folk wisdom: If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working? It comes out of Tuco's mouth. That matters more than the line itself. Tuco is a bandit. He spends the entire film scheming, running, getting double-crossed, walking across a desert, and coming within an inch of being hanged more than once. Nobody works harder in that movie. Nobody suffers more for what he's chasing. He just...
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 2, Issue 27 | September 5, 2026 Hello Reader, The calendar is dragging its feet this year. Labour Day always lands on the first Monday of September, and this year that Monday is the 7th. That is as late as it can possibly be. Summer got a two-day extension nobody asked for, and the long weekend that usually kicks off the "real" year is still sitting out there past this Saturday morning. Because let's be honest about what Labour Day actually is. January 1st gets...