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.
Why Embracing Tolerance in Our Productivity Practices Matters
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Hello Reader, As you continue to refine your productivity practices, I want to introduce a concept that might transform the way you think about your workday: Tolerance. Often, we equate tolerance with enduring less-than-ideal circumstances, but when applied to productivity, it offers a powerful framework for dealing with the natural variability in our work performance and planning accuracy. Tolerance in productivity involves acknowledging and planning for the natural discrepancies in both the quality and quantity of our outputs. This perspective is crucial, especially given our tendencies to underestimate the time required for tasks—a cognitive bias known as the planning fallacy. By recognizing this, we can shift our approach from rigid precision to strategic flexibility. While specific tools (and TimeCrafting itself) can facilitate this approach, the concept of tolerance itself does not rely on any particular software or system. It’s about adjusting our mindset and planning methods to accommodate the expected and unexpected variances in task durations and outcomes. For instance, when setting project timelines or daily schedules, we might consider building in buffers and flexible deadlines that account for these variances. Here are some practical steps to integrate tolerance in our workflow:
When you embrace tolerance in your productivity practices, you’ll aim not just to manage but to strategically use the natural variability in your performance to your advantage. This shift will help you build more resilient and adaptable work processes, ultimately leading to better outcomes and more satisfaction and fulfillment. See you later, PS: In my latest podcast episode, Patrick Rhone and I discuss the choices we make and how cultivating tolerance can profoundly affect our personal and professional lives. Listen (and subscribe) 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 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...
Hello Reader, I'm sending this to you from somewhere over the Rockies. I've been in Boise the past week for Kit's Craft + Commerce conference. Fully immersed, mostly present, doing what needed to be done. My themed days kept me focused. My attention to what mattered most kept me grounded. But my horizontal themes? Mostly set aside. That's not failure. That's what a travel week looks like when you're doing it right. The point of TimeCrafting isn't to maintain perfect consistency regardless of...
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 2, Issue 16 | June 13, 2026 Hello Reader, I found out recently that Shel Silverstein wrote several songs for Dr. Hook's first two albums. Most people know Silverstein through Where the Sidewalk Ends, or maybe "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash. But "Cover of the Rolling Stone"? "Sylvia's Mother"? That was him too. The first instinct is to say that doesn't fit. Which is exactly the wrong instinct. It fits perfectly — it just requires you to look at the right...