Hello Reader, If you’ve ever wondered why some days flow while others feel like a slog, the answer might be above you—literally. In this week's episode of A Productive Conversation, I speak with Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, a circadian science pioneer who’s spent decades researching how light affects our health, energy, and attention. He helped locate the human circadian clock and has led efforts to reshape the lighting environments we spend most of our time in. We explore how the wrong kind of...
4 days ago • 1 min read
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 14 | May 31, 2025 Hello Reader, You’ve started something. A habit. A project. A shift in how you think or work. At the beginning, everything feels clear. Motivation is high. You’ve got a plan, a spark, maybe even a fresh notebook or system to keep it all together. But then comes the middle. No launch. No milestone. No applause. Just the day-to-day repetition of effort without the novelty of starting or the payoff of finishing. This is where most people...
9 days ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, Here’s something you might not hear often: Rejection is a skill. In this week’s episode of A Productive Conversation, I sit down with Alice Draper—founder of Hustling Writers and host of My Rejection Story—to unpack how building rejection resilience can quietly fuel your productivity, creativity, and clarity. One idea that really stuck with me? “Imposter syndrome is a form of self-rejection. And that’s the most insidious kind.” If you’ve ever talked yourself out of hitting...
11 days ago • 1 min read
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 13 | May 24, 2025 Hello Reader, The hustle promises momentum, validation, and progress. But it rarely delivers without a cost. Move fast. Keep going. Do more. Before you know it, the pace owns you. Because when you’re always in motion, you stop noticing direction. And when your worth is measured by output, you become easier to manipulate. That’s how you get hustled. So what’s the alternative? Pace. Presence. Proportion. Choose what fits—not what...
16 days ago • 2 min read
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 12 | May 17, 2025 Hello Reader, In a world obsessed with quantity, quality is a quiet rebellion. We're told to do more, produce faster, and ship sooner. There's a rush to fill time, fill feeds, fill calendars. But quantity without quality? That’s just motion without meaning. Noise that fades fast. It’s easy to confuse productivity with progress. But what you check off your list isn’t as important as how it moves the needle—on your work, your values,...
23 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is… let go. That became crystal clear last week during a capstone presentation in the Maximize Your Minutes program. One participant shared that their biggest breakthrough wasn’t about doing more—it was about releasing what no longer served them. That idea has surfaced in a few ways for me recently: The Podcast: I’ve let go of the traditional podcast model—no more sponsor breaks or ad reads. Just open, focused conversations. The...
28 days ago • 1 min read
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 11 | May 10, 2025 Hello Reader, Time seems fixed—calendar days, business hours, deadlines—but moments like this remind us it’s a man-made construct. Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives redefined what counts as a “legislative day,” stretching one day across many to serve a specific agenda. It’s less about manipulating time itself, and more about manipulating our relationship with time—and with that, everything time touches: power,...
30 days ago • 2 min read
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 10 | May 3, 2025 Hello Reader, Tomorrow is May the 4th. A day when memes and marketing collide to turn Jedi wisdom into digestible pop culture bites. But some of that wisdom is worth lingering on. Like this: "Your focus determines your reality." — Qui-Gon Jinn Qui-Gon didn’t chase the seat at the table. He didn’t care about the Jedi Council’s absolutes. He cared about what the Force was saying — not what the system insisted. He listened. He waited. He...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
The Lantern by Mike Vardy Vol. 1, Issue 9 | April 26, 2025 Hello Reader, There’s this tricky space between “not yet” and “done.” It’s called almost—and it can feel like purgatory. You’ve made progress. You’re closer than you were. But you’re still not where you want to be. That can mess with your head. I’ve been there. Staring at something nearly finished and wondering if it’s even worth pushing through. Comparing where I am to where I think I should be. But here’s the thing: almost is still...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read