Stop Managing Time. Start Crafting It.

You don’t have a time problem. You have a fit problem. Seven questions will tell you which pattern is yours.

Hi, I’m Mike Vardy.

I’ve been working out my relationship with time in public since 2008 — through writing, workshops, one-to-one coaching, and a community where the practice keeps getting revised. I don’t sell a system you install. I share one I’m still building, and show the work.

That work has taken two shapes. TimeCrafting is the how: an approach to structuring your time that bends with a real week instead of breaking against it. Productiveness is the why: a book about what time is actually for, and what we’ve been doing to ourselves by treating it like inventory. Most people want one or the other first. Either is a fine place to start.

Productiveness.

You can do everything right and still feel behind. That isn’t a discipline problem — it’s a word problem. Productivity arrived with the factories. It measures how much, how fast, how many, and it will never ask whether the thing you’re producing was worth producing at all. There’s an older word, and this book is an argument for taking it back.

Productiveness asks not what you produced, but who you were in the producing of it. It moves through nine principles in a deliberate order — from Humanness to Will — and the sequence is part of the argument. It’s the why beneath everything else on this page. If you’ve ever cleared the list and ended the day empty, start here.

Working with Mike has not only made me more productive. I feel more confident in how I organize my days. And I’ve learned to feel peace in what I accomplish each day, because I know I’ve structured the day so I focus on the right things.

Mike is generous and genuine and honest in his work. And I don't ever feel alienated/marginalised as a woman while engaging with his material. (It's surprising how infrequently I can say this.)

I received incredible value through my short time working with Mike and I feel very fortunate that he was available and willing to work with me. I look forward to many years of productivity from the tools and approaches that Mike not only introduced me to, but ensured that I understood them and knew how to apply them in a sustainable way. Mike has a remarkable ability to work alongside very busy people to make them more efficient and effective.

Working with Mike has given me a true understanding of the value of my time. This has allowed me to better manage my commitments, raise my prices, and find a healthy balance between my family and work life. I'm proud of the progress I've made and grateful for Mike's guidance.

Mike's workshop was a game-changer for our team. It gave us a common language and tools to address uncomfortable situations and work together more effectively. The insights and resources provided by the facilitator were invaluable - it was like having a productivity hack that simplified best practices and delivered real results. I highly recommend this workshop to any organization looking to take their teamwork and productivity to the next level.

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You don’t need to manage time better. You need a new way of seeing it.

The Lantern is a weekly email, every Saturday, where I keep working that out in public. Just enter your email below and I’ll send it your way.

Hi, I’m Mike Vardy.

Productiveness.

Get The Lantern in your inbox

You don’t need to manage time better. You need a new way of seeing it.The Lantern is a weekly email, every Saturday, where I keep working that out in public. Just enter your email below and I’ll send it your way.

Looking for the right tools?

You don’t need to manage time better. You need a new way of seeing it.

The Lantern is a weekly email, every Saturday, where I keep working that out in public. Just enter your email below and I’ll send it your way.