Mike Vardy, Author at Mike Vardy

Concentric ripples spreading across still blue-green water, an image for what rings true versus what’s familiar

How to Tell What Rings True From What You’ve Gotten Used To

From the inside, familiar and true can feel almost identical. Here are three ways to listen for the difference before you renew, join, or commit to anything.

A checklist on white paper against a pale blue background, with a red check mark in the first of three boxes: one campaign promise checked, two still open.

Between Ballots: How to Stay Engaged Without Burning Out

An election is the start of a term, not a one-day event. Here’s the practice I’m using to keep receipts on the people I voted for (and the ones I didn’t), one small check at a time.

Nine simple symbols arranged on paper, representing the principles of productiveness as a lens rather than a checklist

The Principles of Productiveness Are a Lens, Not a Checklist

Radical hope isn’t optimism and it isn’t denial — it’s holding a clear-eyed view of how hard something is at the same time as believing it can change. Dr. Tiffany G. Townsend on what that takes.

An open notebook with a dated entry beside a work in progress, illustrating experimentation vs tinkering and the endpoint that separates them

Experimentation vs Tinkering: The Difference Is an Endpoint

Adjusting things feels like progress. An experiment asks a question you intend to answer and then stop. Mike Vardy and Patrick Rhone on the endpoint that separates the two.

Compost breaking down beside new growth, illustrating why efficiency is not a strategy but a way of processing waste

Efficiency Is Not a Strategy. It’s Waste Management.

Efficiency is a useful tool for exactly one thing — managing waste. Nick Richtsmeier on why making it your core strategy guarantees nobody will ever love what you build.

A cup of tea next to a cup of coffee, illustrating productiveness vs productivity as a steady state rather than a sharp rate

Productiveness vs Productivity: A State, Not a Rate

Productiveness is the older word, and it describes a state rather than a rate. Here’s why that distinction has teeth — and why data can change your rate but never your state.

Sheet music in close-up showing notes and rests across the staff, illustrating the difference between consistency vs cadence

Consistency vs Cadence: Why a Missed Week Isn’t a Broken Chain

Falling behind requires someone waiting. Stopping is just the absence of motion. Here’s why the difference matters, and why cadence beats consistency when you’re coming back from a break.

A dictionary page in close-up showing the entry for "challenge," framing what makes a personal challenge worth taking on

Why One Challenge Beats Ten Every Time

Founder Zakhar Azatian has failed at more personal challenges than he’s finished — which is exactly why his take on designing one that actually sticks is worth hearing.

A tablet and notebook side by side on a desk, illustrating the question of what problem does this solve for each tool you own

What Problem Does This Solve? A Question Worth Asking More Often

Asking “what problem does this solve?” cuts through purchases, unused devices, phone habits, and even the defaults nobody ever asked you to agree to. Mike Vardy and Patrick Rhone on jobs-to-be-done thinking and the open loops hiding in plain sight.