Mike Vardy

Drafts 3.0: The Latest Update to a Must-Have iOS App

The latest update to one of the apps that is key to my productivity path has just received another great update on both the iPhone and iPad. Drafts now sports a slew of additional features, including: Evernote Actions Drafts Management Reminders Integration Action Management Improved TextExpander Snippet Integration And that’s just for starters. You can […]

Being Mindful with the Home Context

One of the most common contexts (or tags) used in task management apps is “Home” because there are certain things you can only do – or want to do – at that location. But if you work from home, then using that word as a context can be problematic. For one thing, it can be

The Productivity Path

There’s a task funnel I’ve been using more and more – something I call The Productivity Path – and it has proven to remove quite a bit of friction from my work life and life outside of work. My particular path is one that those who have invested in iOS and OS X devices can

A Simple Way to Keep Your Email Inbox Under Control

I’ve been reading Mark Hurst’s Bit Literacy and came across a tip that I’ve employed for eons but others may not have thought of before. In fact, I never even thought to share it (until earlier this week on Twitter during #prodchat) because it just seemed second nature to me now. It’s a simple tip

Triggers: How to Start Moving

Triggers can be dangerous. They can lead you do something drastic, and in a lot of cases there’s no turning back — at least not easily. Triggers can often be ignored, and I’ve done my share of ignoring. One of the triggers that I listened to that I didn’t ignore was a pretty drastic one:

How to Beat Task Paralysis

We all come up against a wall every now and then. There just seems to be something stopping us from moving forward, and in some cases we can’t quite put our finger on it. It’s frustrating. You stare at your list of tasks and can’t move at all. You’re stuck in what I call “task

Exploring Mastery: A New Approach to Productivity

On the most recent episode of Mikes on Mics, Schechter and I had a great round table with Thanh Pham of Asian Efficiency (creators of OmniFocus Premium Posts) and Kourosh Dini, author of Creating Flow with OmniFocus (which I’m currently re-reading). One of the things that came up was the idea of mastery, especially regarding

Starting With Why

This TEDx talk by Simon Sinek works on so many levels, but especially with the idea of that I’m trying to convey in my work. Take the time to watch it – it’s one of the best talks I’ve seen.

Review: RHA MA450i Headphones

I’m spending more and more time with headphones in my ears these days, whether it’s because I’m editing Mikes on Mics (or the members-only Mike Techniques podcast) or because I’m spending time outdoors getting my run on. A good set of headphones can actually really help your productivity – especially if you like to listen