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PODCAST

A Productive Conversation

Hosted by productivity strategist Mike Vardy, A Productive Conversation offers insightful discussions on how to craft a life that aligns with your intentions. Each episode dives into the art of time devotion, productiveness, and refining your approach to daily living. Mike invites guests who are thinkers, doers, and creators to share their strategies for working smarter and living more intentionally. From practical tips to deep dives on mindset shifts, this podcast will help you reframe your

business careers

All Episodes

32:16

Trust Is Broken, and Optimization Won't Fix It (with...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/10/07

My book, Productiveness, is now available. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more and get your copy today.We're at a forty-year low for trust across nearly every institution, and the reflex is to reach for something faster — a better funnel, a tighter system, an optimization. Nick Richtsmeier's argument is that

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61:52

My Daughter Interviews Me About Productiveness (with...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/09/30

Normally I'm the one asking the questions. This time I wasn't. I was in New York for Podcast Movement, my daughter Grace came down from Montreal to meet me — partly for a concert, let's be honest — and since we were both sitting in a studio anyway, we turned the tables. She'd written her own questions. She hadn't read the book. I had no idea where any of it was going.What came out of it is the most personal conversation I've put on this feed in a long time: why productiveness is a state and

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32:01

You Didn't Fall Behind This Summer. You Just Stopped.

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/09/23

My book, Productiveness, is now available. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more and get your copy today.I missed two Wednesday livestreams this month, and I spent more time than I'd like to admit trying to decide whether that meant I'd fallen behind. Somewhere in there I realized I was asking the wrong question

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25:38

Why One Challenge Beats Ten (with Zakhar Azatian)

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/09/16

My book, Productiveness, is now available. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more and get your copy today.The appeal of a hard challenge is that nobody's pretending it's easy. Most of what gets sold to us leads with how simple it'll be; programs like 75 Hard do the opposite, and that honesty is a large part of why

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45:46

PM Talks S3E9: What Problem Does This Actually Solve?

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/09/09

My book, Productiveness, is now available. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more and get your copy today.Patrick's wife has an iPad mini she uses for exactly one thing: reading. She's never called it an iPad mini in her life. She calls it her Kindle — and she isn't confused, she's being precise. The name follows

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32:09

The Five Kinds of Work Stress (with Amy Leneker)

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/09/02

My book, Productiveness, is now available. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more and get your copy today.Most people describe work stress as one undifferentiated thing: I'm stressed at work. Amy Leneker's research says there are actually five distinct kinds, and the one doing the most damage to working people

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27:13

Why a Retreat Is Part of the Work, Not a Reward for It

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/08/26

My next book, Productiveness, arrives this September. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more.We treat retreats as something you earn — a reward that shows up once you've worked hard enough, long enough. I don't think that's right, and I think it's the exact reason most people never actually take one. A retreat

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44:58

The Jolts That Make Us Quit — and the Ones Worth...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/08/19

My next book, Productiveness, arrives this September. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more.Most of us don't drift into quitting a job. Something happens — a single, identifiable moment — and that's when the relationship with our work actually changes. Anthony Klotz calls these moments "jolts," and once you have

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44:12

The Difference Between an Aha Moment and a Full-Blown...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/08/12

My next book, Productiveness, arrives this September. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more.This month's PM Talks starts with a confession: I've had an epiphany, and I don't use that word lightly. Somewhere between an "aha, I get it now" moment and what I can only describe as a holy moment is a distinction most

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38:34

Why Logic Alone Can't Explain the Human Mind (with...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/08/05

My next book, Productiveness, arrives this September. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more.Logic is beautiful and it's also almost never enough. That's the tension running through this entire conversation — the idea that we want our decisions to be purely logical because it's simple and concrete, but almost no

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38:47

Why "Life Is" Might Be the Only Sentence You Need...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/07/29

My next book, Productiveness, arrives this September. It's about the difference between doing more and doing what matters, and how we lost the ability to tell them apart. I'll send the release date the day it's set. Visit https://mikevardy.com/productiveness to learn more.There's a two-word sentence that's been sitting with me since I finished this book, and I haven't been able to shake it: life is. Not life is hard, not life is good, not life is anything — just life is. Gary John Bishop

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22:01

The Goal Was Never Inbox Zero (It Was a Quiet Mind)

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/07/22

This episode is brought to you by The 10 Second Inbox—a small, tactical system for taming email without chasing inbox zero. One ten-second decision per message, one calm inbox you can glance at and close. It's launch priced at $29 (reg. $49) through July 26th. Get it at mikevardy.com/10secondinbox (code INBOXTODAY auto-applies).Inbox zero was never about the number. That's the part almost everybody forgets. When Merlin Mann coined the term in the early 2000s, "zero" wasn't a count of unread

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52:25

Why Procrastination Is Emotional, Not a Discipline...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/07/15

This episode is brought to you by The 10 Second Inbox—a small, tactical system for taming email without chasing inbox zero. One ten-second decision per message, one calm inbox you can glance at and close. It's launch priced at $29 (reg. $49) through July 26th. Get it at mikevardy.com/10secondinbox (code INBOXTODAY auto-applies).We tend to treat procrastination like a willpower leak — something we could plug if we just tried harder, planned better, or bought the right system. Robin J Emdon

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44:15

Within Tolerance (PM Talks S3E7)

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/07/08

This episode is brought to you by The 10 Second Inbox—a small, tactical system for taming email without chasing inbox zero. One ten-second decision per message, one calm inbox you can glance at and close. It's launch priced at $29 (reg. $49) through July 26th. Get it at mikevardy.com/10secondinbox (code INBOXTODAY auto-applies).Patrick Rhone joins me again for the latest installment of our monthly PM Talks series, and this month we landed on a word that does a lot more heavy lifting than

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40:35

Why You Can't Outwork Bad Sleep (with Shimin Ooi)

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/07/01

This episode is brought to you by The 10 Second Inbox—a small, tactical system for taming email without chasing inbox zero. One ten-second decision per message, one calm inbox you can glance at and close. It's launch priced at $29 (reg. $49) through July 26th. Get it at mikevardy.com/10secondinbox (code INBOXTODAY auto-applies).We tend to treat sleep like the thing we'll get to once everything else is handled — the line item we trim first when life speeds back up. But sleep isn't the reward

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49:05

What You're Not Measuring Is Costing You (with Dr....

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/06/26

This episode is brought to you by The 10 Second Inbox—a small, tactical system for taming email without chasing inbox zero. One ten-second decision per message, one calm inbox you can glance at and close. It's launch priced at $29 (reg. $49) through July 26th. Get it at mikevardy.com/10secondinbox (code INBOXTODAY auto-applies).Most of us have convinced ourselves that the problem is effort. We're not working hard enough, moving fast enough, or checking enough boxes. But what if the real

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50:10

Paying Attention to Your Attention

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/06/24

This episode is brought to you by The 10 Second Inbox—a small, tactical system for taming email without chasing inbox zero. One ten-second decision per message, one calm inbox you can glance at and close. It's launch priced at $29 (reg. $49) through July 26th. Get it at mikevardy.com/10secondinbox (code INBOXTODAY auto-applies).Most of the conversation around focus starts in the wrong place. We talk about distraction as if it's the problem — the notifications, the open tabs, the

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40:50

The Art of Pacing: Why Slowing Down Is a Long Game...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/06/19

This episode is brought to you by Your Clockwise Week—a personalized weekly structure built around your actual life, not an ideal one. If your week feels full but not fitting, you can learn more at mikevardy.com/yourclockwiseweek.We spend a lot of time talking about how to do more. What we talk about far less — and what might matter far more — is the question of how to pace yourself while you do it. Not as a wellness concept or a vague self-care suggestion, but as a genuine strategy for

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41:22

The Principles You're Already Overlooking (with...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/06/17

This episode is brought to you by Your Clockwise Week—a personalized weekly structure built around your actual life, not an ideal one. If your week feels full but not fitting, you can learn more at mikevardy.com/yourclockwiseweek.Most productivity conversations start with systems, tools, and tactics. This one starts with something more fundamental: the quiet principles sitting right beneath the surface of your day that you've been walking past without noticing. Not because they're hidden —

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44:35

Letting Go of "Normal" to Finally Try Again (with...

A Productive Conversation ·

2026/06/12

This episode is brought to you by Your Clockwise Week—a personalized weekly structure built around your actual life, not an ideal one. If your week feels full but not fitting, you can learn more at mikevardy.com/yourclockwiseweek.There's a loop most of us know well, even if we've never named it: feel behind, find the thing that's going to fix everything, go all in for a few weeks, get derailed by life, and start over — carrying a little more shame each time. It doesn't matter whether we're

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