Do you want to be more productive? Wouldn’t we all! Sometimes, just changing our mindset about what personal productivity means can make us more productive.
Mike Vardy believes productivity isn’t about being productive, it’s about “ productive”. He says the key to being productive is making time for self-reflection, something most of us never do.
He’s on a mission to put the “personal” back into personal productivity. After all, we all have our own unique ingredients for what makes us productive.
He’s the host of the widely respected Productivityist podcast and author of The Front Nine.
He initially got his start as a productivity expert by parodying it as a comedian. He’s writing caught the attention of getting things done guru David Allen and ended up writing for him!
His unconventional and unplanned journey into the world of personal productivity offers loads of lessons about how to design your work around your purpose.
Life Skills That Matter n This Episode
- Experimentation.
- Managing your energy.
- Self-awareness.
How Mike Works and Thinks
- How he makes his income: By helping people become more productive through coaching, courses and books.
- Wake up time: 7:30am to 8am
- Ideal work environment: Home office, working in the late afternoon and writing.
- How he starts his work day: By working on one of the 3 “absolutes,” he chose the day before.
- Wants to meet: Tony Robbins
- Change he wants to make in his business: Create more depth over breadth. He wants to create more courses, instead of coaching.
- Regain focus by: Looks at his calendar and themes his day.
- Favorite productivity tools: Timeular ZEI and todoist
- 90-day goal: Get his Now Year Method out to as many people as possible.
Inspirational Quotes
“Best type of automation is self-automation.”
“If you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing very well.”
Coaching Advice
Are you having difficulty managing too many priorities? Mike offers 2 different exercises to rein them in . . .
1) Choose 3 words to describe your intentions for the year ahead.
For 2017 Mike has chosen “redesign, rebuild and reclaim”.
Any time he questions his priorities, he immediately refers back to his 3 words to focus him on his 2017 goals to purge, to build and to own.
If an activity doesn’t address at least 2 of his words, he eliminates it because it’s not a priority in the context of his chosen words and goals.
2) Theme your months around big goals.
Mike gives themes to 10 months each year and leaves 2 months without themes to give himself some breathing room.
By theming your months, you will look at all of your activities in the context of that theme and the larger goal you want to achieve.
Resources + Bonus Materials
Tony Robbins Documentary: I Am Not Your Guru
Here’s Vardy’s titanium board he mentioned in our conversation . . .
Special Offer
Mike is making 1 free play available to all Life Skills That Matter listeners from his NOW Year Method.