Mike Vardy on The Productivity Diet: Feeding What Fuels You

Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life

Erik Fisher

Business, Entrepreneurship, Self-improvement, Careers, Education

4.5 • 875 Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I’m excited to welcome back Mike Vardy to the show. Mike is a productivity strategist, longtime friend of the podcast, and the author of The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing Your Productive Potential. In this conversation, we dive into how the language, systems, and inputs you choose each day can either nourish or deplete your ability to do meaningful work. In this episode, we cover: Productivity as Nutrition, Not Punishment: Mike explains the “diet” metaphor—how productivity isn’t about restriction, but about choosing sustainable inputs that fuel the life you want. Mental Calories and Decision Fatigue: We explore the idea of cognitive nutrition and how overloading your brain with options, tabs, and to-dos creates burnout. Intentional Constraints: Mike shares how building structure around time, energy, and attention helps avoid binging on urgency and makes space for deeper work. The Language of Productivity: From calling tasks “ingredients” to using meal metaphors, Mike breaks down how naming things differently changes your relationship to work. Identity-Based Planning: He outlines how aligning your calendar and task list with your future self leads to better follow-through and less internal resistance. Productivity Styles and Personalization: Mike introduces the idea of “productivity personas,” encouraging listeners to build systems that honor their natural rhythms. From Should to Could: We talk about reframing productivity from a guilt-fueled obligation into an opportunity to nourish what matters most. This conversation is equal parts practical and philosophical. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by productivity advice—or burned out trying to do it all—Mike’s approach offers a refreshing, sustainable alternative. Learn more at MikeVardy.com or grab The Productivity Diet wherever books are sold. Connect with Erik: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ This Podcast is Powered By: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Descript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Descript 101⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Castmagic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ecamm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podpage⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rodecaster Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Top Productivity Books List⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Make sure to support the show by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ checking out the sponsors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by Plaud, an AI wearable gadget that takes notes of meetings and calls.
0:06.4	With Plod, you don't have to take notes and make summaries anymore.
0:09.3	I don't know about you, but I'm tired of taking notes, and I'm happy to let AI do it for me.
0:13.6	Are you zoning out in meetings and forgetting key takeaways?
0:17.3	Meet Plod, your AI-powered meeting sidekick.
0:20.9	Let this tiny AI gadget, a perfect accessory for your phone.
0:25.1	Take notes, instantly generate transcripts, summarize critical points and action items so you
0:30.8	can stay focused without frantic note-taking.
0:33.9	It's simple.
0:34.9	You talk, Plaud handles the rest.
0:36.9	Find peace of mind at work today. Ready to work smarter?
0:40.3	Type PL-A-U-D into Google and get a discount with my code beyond. That's PL-A-U-D. Hello and welcome back to Beyond the To Do List, a podcast about productivity.
1:10.1	I am your host, Eric Fisher, and I am excited
1:13.2	to welcome back this week, Mike Vardy, to the show. He's a productivity strategist, long-time
1:18.2	friend of the podcast, and author of the new book, The Productivity Diet. In this conversation,
1:23.9	we're diving into the language, the systems, and the inputs that you choose each day
1:29.5	to either nourish or deplete your ability to do meaningful work. We're talking about that analogy
1:35.4	of productivity as nutrition, not punishment. We're talking about creating intentional constraints
1:41.8	to have structure around your time and energy and attention,
1:45.3	which will help to avoid bringing on urgency and make space for that deeper work.
1:51.0	And we're talking all about productivity styles and personalization, making systems that are true to your natural rhythms.
1:58.9	Not only are you going to love this book, but you're going to love this conversation with Mike Vardy.
	...

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