A Productive Conversation

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.Procrastination is often framed as avoidance of what we don’t want to do. But in this conversation, it becomes clear that it shows up just as often in the things we do want to do—the work that matters most.That’s what made this discussion with Jon Acuff so compelling. Jon’s latest book, Procrastination Proof, doesn’t treat procrastination as a flaw to fix but as a pattern to understand—and ultimately, to work with rather than against.Six Discussion PointsProcrastination isn’t a laziness issue—it’s a pattern driven by time, task, fear, history, and ego Permission can unlock progress more effectively than pressure or disciplineSmaller actions reduce friction and make consistency sustainable rather than forcedReview is the most overlooked multiplier—it reveals truth, direction, and better decisionsPlanning is where optimism meets realism—and most people get stuck between the twoAlignment between “night you” and “morning you” turns intention into action without resistanceThree Connection PointsGet Procrastination ProofJon's previous appearance on APCJoin the community to gain access to The Procrastination Course (and more)What stood out most in this conversation is that procrastination isn’t something you defeat once—it’s something you learn to navigate. When you shift from forcing action to understanding patterns, the work changes. And more importantly, your relationship with the work changes. That’s where real progress begins.If this episode resonated, I’m exploring ideas like these more deeply in my upcoming book, Productiveness. You can follow along as it takes shape at mikevardy.com/productiveness.

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 quiet trap many of us fall into when the pace picks up: we start reacting instead of leading. The inbox fills, the interruptions stack, and before long, the day is no longer ours—it’s everyone else’s.In this conversation, I sit down with Rich Czyz, author of Autopilot: Practical Productivity for School Leaders, to explore how systems—not willpower—can help us reclaim that sense of direction. While his work is rooted in education, what we discuss applies far beyond school walls. This is about shifting from firefighting to forward thinking.Six Discussion PointsProductivity isn’t about doing more—it’s about reclaiming space for what actually mattersThe inbox is often just a collection of other people’s priorities unless you set boundaries around itSystems work best when they are simple enough to start immediately and flexible enough to evolveBatching and theming aren’t constraints—they’re ways to restore focus in fragmented environmentsDelegation requires letting go of control, not just tasksElimination—not optimization—is often the most powerful first move toward meaningful workThree Connection PointsAutopilot: Practical Productivity for School LeadersFour O'Clock FacultyThe Practice of ProductivenessIf there’s a throughline in this conversation, it’s this: the goal isn’t to perfect your system—it’s to make space for what matters most. Whether you’re leading a school, a team, or simply your own day, the question is the same: what can you remove so that what remains has room to matter?If this episode resonated, I’m exploring ideas like these more deeply in my upcoming book, Productiveness. You can follow along as it takes shape at mikevardy.com/productiveness.

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.The latest episode in our monthly PM Talks series explores a deceptively simple idea: practice. It’s a word we hear constantly—in sports, work, and creative pursuits—but we rarely stop to examine what it actually means or why it matters so much. In this conversation, Patrick Rhone and I unpack the many layers of practice—from the fundamentals that shape excellence to the quiet discipline of repetition that rarely gets the spotlight. Along the way we explore identity, devotion, habits, AI, and why focusing on fewer things might actually help us do them better.Six Discussion PointsPractice is both an act of trying something and the art of doing it well—one evolves into the other over time.High performers separate themselves through relentless practice, often long after others have stopped.Fundamentals matter more than flash; mastery comes from repeatedly doing the simple things well.Habits and routines are often the result of practice, but the practice itself is what creates them.Technology—including AI—can short-circuit practice if it replaces the act of doing rather than supporting it.Devoting yourself to fewer things can deepen practice and produce higher quality results over time.Three Connection PointsPatrick Rhone — https://patrickrhone.comProductiveness updates — https://mikevardy.com/productivenessRelentless by Tim GroverPractice isn’t something we graduate from. It’s something we live inside of. The people who truly excel understand this—whether they’re athletes, creators, entrepreneurs, or anyone simply trying to get better at what matters to them. The question isn’t whether we practice. The question is what we choose to practice, and how consistently we show up to do it.If this episode resonated, I’m exploring ideas like these more deeply in my upcoming book, Productiveness. You can follow along as it takes shape at mikevardy.com/productiveness.