The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing Your Productive Potential

by Mike Vardy

What if the key to productivity wasn’t about doing more, but about aligning your time, energy, and attention in a sustainable way? The Productivity Diet challenges the conventional hustle mindset and introduces a practical, adaptable system to help you work smarter, not harder—not just in your work, but in your personal life as well.

Drawing from years of experience in time management, Mike Vardy presents a new approach to productivity that focuses on sustainability, rhythm, and clarity. Inside this book, you'll

How to create a flexible yet structured daily system that aligns with your natural work patterns and personal commitmentsThe role of attention management in avoiding burnout, staying present with loved ones, and improving focusHow to harness TimeCrafting techniques to improve efficiency in both professional and personal pursuitsA practical, repeatable framework to make consistent, meaningful progress in all areas of lifeWhether you're a creative, entrepreneur, parent, or professional looking to take control of your time without feeling overwhelmed, The Productivity Diet offers a fresh, sustainable path forward. This book isn’t just about work—it’s about crafting a life that feels both productive and fulfilling.

Genres: Nonfiction, Productivity

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 13, 2025

About the author

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and podcaster based in Victoria, BC. He is the creator of TimeCrafting, an approach to time and attention built on the idea that time is a relationship, not a resource. Since 2008 he has coached individuals, organizations, and creatives around the world, and he is considered one of the top thought leaders in the personal productivity and time management space.

His latest book is Productiveness. His earlier books include The Productivity Diet, The Productivityist Playbook, and The Front Nine: How to Start the Year You Want Anytime You Want. He served as Managing Editor at Lifehack, and his work has appeared in Fast Company, Forbes, Inc., Lifehacker, SUCCESS Magazine, The Huffington Post, and The Globe and Mail.

Mike hosts A Productive Conversation, a weekly podcast that has been downloaded more than five million times, with guests including Seth Godin, Gretchen Rubin, and Keith Ferrazzi. He also writes The Lantern newsletter and runs the TimeCrafting Trust community. He has spoken at TEDx Victoria, SXSW Interactive, New Media Expo, and Social Media Camp, and his courses on LinkedIn Learning, Skillshare, and CreativeLive rank among the most popular in the business category.

He lives in Victoria, BC, Canada with his amazing and supportive wife, daughter, and son.

Reviews

[Don Covin · Rating 5 out of 5]

STOP! 🛑 Do NOT read any other productivity books until you read The Productivity Diet. Until you understand your relationship with time, you're wasting it trying to find the perfect system.

Mike does a great job breaking down key pricinciples on how we engage with time, energy and focus to make sure we are doing meaningful work, not just lots of work.

Are you working on the right things helping you get meaningful work done, or are you falling into the trap of quantity over quality?

The Productivity Diet and Time Crafting have totally changed the way I organize my productivity system and I cannot recommend this book enough. WIT NMW

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worthwhile tactics to live by.

[Kelly Gosse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a sample in my library. I can see me going back to this book often.