A Productive Conversation

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureSmartsheet has been a player in the task management and project management space for a long time, and on this episode of the podcast Mike speaks with Brent Frei, the founder and VP of Marketing at Smartsheet. They talk about the present (and future) state of productivity, the subject of email, and why a smarter spreadsheet may very well be the best tool you can use to help you get things done. Related Links Brent Frei | Smartsheet Corwin Hiebert | Managing Creative People + Creative Projects Smartsheet Wins First Place for “Best Microsoft Office 365 App” Smartsheet.com Brent Frei (@B_Frei) | Twitter Brent Frei | LinkedIn Want to discover some of the books mentioned on the podcast? Check out Scribd, my reading app of choice. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. Also don't forget to check out all of our podcast sponsors found on our podcast sponsors page. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. And if you want to have easy access to the archives of the show and ensure you don't miss the new episodes to come then subscribe to the podcast in the app you're using.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureThis episode features a lengthy discussion with the host of The Productive Woman – and a productive woman in her own right – Laura McClellan. We chat about the possible differences that women and men approach productivity as well, productivity tactics to explore, and how she manages to deal with everything in her life. (And there's a lot for her to manage!)   Related Links The Productive Woman | A Podcast About Productivity for Busy Women Laura Vanderkam (@lvanderkam) | Twitter Gina Trapani | The Official Web Site Business & Babies: A Chat with Izabela Russell | TPW051 - The Productive Woman Choices for Productive Women, with Allison Sheridan | TPW029 - The Productive Woman Nozbe How To Use Multiple Task Managers | Productivityist Book Review: Essentialism | Productivityist I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend by Martin Short | Amazon Making Space to Think | TPW055 - The Productive Woman My Custom Home Office Tour and Setup | Pat Flynn on SPI TV Ep. 2 2 Experts Share Exactly How to Use a Productivity Journal (& Increase Productivity by 23%) | Fizzle Show 099 Laura McClellan (@LauraMcMom) | Twitter Want to discover some of the books mentioned on the podcast? Check out Scribd, my reading app of choice. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. Also don't forget to check out all of our podcast sponsors found on our podcast sponsors page. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. And if you want to have easy access to the archives of the show and ensure you don't miss the new episodes to come then subscribe to the podcast in the app you're using.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureIn this week's episode of the podcast, I chat with Todd Henry, author of the new book Louder Than Words: Harness The Power of Your Authentic Voice. We discuss the importance of delivering your work and how your voice plays a huge role in that and also talk about our favourite football team, the Cincinnati Bengals. Links Discussed Louder than Words: Harness the Power of Your Authentic Voice by Todd Henry | Amazon Inside The Jungle Podcast | Patreon Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day by Todd Henry | Amazon Workflowing #86: Will You Die Empty with Todd Henry The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice by Todd Henry | Amazon DJ ZTrip's Twitter Exchange About Die Empty Study Hacks - Decoding Patterns of Success | Cal Newport How to Deliver a "Do Over" with Jon Acuff | The Productivityist Podcast In 1967, Jimi Hendrix Opened for The Monkees | Mental Floss Todd Henry.com Want to discover some of the books mentioned on the podcast? Check out Scribd, my reading app of choice. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. Also don't forget to check out all of our podcast sponsors found on our podcast sponsors page. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. And if you want to have easy access to the archives of the show and ensure you don't miss the new episodes to come then subscribe to the podcast in the app you're using.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureBeing productive on your own can be a challenge with everything we face today but being productive as a team can be even more daunting – especially when they are spread out across the globe. On this episode of the podcast, I chat with Sebastian Klein of Blinkist about how his team has adopted (and adapted) Holacracy as a productivity approach to make teamwork, well, work. Links Sebastian Klein (@kl1eb) | Twitter Holacracy – A complete system for self-organization Free e-Book on Holacracy: Blinkracy A Look At Meetings | The Productivityist Podcast Want to discover some of the books mentioned on the podcast? Check out Scribd, my reading app of choice. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. Also don't forget to check out all of our podcast sponsors found on our podcast sponsors page. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. And if you want to have easy access to the archives of the show and ensure you don't miss the new episodes to come then subscribe to the podcast in the app you're using.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureWant to learn more about what makes Evernote tick? In this episode of The Productivityist Podcast, I have an in-depth conversation with Andrew Sinkov, Vice President of Marketing and Brand at Evernote. We talk about where Evernote has been, where it’s headed, and we even dive into some of the decisions the company has made (and the markets it has entered) over the years. Links How Tim Ferriss used Evernote to write The 4-Hour Body | Evernote Blog How I Use Evernote for Beer Cellaring | Productivityist The Night Owl Action Plan | Mike Vardy Evernote And The 100 Year Business Plan: Why Users Love It And Funders Hated It | Forbes andrew sinkov (@sinkov) | Twitter Want to discover some of the books mentioned on the podcast? Check out Scribd, my reading app of choice. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. Also don't forget to check out all of our podcast sponsors found on our podcast sponsors page. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. And if you want to have easy access to the archives of the show and ensure you don't miss the new episodes to come then subscribe to the podcast in the app you're using.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureIn this episode of the podcast, producer John Poelstra and host Mike Vardy continue to talk to those attending Podcast Movement 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas. They speak with Srinivas Rao (The Unmistakable Creative), Erik Fisher (Beyond The To Do List), Vickie Velasquez (Productivity Power Up Podcast), Julia Tunstall (A Bar Above & Effortless Workflow), and more. Relevant Links https://unmistakablecreative.com/ (Unmistakable Creative | Candid Conversation with Creative Entrepreneurs) https://twitter.com/unmistakableceo (Srinivas Rao (@UnmistakableCEO) | Twitter) http://www.abarabove.com/ (A Bar Above) http://effortlessworkflow.com/ (Effortless Workflow) https://twitter.com/jctunstall (Julia Tunstall (@jctunstall) | Twitter) http://beyondthetodolist.com/ (Beyond the To Do List) https://twitter.com/erikjfisher (Erik Fisher (@ErikJFisher) | Twitter) http://www.productivitypowerup.com/ (Productivity Power Up | Taking Your Productivity to the Next Level) https://twitter.com/vickstreme (Vickie Velasquez (@vickstreme) | Twitter) http://info.relaythat.com/ (Relay | Unify your visual content) https://twitter.com/CraigCarpenter (Craig Carpenter (@CraigCarpenter) | Twitter) http://yearofpurpose.podbean.com/ (The Year Of Purpose Podcast: Entrepreneurship | Travel | Happiness) https://twitter.com/zephanmoses (Zephan Blaxberg (@ZephanMoses) | Twitter) Want to send Mike an app, book, or something similar to discuss on the show? Email Productivityist at info@productivityist.com and we'll give it a look. Want to listen on Stitcher? http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=53149&refid=stpr (Click here.) Really like the show and want it to flourish even more? Support The Productivityist Podcast by becoming a patron! http://patreon.com/productivityist (Click here) to visit The Productivityist Podcast's Patreon page and see what perks await those who pitch in a buck or more.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureThis bonus episode of the podcast features a discussion between myself and newly-minted producer John Poelstra as he asks me about what I do to make my time at conferences productive. Then I spend some time with Jaime Tardy of Eventual Millionaire and Russel Lolacher from The Upsell to talk about workflows and how they leverage their time in order to make the most of events like the one we were at...Podcast Movement 2015. Relevant Links http://podcastmovement.com/ (Podcast Movement 2015) http://romanmars.com/ (Roman Mars | Makes Radio) https://twitter.com/johnpoelstra (John Poelstra (@johnpoelstra) | Twitter) http://www.miramax.com/movie/comedian/ (Comedian | Official Site) http://mymorningroutine.com/mike-vardy/ (Mike Vardy’s Morning Routine | My Morning Routine) http://productivityist.com/theres-nothing-wrong-with-being-a-night-owl/ (There's Nothing Wrong with Being a Night Owl | Productivityist) http://www.neuyear.net/products/the-now-year (NeuYear.net | THE NOW YEAR CALENDAR from Productivityist) http://productivityist.com/gap-days/ (Gap Days | Productivityist) http://www.memobottle.com/ (memobottle | Slim premium reusable water bottles) http://eventualmillionaire.com/ (Eventual Millionaire | Jaime Tardy) http://www.theupsell.com/ (The Upsell | Russel Lolacher) Want to send Mike an app, book, or something similar to discuss on the show? Email Productivityist at info@productivityist.com and we'll give it a look. Want to listen on Stitcher? http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=53149&refid=stpr (Click here.) Really like the show and want it to flourish even more? Support The Productivityist Podcast by becoming a patron! http://patreon.com/productivityist (Click here) to visit The Productivityist Podcast's Patreon page and see what perks await those who pitch in a buck or more.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureIn this episode, Mike chats with Jared Brock, a gentleman who has lived a multi-faceted, intentional, and international life. Jared runs a charity to fight human trafficking with his wife, completed a 37,000-mile pilgrimage around the world - where he even gained an audience with Pope Francis. He and his wife also took the 100 Things challenge and now they live carbon neutral in a 1975 Airstream trailer in a forest, they don't own cell phones, and get by on just the essentials. Jared is an interesting guy and I'm sure you'll enjoy the conversation he had with Mike on this episode. Relevant Links http://amzn.to/1Io70Ol (A Year of Living Prayerfully by Jared Brock) http://hopeforthesold.com/ (Hope for the Sold –) http://redlightgreenlightfilm.com/ (Red Light Green Light) http://jaredbrock.com/start/ (Welcome to Living Prayerfully!) Want to send Mike an app, book, or something similar to discuss on the show? Email Productivityist at info@productivityist.com and we'll give it a look. Want to listen on Stitcher? http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=53149&refid=stpr (Click here.) Really like the show and want it to flourish even more? Support The Productivityist Podcast by becoming a patron! http://patreon.com/productivityist (Click here) to visit The Productivityist Podcast's Patreon page and see what perks await those who pitch in a buck or more.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureIn this episode, Mike and podcast editor John Poelstra chat with those who were gearing up for The World Domination Summit while at The Productivityist Enthusiasts' Meetup in Portland, Oregon. A bevy of guests pop by on this longer-than-usual episode, and they talk productivity and much more! (Note: Fair warning...by the time Mike asked the questions, he had imbibed a little bit. So he was in "Social Mode".) Relevant Links http://worlddominationsummit.com/ (World Domination Summit) http://www.asianefficiency.com/ (Asian Efficiency) http://heykendra.com/about/ (Hey Kendra) http://pdxgreendragon.com/ (Green Dragon Bistro & Pub) http://johnpoelstra.com/ (John Poelstra | Making sense of things and making them better) http://www.digitalphotomentor.com/ (Darlene Hildebrandt | Digital Photo Mentor) http://simplifilm.com/ (Simplifilm) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-ghGzIAuhw (Did It In Minutes: The Art of Documenting Meeting Notes | YouTube) https://twitter.com/stephenwarley (Stephen Warley (@stephenwarley) | Twitter) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLUgmLqdIaE (Andy Dick Floating Head | YouTube) http://www.coffeebaconbooks.com/ (Coffee, Bacon & Books - the art of intentional wandering. ) https://mightygoods.com/category/nomadic-life/ (MightyGoods - Nomadic Life) http://www.holocene.io/ (Holocene - The Travelers) http://zerototravel.com/ (Zero To Travel - How To Travel The World On Your Terms) http://mattgiovanisci.com/about/ (Matt Giovanisci) http://www.drivenshow.co/ (Driven | A Podcast For Driven Entrepreneurs and More) http://www.swimuniversity.com/ (Swim University | The Ultimate Guide to Pool & Hot Tub Care) Want to send Mike an app, book, or something similar to discuss on the show? Email Productivityist at info@productivityist.com and we'll give it a look. Want to listen on Stitcher? http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=53149&refid=stpr (Click here.) Really like the show and want it to flourish even more? Support The Productivityist Podcast by becoming a patron! http://patreon.com/productivityist (Click here) to visit The Productivityist Podcast's Patreon page and see what perks await those who pitch in a buck or more.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025!Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfutureIn this episode Mike tackles distractions. He discusses what he believes is the difference between distractions, disruptions, and diversion (and how to defend yourself against them through awareness and measurable prevention). He also talks with Saent co-founder Tim Metz about the new device that he and his team are building that is designed to help you win the battle against distractions. Relevant Links http://www.loopinsight.com/2015/06/16/apple-watch-my-most-personal-review-ever/ (Apple Watch: My most personal review ever | The Loop) http://kaptureaudio.com/ (Kapture | The Audio Recording Wristband Device) https://fizzle.co/sparkline/2-experts-share-exactly-how-to-use-a-productivity-journal-increase-productivity-by-23-fs099 (2 Experts Share Exactly How to Use a Productivity Journal (& Increase Productivity by 23%) | The Fizzle Show 099) https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/saent-be-less-distracted#/story (Saent - Be less distracted | Indiegogo) https://productivityist.simplecast.fm/30 (Getting Things Done with David Allen | The Productivityist Podcast) http://theenergyproject.com/blog/90-minute-solution-why-less-truly-more (The 90-Minute Solution: Why Less is Truly More | The Energy Project) http://saentproductivity.com/blog/ (The Saent Blog-) https://twitter.com/getsaent (Saent (@getsaent) | Twitter) Want to send Mike an app, book, or something similar to discuss on the show? Email Productivityist at info@productivityist.com and we'll give it a look. Want to listen on Stitcher? http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=53149&refid=stpr (Click here.) Really like the show and want it to flourish even more? Support The Productivityist Podcast by becoming a patron! http://patreon.com/productivityist (Click here) to visit The Productivityist Podcast's Patreon page and see what perks await those who pitch in a buck or more.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive PotentialIf you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.