A refreshing take on work and productivity that could use more practical advice.
Vardy offers a framework for reimagining productivity in this self-help guide.
Early on, the author defines “productiveness” logically enough (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) as the “state of being productive.” He explores the nine principles he associates with such an ongoing state: humanness, grace, prudence, nuance, tolerance, efficacy, cadence, trust, and will. “Humanness” means recognizing that people are not machines, but beings who need tending. He presents “grace” as an unhurried holding of space that often occurs alongside gratitude. “Prudence,” “tolerance,” and “trust” are fairly self-explanatory terms in the way Vardy uses them, although his angle on “cadence” might need a bit of extra explanation. In this context, the term refers to intentional motion, which the author cleverly depicts in three forms: “Go-mentum,” “Flow-mentum,” and “Slow-mentum.” “Will” is, not surprisingly, a combination of intention, concentration, and perseverance. The author also meticulously compares efficiency, effectiveness, and efficacy, suggesting that efficacy asks, “are we building the conditions for meaningful, sustainable results?” The book concludes with the reminder that “productiveness isn’t a fixed state you reach. It’s a living practice you return to.” Vardy’s accessible concepts offer nuggets of wisdom to help people build a “meaningful, sustainable, human life.” The book’s format—brief, often one-sentence paragraphs—makes everything easy to digest. The author pulls anecdotes from his own life to illustrate concepts like efficacy (timing the stocking of food at a Costco service deli) or cadence (as in a “Couch to 5K” program). The book also effectively shows how the principles interact and build upon one another: “Prudence keeps Efficacy from slipping into recklessness, reminding us to choose wisely where we aim our potency.” Finally, the author’s techniques bear catchy and clever names like “Externalize the Swirl” (journaling) and “Check-in Cues” (reminders to be present). The only major weakness is that the book tends to favor theoretical explanations over concrete action.
A refreshing take on work and productivity that could use more practical advice.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2026
ISBN: 9781038361936
Page Count: 186
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 10, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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