Back to Work

This week, Dan and Merlin determine that even the Chico Marx of notebooks is the right one if you're writing in it, failure is ALWAYS an option: fully committing didn't do Pickett any good, but you should commit to narrowing scope and deciding what success is. Why? Fact or Fiction: You can start a business on the side.

Links for this episode:

• kung fu grippe - Robb Wolff on "Perfection"
  
• Letters of Note: PERSIST
  
• QPR: Jim Fairness and the 14-Second Work Year
  
• QPR: Commentary by Anton Cantrusku
  
• Pickett's Charge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Jek Tono Porkins - Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki
  
• Wedge Antilles - Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki
  
• Toward Better Master Passwords | Agile Blog
  
• B2W Squarespace Signup (coupon code: "backtowork7")
  
• AgileBits: 1Password
  
• kung fu grippe - Need a fast primer on storytelling? The Civil...
  
• The Civil War . In the Classroom . Using the Series . Episode Five | PBS
  
• kung fu grippe - “Disjointed” A View to a Kill: Just giving up.
  
• Programmers Notebook
  
• Hypercritical #23: No Sentence Left Behind - 5by5
  
• Schecter/Giffin 'Telecaster'-style Guitars | Pete Townshend’s Guitar Gear | Whotabs
  
• North Coast Music: Rickenbacker 660/12
  
• damn the torpedoes tom petty - Google Search
  
• YouTube - M&Ms Commercial - "Thank you Easter Bunny, Bawk Bawk!"
  
• Tigermilk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Leaked! Dan's new show, "Go Ahead, Caller!"
  
• Anti-pattern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Netflix - Watch Ken Burns: The Civil War
  
• kung fu grippe - Need a fast primer on storytelling?
  
• [Merlin's Notebook] Nothing Doesn't Go In Here - a set on Flickr
  
• American: The Bill Hicks Story (2009 Documentary)
  
• Risk and the Bin Laden Raid - Notions: John Dickerson's Blog
  
• Playboy Interview With John Lennon and Yoko Ono
  
• Jack Purvis - Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki
  
• Nothing Doesn't Go In Here: "Two Words" | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  
• story in a grocery: Back to Work
  
• Word play: A top newspaper editor helps demystify the writing process: PRSA
  
• Getting Into the Writing Game, With Words of Advice From a Coach | Special English | Learning English
  
• Crapping on your Dream: Freelancing 101
  
• The Weight of a Good Notebook « The Bygone Bureau
  

Sponsored by MailChimp and Sound Studio 4.

This week, Merlin and Dan share their Pick: The Macintosh Computer.

Also, a 17-minute experimental startup sound, catching conflicts, shivving the stagecoach, machine-gunning with SoundMaster, the dangers of ResEdit, and the future of recumbent bike baskets. But not Charcoal. Are you KIDDING me?

Links for this episode:

• Thoughts on (and pics of) the original Macintosh User Manual : peterme.com
  
• Welcome to AgileBits
  
• Toward Better Master Passwords | Agile Blog
  
• B2W Squarespace Signup (coupon code: "backtowork6")
  
• (NSFW) Mars bar party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Webstock '11: John Gruber - The Gap Theory of UI Design on Vimeo
  
• Umberto Eco's piece on Mac and DOS, Catholic and Protestant
  
• Music Thing: TINY MUSIC MAKERS: Pt 2: The Microsoft Sound
  
• Welcome to The 1920's Radio Networks
  
• British Sixties Radio: Your Time Machine to Swinging London! - Live on the Internet
  
• Daring Fireball: It's All Software
  
• iCloud and Apple’s truth: can you win if you don’t play? | This is my next...
  
• ResEdit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories
  
• macintosh system 6 - Google Search
  
• Ambient 1: Music for Airports - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Daring Fireball Linked List: Windows Phone 7 on the Carriers' Pay-No-Mind List?
  
• Appearance Manager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Fanedits.com Fan Edits - Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope "Revisited" [NTSC] (Adywan) - fanedits.com
  
• YouTube - Music For Airports
  
• YouTube - Brian Eno - Music For Airports Interview
  
• San Francisco (typeface) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Charcoal (typeface) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Crystal Quest - mlkshk
  
• After Dark #32: After Back To Work 022 - 5by5
  
• Squidward Tentacles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Macintosh User Manual - Appendices | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  
• Kids in the Hall: Daves I Know | MilkandCookies
  
• Brainstorm (1983) - IMDb
  

Sponsored by Squarespace, Sponsor 5by5, and 1Password.

Merlin and Dan talk about the problem of permanent zeroes, desiring not to desire, why "hypocrisy" is killing you, stepping back on the path without apologizing, Merlin's new tattoo, and—yeah—going a little easier on yourself.

Also, how almost everything is like a glass of water and John Siracusa is literally and uniquely Squidward. 

Links for this episode:

• Heraclitus - The Fragments
  
• Schadenfreude - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• The Wire (TV Series 2002–2008) - IMDb
  
• Sarlacc - Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki
  
• the size of tiny changes in the heart
  
• [audio] Alan Watts: “Yet, here we are.”…"You are a wave of the stream itself. So, get with it!" - kung fu grippe
  
• [audio] Introduction to Buddhism by Alan Watts
  
• The Philosophies of Asia--Alan Watts (Introduction to Buddhism)
  
• The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going To Miss Almost Everything : Monkey See : NPR
  
• Maha-satipatthana Sutta: The Great Frames of Reference
  
• The Agendas of Mindfulness
  
• Brahmana Sutta: To Unnabha the Brahman
  
• Right Now by Thanissaro Bhikkhu | D.I.Y. Dharma
  
• The 84th Problem
  
• Mindfulness: The practice of being "here" | 43 Folders
  
• Lifehacked by Matt Haughey; mindfulness, ho | 43 Folders
  
• Sometimes There's a Man - mlkshk
  
• Decision Maker Pro
  
• Untranslatability - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• B2W Squarespace Signup (coupon code: "backtowork6")
  
• "Adulthood ultimately means becoming a hypocrite on your own terms."
  
• "People who regard honesty & hypocrisy as incompatible strike me as either dishonest, hypocritical, or both. Is that hypocritical? You bet."
  
• "David Simon: 'F*ck the Average Reader'" - kung fu grippe
  
• Wabi-sabi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• After Dark #30: After Back To Work 021 - 5by5
  
• Jan Tschichold - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  

Sponsored by Squarespace and Sponsor 5by5.

Merlin and Dan talk about getting started, putting on your shoes instead of shopping for pedometers, false dilemmas, doing as much work with your hands as you've done in your head, why you should leave some water in the pump, meta-fiddling, and getting better.

Links for this episode:

• Yeah, THIS just happened. Breville. 1800 watts. Toast. BOOM!Photo courtesy of @e_shirt - mlkshk
  
• Amazon.com: Breville BOV650XL Compact 4-Slice Smart Oven with Element IQ: Kitchen & Dining
  
• Hypercritical #21: Reading Playboy for the Articles - 5by5
  
• MaxFunCon: Merlin Mann on Doing Creative Work; The Sound of Young America
  
• “Outline” - MaxFunCon Talk | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  
• Wampa - Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki
  
• Amazon.com: Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis (9780805048919): Joan Bolker: Books
  
• Amazon.com: Ernest Hemingway on Writing (9780684854298): Larry W. Phillips: Books
  
• Photography, and the Tolerance for Courageous Sucking | 43 Folders
  
• Amazon.com: Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (9780786880706): Jon Kabat-Zinn: Books
  
• YouTube - Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn
  
• January 18, 2011 - Wolfram|Alpha
  
• Fake Rocks, Salami Commanders, and Just Enough to Start | 43 Folders
  
• Um. Feel the magic first-hand: Episode... - kung fu grippe
  
• On The Media
  
• YouTube - HAPPY DAYS - Richie Almost Dies
  
• Flickr: chrisglass' Photostream
  
• Chris Glass
  
• Amazon.com: Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras: Camera & Photo
  
• parislemon.
  
• YouTube - Ira Glass on Storytelling, part 3 of 4
  
• NPR Fresh Air
  
• Back to Work - 5by5Wiki
  
• Back to Work - iTunes. (Wanna leave us a nice review?)
  
• "Serial Entrepreneur. That's internet for 'I installed WordPress TWICE.'"
  
• Lawn darts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• john hodgman mustache - Google Search
  
• About little thing called 750 Words on 750 Words
  
• HOME « McKee Story
  

Sponsored by FreshBooks and Sound Studio 4.

Merlin and Dan talk about mindful tool adoption, screwdriver museums, why Vi users may (or may not) be cannibalistic insects—plus debate on whether a home video of a toy horse falling down in someone's bathroom is about Humanity. Also, Dan effs with Merlin's head. Again.

Links for this episode:

• Maladroite Cheval. on Vimeo
  
• Vimeo
  
• Tumult Hype
  
• YouTube - David Lynch - Funny Moments
  
• How and where not to do The Fishstick on Vimeo
  
• The most popular file utility for the Macintosh
  
• Fetch Softworks
  
• TextMate — The Missing Editor for Mac OS X
  
• Dropbox
  
• Elements — Dropbox powered text editor for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch from Second Gear
  
• Notesy
  
• Nebulous Notes
  
• vi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Introducing "?—": A Distraction-Free Writing Environment - kung fu grippe
  
• Bare Bones Software | Welcome
  
• Coyote Tracks - Text Editor Intervention
  
• Sublime Text: The text editor you'll fall in love with
  
• Acorn, a great Mac image editor, built for humans.
  
• Pixelmator
  
• Tweetbot — Tapbots
  
• goodiware.com :: products :: GoodReader
  
• Panic - Shockingly Good Mac Software.
  
• The Omni Group
  
• Byword • A Simple Text Editor for Mac
  
• iA Writer
  
• Contacts Cleaner on the Mac App Store
  
• Syncman | Synchronize Address Book with Gmail
  
• Mailplane - the best way to use Gmail on the Mac
  
• Sparrow — The new mail for Mac
  
• BusyCal - Sync calendars on your Mac with MobileMe, Google, and the iPhone
  
• Flexibits | Fantastical | Meet your new assistant.
  
• Blacktree
  
• LaunchBar 5
  
• Alex Payne — How I Use TextMate
  
• QuickCursor — Your text editor anywhere for Mac.
  
• Tags - Simply Organized
  
• Noodlesoft: Hazel
  
• Spirited Away - drikin.com - the Mac way
  
• Rogue Amoeba | Freebies: Free Software for Mac OS X
  
• Amazon.com: Sakura IDenti-Pen Permanent Dual-Point Pen, Blue: Arts, Crafts & Sewing
  
• Amazon.com: Moleskine Plain Reporter, 9cm x 14cm (9788883705502): Moleskine: Books
  
• Field Notes — “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.”
  
• Notational Velocity
  
• TuneIn: Listen to Online Radio, Music and Talk Stations
  

Sponsored by Rackspace and Shopify.

Merlin and Dan talk about educating "That's Just a Button Guy," practicing more humane pushback, asking better questions, why laundromats don't accept "focus," plus what happens when you put WAY too much crap in your five-pound bag.

Links for this episode:

• Mindfulness in Plain English
  

Sponsored by iStockphoto and MailChimp.

Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin talk about checking email under the table to catch up on your 27 high priority tasks, a good time to use the word priority, blowing cycles on meeting with Narnia's stakeholders, and getting tasks out of your dreamcatcher.

Links for this episode:

• BONUS AWESOME: Too Close to the Metal Wallpapers (Chainmail for Manatees)
  
• ESSAY: Mud Rooms, Red Letters, and Real Priorities | 43 Folders
  
• ESSAY: GTD: Priorities don't exist in a vacuum | 43 Folders
  
• ESSAY: First, care. | 43 Folders
  
• WIKI: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Importance vs. Urgency)
  
• WIKI: Alan Lakein (Lakein's question: "What is the best use of my time right now?")
  
• CONCEPT: GTD & "The Four-Criteria Model for Choosing Actions in the Moment" - Google Books
  
• ROCKET: Estes 1948 Big Bertha Flying Model Rocket Kit (Amazon.com)
  
• CONCEPT: Time and motion study - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• WEBB: Cheaper by the Dozen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• SONG: Bacon Ray - Sundays In A Row
  
• BONUS AWESOME: Cut the bullshit, do the hard work, on your desktop — Ice To The Brim
  
• CHART: covey quadrants - Google Search
  
• ROCKET: 001948 - Big Bertha™ - Skill 1 - Kits By Skill Level - Rockets
  
• VIDEO: Caddyshack: Playing Through ("Over on Briar")
  
• POEM: "The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot as hypertext
  
• BOOK: The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts Including the Annotations of Ezra Pound
  
• BOOK: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (Amazon)
  
• HOWTO: Getting started with "Getting Things Done" | 43 Folders
  
• HOWTO: Building a Smarter To-Do List, Part I | 43 Folders
  
• OAK of a Man: Ken Case — The Omni Group
  
• OBVIOUS Raymond Carver Joke: "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" (WIKI)
  
• VIDEO: American Tourister "Gorilla" Commercial (1971)
  
• DIAGRAM: Anatomy of the Derail: “You shouldn’t be throwing anyone.”
  

Sponsored by Harvest and Sound Studio 4.

Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin aren't afraid of lawyers, dentists, negative feelings, or of not being afraid of something.

Sponsored by Rackspace and Shopify.

Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin are here to discuss the awareness of fear, asking yourself why, and knowing the problem instead of chasing fake confidence, patches, and hacks.

Links for this episode:

• Hetty Green - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Noble Eightfold Path - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Mindfulness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Audio Dharma - Gil Fronsdal's Dharma Talks
  
• Amazon.com: Mindfulness in Plain English: Revised and Expanded Edition (9780861713219): Bhante Henepola Gunaratana: Books
  
• Mindfulness In Plain English
  
• Abba - "Knowing Me, Knowing You"
  
• MP3: Sometimes There’s a Man - Part II "Then, When?" - kung fu grippe
  
• Canonical Photo of Hetty Green
  
• Alan Watts - "The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety"
  
• YouTube - Joni Mitchell - "Talk To Me"
  
• YouTube - Joni Mitchell - "Blue"
  

Sponsored by FreshBooks and OmniGroup: OmniFocus.

Merlin Mann joins Dan Benjamin to talk about problems that are impossible, problems that are boring, problems that you're scared of, and why you need to differentiate between fear and anxiety so you can be scared of something interesting.

Links for this episode:

• 5C6017AB.jpg 277×277 pixels
  
• Princess Ardala - Google Search
  
• Do I love Terry Gross? - your monkey called
  
• Jeff Dee's Home Page
  
• Deities & Demigods - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  
• Expedition to the Barrier Peaks - [Merlin's favorite AD&D module]
  
• After Dark #20: After Back To Work 014 - 5by5
  
• Sometimes There’s a Man (Part I) MP3 Download ... - kung fu grippe
  

Sponsored by Webtrends and MailChimp.