Fits + Starts

We like Notion (sort of), Daniel hates Basecamp, and John is prototyping board games. Then Daniel lays out his unified field theory of software engineering and pounds the table for collective bargaining.

In our season finale, we talk about time and attention. Daniel takes John to task about whether or not time exists. And then we talk about ego. We'll be back with Season 4 soon!

Relay.fm co-founder Stephen Hackett stops in to talk about the perils of finding personal identity in your work, whether or not it's important to "love" what you do, and the weird experience of having an emotional relationship with a corporation.

This week we recap Discipline December. We talk discipline as a tool, the downside of letting fear motivate your work, and using experiments to diagnose your problems. Then John loses his mind over how much he loves “Holy Hour”.

We return to form with this old school episode with no guest. John is having a hard time getting things done, and Daniel has ideas for how to help. We discuss working from home, making good check lists, slowing your roll, and taking notes.

Daniel is going to be disciplined for (almost) a whole month! This is a very meta episode: protestant work ethic, work habits, budgeting, food, exercise, checklists, tidying up, and more! Follow along with our progress in the link in the show notes. If you want to join along, shoot us a tweet.

Special Guest: Caleb Porzio.

Links:

- [Discipline December SPREADSHEET](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fNUtSBERd1PvjjHj_xTDuxbTNQx_5hFwlD5AukTDlNU/edit#gid=0 "Discipline December SPREADSHEET")

- [Patreon (our tip jar)](https://www.patreon.com/fitsandstarts "Patreon (our tip jar)")

- [Curating a Twitter feed (this week's bonus content)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/15672375 "Curating a Twitter feed (this week's bonus content)")

- [Caleb Porzio (@calebporzio) | Twitter](https://twitter.com/calebporzio?lang=en "Caleb Porzio (@calebporzio) | Twitter") — Loves @laravelphp | Developer @TightenCo | Co-hosts @twentypercentfm | just happy to be here

- [Caleb Porzio | website](http://calebporzio.com/ "Caleb Porzio | website")

- [calebporzio (Caleb Porzio) · GitHub](https://github.com/calebporzio "calebporzio (Caleb Porzio) · GitHub")

- [Mint: Money Manager, Bills, Credit Score & Budgeting](https://www.mint.com/ "Mint: Money Manager, Bills, Credit Score & Budgeting")

- [Financial Software and Wealth Management | Personal Capital](https://www.personalcapital.com/ "Financial Software and Wealth Management | Personal Capital")

- [YNAB. Personal Budgeting Software for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android](https://www.youneedabudget.com/ "YNAB. Personal Budgeting Software for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android")

- [Tell ‘Em What You’re Going To Tell ‘Em; Next, Tell ‘Em; Next, Tell ‘Em What You Told ‘Em | Quote Investigator](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/08/15/tell-em/ "Tell ‘Em What You’re Going To Tell ‘Em; Next, Tell ‘Em; Next, Tell ‘Em What You Told ‘Em | Quote Investigator")

- [Twenty Percent Time](http://twentypercent.fm/ "Twenty Percent Time")

Long time friend Michael Johnson calls in for our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. We talk vlogging, managing multiple side hustles, unifying your life, finding identity, and living life without a calendar.

Special Guest: Michael Johnson.

Links:

- [Patreon (Listener Support)](https://www.patreon.com/fitsandstarts "Patreon (Listener Support)")

- [In which we try to think up a novel way to release music (this week's bonus content)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/in-which-we-try-15396135 "In which we try to think up a novel way to release music (this week's bonus content)")

- [TwillyCo](https://www.etsy.com/shop/twillyco "TwillyCo")

- [mmmichaeljohnson - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvdF4jlIjTRR0nw4j8HTIIg "mmmichaeljohnson - YouTube")

- [Twice Adapted | BandCamp](https://twiceadapted.bandcamp.com/ "Twice Adapted | BandCamp")

- [Brocrisp (Michael's solo music)](https://soundcloud.com/brocrisp "Brocrisp (Michael's solo music)")

- [18: Eventually it sucks less (with Merlin Mann)](http://fitsandstarts.fm/eventually-it-sucks-less "18: Eventually it sucks less (with Merlin Mann)")

- ["What I want"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSQqv2UuvC0)

4-time NYT Best Selling Author Nancy French shares her thoughts on being a Conservative writer in the era of Trump. Nancy recently left the Republican party and faced harassment from the Alt-Right. We also get into the relationship between pop culture and politics, and why Nancy pays more attention to Judd Apatow than Mike Pence!

Special Guest: Nancy French.

Links:

- [iPhone X review & late capitalism scams (this week's bonus content)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/15236663 "iPhone X review & late capitalism scams (this week's bonus content)")

- [Our tip jar](https://www.patreon.com/fitsandstarts "Our tip jar")

- [Nancy French (@NancyAFrench) | Twitter](https://twitter.com/nancyafrench "Nancy French (@NancyAFrench) | Twitter")

- [Mitt (2014) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1757800/ "Mitt (2014) - IMDb")

- [The Emperor's New Clothes - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes "The Emperor's New Clothes - Wikipedia")

- [David French (@DavidAFrench) | Twitter](https://twitter.com/DavidAFrench?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor "David French (@DavidAFrench) | Twitter")

- [David French | National Review](http://www.nationalreview.com/author/david-french "David French | National Review")

- [Kernel Panic](http://www.kernelpanicpodcast.com/ "Kernel Panic")

- [Total depravity - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_depravity "Total depravity - Wikipedia")

- [Perseverance of the saints - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseverance_of_the_saints "Perseverance of the saints - Wikipedia")

John's cousin Aaron Belz drops by to talk about how businesses use language, the difference between students and young employees, how social media can shape the way people make creative stuff online, baseball, and more!

Aaron is a poet and essayist who works in marketing.

Special Guest: Aaron Belz.

Links:

- [Patreon (Listener Support)](https://www.patreon.com/fitsandstarts "Patreon (Listener Support)")

- [Captain D's, please! (this week's bonus content)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/14998949 "Captain D's, please! (this week's bonus content)")

- [A. Belz (@aaronbelz) | Twitter](https://twitter.com/aaronbelz?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor "A. Belz (@aaronbelz) | Twitter")

- [Amazon.com: Aaron Belz: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle](https://www.amazon.com/Aaron-Belz/e/B0030DOFSC "Amazon.com: Aaron Belz: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle")

- [Aaron Belz at AEM's 7th Annual Evening of Arts & Entertainment - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjK4NY-Y1Sg "Aaron Belz at AEM's 7th Annual Evening of Arts & Entertainment - YouTube")

- [Amazon.com: Dayveon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B074GFV4H7/coulbourne-20 "Amazon.com: Dayveon")

- [Haptic technology - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haptic_technology "Haptic technology - Wikipedia")

- [Fidelity Investments - Retirement, Funds, and Online Trading](https://www.fidelity.com/ "Fidelity Investments - Retirement, Funds, and Online Trading")

- [MailChimp Content Style Guide](https://styleguide.mailchimp.com/ "MailChimp Content Style Guide")

Mike Rugnetta drops some knowledge about how to improve internet discourse, maintaining a productive comment section, focusing on the right stuff, why people join internet communities, and what it means for something to "end" on the internet. Lastly, we get into a discussion of video games that feel like work, and why we love them.

Special Guest: Mike Rugnetta.

Links:

- [Fits + Starts Patreon (click here to support the show!)](https://www.patreon.com/fitsandstarts "Fits + Starts Patreon (click here to support the show!)")

- [John's 15 favorite Idea Channel videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvnHTdILuUcQf3i0H8r_eoCW3_2Ffag77 "John's 15 favorite Idea Channel videos")

- [Reasonably Sound](http://reasonablysound.com/ "Reasonably Sound")

- [What Is Myth? Crash Course World Mythology #1 - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeX6CX5LEj0&feature=youtu.be "What Is Myth? Crash Course World Mythology #1 - YouTube")

- [Mike on Twitter (@mikerugnetta) | Twitter](https://twitter.com/mikerugnetta?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor "Mike on Twitter (@mikerugnetta) | Twitter")

- [mmmichaeljohnson - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvdF4jlIjTRR0nw4j8HTIIg "mmmichaeljohnson - YouTube")

- [("feeling good, feeling great, how are you?")](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAgfrE28gpc "(")

- [Carrot and stick - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot_and_stick "Carrot and stick - Wikipedia")

- [AOL Instant Messenger shuts down after 20 years - Oct. 6, 2017](http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/06/technology/aim-shuts-down/index.html "AOL Instant Messenger shuts down after 20 years - Oct. 6, 2017")