Back to Work

TOPIC : You Are That Little Dot. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about notifications, beeps, bloops, flashes, and all the stuff we have zero control over . There's about a million ways people can contact us and just as many ways we can unintentionally disappoint every one of them. There's sanity in realizing which stuff you actually control, which stuff you have to let go, and how many of the expec...

TOPIC : Reinforcement, Aikido, and Fear This week, Dan and Merlin try to tackle positive versus negative reinforcement. Links for this episode: Ad-free time! | Blocking ads, unblocking Netflix, Pandora, Hulu, BBC and more Ernie Kovacs - Droongo - YouTube Published for the First Time: a 1959 Essay by Isaac Asimov on Creativity | MIT Technology Review 24 Surprisingly Divisive Pooping Habits Ep. 129:...

TOPIC : People, amirite? This week, Dan and Merlin talk about neighbors, dogs, Macs, MLB.tv, and flavors of reinforcement. Links for this episode: Support Dan Benjamin creating Podcasts and videos Showbot 5by5 | Back to Work #190: C-3PO's Beard Watch Live Streaming Major League Baseball Games Online with MLB.TV | MLB.com: Subscriptions LOT of asterisks there. Neighbors | This American Life "Storie...

TOPIC : The Ultimate Existential Investor This week, Dan and Merlin vent about Apple as only its superfans really can. What happens when things…don't… just work ? Links for this episode: Three Ring Binder Tickets, San Francisco - Eventbrite Batgirl (2011-) #35 - Comics by comiXology Barbara Gordon is no stranger to dusting herself off when disaster strikes so when a fire destroys everything she ow...

TOPIC : Starting the stuff we haven't started. This week—after some entertaining random talk and a handful of hardware and software recommendations—Dan and Merlin dive back into a familiar evergreen topic: why is it so hard to get started with a project? And, just as importantly, what can we learn from that persistent difficulty? In a nut? Just start trying to suck more regularly. Links for this e...

TOPIC : Media, Rarely Well Done This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the modern consumer media landscape and how we seem to be changing almost as fast as the technology. Almost . Links for this episode: Ungainly X-Mann Meetup #5 — Merlin Mann MERLIN MANN (Back to Work, Roderick on the Line, You Look Nice Today, et al.) invites you to drop by Two Cats Comics on the evening of Thursday, September 25...

TOPIC : Knowing What You'll Need to Know This week, Dan and Merlin talk about a recent presentation Merlin gave on expertise and curiosity. They also pour out a 40 for Macworld Magazine . Links for this episode: If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Going | Quote Investigator In conclusion, the above citations represent a snapshot of current knowledge and future discoveries are possible. QI would ten...

TOPIC : Grab bag. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about—what? Well. They talk about privilege, empathy, bikes, bass players, Merlin's new mic, more bathroom signs, and a controversial anecdote about how Apple was maybe kinda not nice to a customer. Links for this episode: What is the blue light from our screens really doing to our eyes? — Tech News and Analysis “I discovered that using light at nig...

TOPIC : The Durable Impossibility of Email. This week, Dan and Merlin return to an evergreen topic: the impossibility of email . Chaotic, paradoxical, debilitating, frustrating, buoyant, and occasionally capable of causing short-term madness, email is still the medium that we'll never get right. But, quixotically, it never stops us from trying. Links for this episode: Engineers4Engineers 2014 Deve...

TOPIC : Is there anything else you want to tell me? This week, Dan and Merlin discuss what bathrooms can teach us about learning, expertise, and empathy. Links for this episode: Rules of the Road - San Francisco Bicycle Coalition The SF Bicycle Coalition is proud to be the leading resource for street safety in San Francisco. Every year, we reach tens of thousands of people with the Bicycle Rules o...

TOPIC : Wait, what'd I DO?!? This week, Dan and Merlin talk about anger, misunderstandings, and trying to do the right thing. How bewildering (and emotional) it can be to feel misunderstood—as well as trying to better understand what we may have done wrong. Emotions are armor-piercing bullets. Links for this episode: David Letterman airs Robin Williams tribute | PopWatch | EW.com Letterman gave us...

TOPIC : Thinking, Thinking, Thinking. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the inextricable links between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. They also take some time to fondly remember Robin Williams. Links for this episode: BIOGRAPHY: Robin Williams Lifetime Williams was bullied badly during childhood for being chubby and would often spend much of his time playing alone in the family's large home...

While Merlin takes a short sabbatical, Dan is joined by special guest David Sparks to talk about presentations, making your thing, balancing acts, iBooks author, paying for your kids' school with side projects, old man glasses, and more. Links for this episode: 5by5 | Mac Power Users Learn about getting the most from your Apple technology with focused topics and workflow guests. Creating Mac Power...

TOPIC : Stupid can't stick to me. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the distinction between being against something vs. not having an opinion about it vs. just choosing not to let the world stick to you . Links for this episode: Marked 2 - Smarter tools for smarter writers Marked is a previewer for Markdown files. Use it with your favorite text editor and it updates every time you save. With ro...

TOPIC : A Personal History of Personal Publishing This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the constantly-changing landscape of online publishing. How we got from home pages to blogs to social media and beyond. Things move around, things get shorter (or longer), and things get super-weird and unpredictable. How do you decide where your stuff goes and who do you expect it to reach in this whackadoodle...

TOPIC : Yes. Yes. This week, Dan and Merlin follow-up on their recent 5by5 at the Movies episode about Glengarry Glen Ross , talking more about sales culture, media consumption, how our personal data gets used to close us, and why Dan admires Ricky Roma. Or, Tony Roma , as you call him. Links for this episode: 5by5 | 5by5 at the Movies #3: A Slight Burglary: Glengarry Glen Ross Merlin Mann and Dan...

TOPIC: Motivation This week, Dan and Merlin talk about their upcoming 5by5 at the Movies episode on Glengarry Glen Ross , which segues naturally into a discussion of the many aspects of motivation . Carrots, sticks, bonuses, fear, status, and just growing up all shape our understanding of why we (and, yeah, others) do what we do. What happens when our motivation starts better accounting for how ot...

TOPIC : (Not) Solving People Problems With Technology. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the challenge of finding business workflows that…actually work. And, what happens if you try to fix a "people problem" with a technical solution. Also, detailed discussion on Wolverine's healing factor, gruesome hand-shaving, Florida's giant grasshoppers, dangerous bourbon foil, and varieties of elves. Come...

TOPIC : "Creativity" where you din't expect it. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about PIXAR, creativity, and FoldingText before finally succumbing to the treachery of Skype. Links for this episode: FoldingText — Plain text productivity for Mac users For Mac users who love plain text. FoldingText is the markdown text editor with productivity features. Unlike other editors, FoldingText does outlining...

TOPIC : Dan & Merlin in Fancy San Francisco This week, Dan and Merlin visit across a table in a darkened room to talk about WWDC, San Francisco's lesser-known features, and how to spend less time bogged down in day-to-day junk. Links for this episode: Episode 20: Self Doubt with Merlin Mann — The Nudge Cotton Bureau – Sportsball by Jory Raphael Celebrate your love of sportsball with this offic...

TOPIC : Culture is what we DO. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about processing a hotel room and leading by example. Links for this episode: John Dickerson - How to Process a Hotel Room HOWTO process your new hotel room Replace any... | kung fu grippe Red Oxx Air Boss Carry-on Bag Designed for 1 Bag Business Travelers. Red Oxx Travel Basket Key Tray and Coin Valet HONEY, WHERE'S THE ROOM KEY? LOOK...

TOPIC : How to undig a river. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about an email message from a listener who's having trouble getting away from his inbox long enough to do what he needs to, introducing a mindfulness exercise that may help point to a deeper problem. (This is a good one) Links for this episode: 7: The Passionate Task Rich Stevens and Merlin Mann join Moisés and John to dis...

TOPIC : It's like wallets and backpacks. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about H.R. Giger, Dan's latest Android experiment, more on app privacy, and why we need both wallets, backpacks, and suitcases. You know. Analogies. Links for this episode: [SPONSOR] Build a Website — Squarespace [SPONSOR] Online Eyeglasses & Sunglasses - $95 Rx Glasses | Warby Parker 5by5 | The Incomparable #194: A Real I...

Merlin and Dan talk about Marked, Drafts, MLKSHK shutting down, App.net, routers, Hong King Phoey, poisoned meatballs, and more. Links for this episode: Hansure - Product Details HansureTM is a wearable device that makes hand sanitization possible at the point of patient care. Where tradional approaches to increase hand hygiene compliance rely on monitoring, judging, forcing, penalizing and collec...

Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin talk about comiXology and the future of online digital purchases. Links for this episode: Wonder Woman (2009) (V) A modern man's trespass of the island of the Amazons enables an imprisoned war god to escape and Princess Diana wins the responsibility to recapture him. Nonsense From the Huffington Post Squarespace Metrics for iPad — The Official Squarespace Blog With its...