Back to Work

TOPIC : Toward an (Admittedly Dubious) Unified Field Theory of Creativity This week, Dan and Merlin consider a framework for understanding the basic modes and focal lengths involved in producing creative work. Why and how do we get so hung up and frustrated about getting good at what we do? Why's it so hard to take an abstract idea for making something great, then end up feeling pathologically sty...

TOPIC : Offices, and when to get out of them. This week—in what will surely be remembered as the greatest Back to Work episode of all time—Dan and Merlin eventually talk about working at a desk and when to take it someplace else. Links for this episode: [SPONSOR] Squarespace.com Build a Website - Squarespace - Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galle...

TOPIC : Quit & Analyze, and Marvel Character Speculation. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about Dan's "Quit & Analyze" episode, then proceed into a very useful conversation about which characters from the Marvel Universe they're each most like. Links for this episode: [SPONSOR] TextExpander: Mac Typing Shortcut Utility Saves You Time Type more with less effort! TextExpander saves your finge...

TOPIC : Fixing the Culture of Meetings This week, Dan and Merlin address the problems with meetings, and how we can each choose to improve them. Ten quick ideas? Purpose Agenda Grazing Policy Hard Edges Scheduling Guests Timekeeper No Ratholes Focus Follow-Up Consistency Links for this episode: [SPONSOR] Stock Photos, Royalty-Free Images and Vectors - Shutterstock Over 25 million stock photos, ill...

TOPIC : Quicksilver and the OS X App Launcher Landscape This week, Dan triumphantly returns from two weeks of crippling illness. So, the boys ease their way back into the groove with a grab bag of great follow-up, some Adventure Time talk, and a longer discussion of popular OS X App launchers, including Quicksilver 1.0, LaunchBar, and Alfred 2. Links for this episode: [SPONSOR] Build a Website — S...

TOPIC : Drafts for iOS, and Who You Want to Be This week, Dan and Merlin cover two very different topics. First, there's a detailed discussion of one of Merlin's favorite iOS apps, Drafts , including a deep dive on the app's extraordinary interactions with everything from Twitter to calendars to Dropbox. Second, Dan and Merlin have an A-plus conversation on the hardest question you’ll ask yourself...

TOPIC : Choosing Your Forks. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about some of the deeper and more slippery issues behind changes in our career and life. In particular, how do we go from a vague tickle to that feeling of full-blown intolerability that can end up driving a change? Are we looking backward at what we should be doing as we slavishly catalog our many petty aggrievements? Or, do we take two...

TOPIC : Memory. This week, Dan and Merlin try to tackle the complexities of memory. Why do we remember things from childhood with unimpeachable detail, but then forget our own phone number or PIN code? How can the same person remember the name of everyone he's ever met, and then space a phone call a couple hours after it was scheduled? Why do we remember and why do we forget? Unsurprisingly, few c...

TOPIC : Stupidity. This week, Dan and Merlin tackle stupidity . And, brother, there sure are a whole lot of flavors of stupid. Are we really talking about being clueless, unaware, dumb, absent-minded, or just plain-old ignorant? Because they're actually pretty different animals. Whether you're dropping your library book in the mailbox, leaving your iPad at home, following baseless medical advice,...

TOPIC : Not So Much This week, Dan and Merlin eschew ““topic”” to freely discuss razors, beef, They Might Be Giants, prolapse, Genesis, dogs, Spider-Man (and -Womyn), pretender marteenies, truck butt, the lonely plaster casts of our youth, blind harmonicists, those awesome blue IKEA bags, ceviche, E.L.O., Goldenberg's Peanut Chews, bumping, hypoglycemia, how Merlin named his daughter, Hyman Roth,...

TOPIC : Shaving a Yak This week, Dan and Merlin talk about The Hierarchy of Fiddling. When does self-improvement silently shade into navel-gazing, and how do we realize that it's happening? Some fixes mean applying a fast change that produces outsized results (a true "life hack"). But, most of our more circuitous excursions into the world of ““ productivity ”” lead straight into a recursive black...

TOPIC : Compression This week, Dan and Merlin talk about compression . What happens when we don't account for how long something really takes to do? And, worse still, what if we don't think about what has to happen before we can even start it? If you find you're stressed-out, over-scheduled, under-resourced—and not particularly loving the things you're making—there's a pretty good chance you've be...

TOPIC : Duplicates, duplicates, duplicates. This week, Dan and Merlin conclude their discussion of media management by focusing on dealing with duplicates . Just so many duplicates. Music, Photos, Contacts, and Finder files. It's all thorny business, but a canny combination of backup, cool apps, and paranoid discretion can make your digital life more manageable and fun. Also, some handy tips on sh...

TOPIC : Cool stuff Merlin loves. This week, Merlin is delirious and may be in a fugue state, so he and Dan talk about a bunch of cool apps and gadgets--stuff that Merlin likes and really recommends. Special attention goes to Drafts for iOS, the Logitech K760 Bluetooth keyboard, Verbatim's Tuff 'n Tiny USB drive, Cortex Camera for iOS, Cobook Address Book, with many more suggestions along the way,...

TOPIC : Modern Media Management: Metadata and Smart Playlists This week Dan and Merlin continue their 3-part series on Modern Media Management: handling your iTunes Library, iOS Devices, and iTunes Match without making yourself crazy. In this episode, the focus is on fixing audio metadata, with a big discussion of the awesome MusicBrainz and Picard . Links for this episode: Smile Blog [SPONSOR] Bu...

TOPIC : Modern Media Management: iTunes Match This week Dan and Merlin begin a 3-part series on Modern Media Management: handling your iTunes Library, iOS Devices, and iTunes Match without making yourself crazy. In this episode, they cover setting up and using iTunes Match, being safe and paranoid, what to do after you get the iTunes ping, some smart playlists that will help you exclude kwanzaa mu...

TOPIC : Creative Costumes vs. Pushing Out Product This week Dan and Merlin talk about how the legends and mythologies around creative people and beautiful losers can become such a destructive MacGuffin for us aspiring civilians. Getting gakked out on Hunter S. Thompson's cocaine and buying Sylvia Plath's oven are unlikely to take you anyplace useful, interesting, or…creative. Also: " BRIANMICHAELB...

TOPIC : Those New Years When We're Not Actually Resolved. This week, Merlin and Dan step back from resolutions and shooting yourself in the face with a wrist rocket to talk about what you're actually trying to change. You're failing and feeling bad and eating a whole bag of cookies because you're resolving to be someone you're not (yet). What are you really trying to address? Are you being honest...

TOPIC : Yes. The caller is there. This week, in celebration of their hundredth episode, Dan and Merlin do the first call-in episode of Back to Work . A bevy of the beloved jackals and nerds ask questions about GTD, creative autonomy, sleep and energy, interpersonal work communications, moving up at work, self-publishing, finding your rabbi, Marines, X-Men, and more. Links for this episode: Amazon....

TOPIC : Troubleshooting for Saner GTD This week, Dan and Merlin wrap up their epic summer crossover series on David Allen's book Getting Things Done , focusing on the trouble spots, hang-ups, and occasional rat holes that people often encounter in implementing and maintaining their GTD system. Links for this episode: Saga #1 - Comics by comiXology [Get it FREE!!!] [Huffduffer MP3] Productive Talk...

TOPIC : Working Getting Things Done to stay current, complete, and creative. This week, Dan and Merlin continue their discussion of David Allen's Getting Things Done system. Learning how to leverage GTD's modality to firewall time for guilt-free creative work. Links for this episode: 5by5 | Back to Work #95: She's Five for a Living 5by5 | Back to Work #96: Compensatory Muscles 5by5 | Back to Work...

TOPIC : Using GTD to sanely and intelligently decide what to do, and when, and where. This week, Dan and Merlin continue their discussion of David Allen's Getting Things Done system. Hopping over the basic workflow and setup (you'll definitely need the book for that), this is all about doing —leveraging the horizontal and vertical axes of GTD to intuitively choose exactly the right task at any giv...

TOPIC : A Better System for Dealing with Life's "Stuff" This week, Dan and Merlin continue their discussion of David Allen's book, Getting Things Done . Links for this episode: Fractal Implementation, or, On the Dangers of David Allen's Finger | 43 Folders Beginner's Mind, Metropolis, and all our unnecessary parts | 43 Folders Amazon.com: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (9...

TOPIC : Intro to David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” This week, Dan and Merlin start a long-overdue three-part storyline on David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done . [1] How do you unwad that giant crapball of stuff you call a life? The answer is simple, but it’s not so easy. You need a trusted system in which to collect, process, review, and—yes— do all the things that matter. Getting Things Done...

TOPIC : How to be a proper list-maker This week, Dan and Merlin discuss the pros and cons of lighting your environment properly, how we fall into bad list making habits and how to solve these issues. Also, Merlin makes some sounds for your enjoyment. Links for this episode: New Business Templates: Aviator and Devlin — The Official Squarespace Blog 5by5 | The Conversation #27: Missionless Statement...