Back to Work

TOPIC : Florida, Education, and Peaking This week, Dan and Merlin continue their purging personal odyssey through the state of Florida. Isolation, education, and a parting admonition not to throw your cap in the air. Also, for the comic nerds, Merlin recommends checking out the exciting new stuff happening with " Marvel NOW! " Links for this episode: Superheroes Stock Photos, Superheroes Stock Pho...

TOPIC : Florida. Hinted at since Episode 1 —and repeatedly threatened nearly every week since—here, at last: The Florida Episode . The heat, the driving, the isolation, the driving, the white driveways, the early-bird specials, the menacing parking-lot violence, the driving, the people, the stop lights, the gates, the urology clinics, the driving, the short pants, the driving, and much MUCH more....

TOPIC : The tech you want, and the tech you can live with. On our second Last Show Ever™, Merlin and Dan talk about parenting, Gatsby hats, note taking and sharing, the Techno-Organic virus, and more. Links for this episode: kung fu grippe • Features: Our Gatsby Summer Afternoon - Nested... Our Gatsby Group | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Mr. Mann & the Girls | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Techno-organic...

TOPIC : Sleep and How to Get It This week, Dan and Merlin talk about sleep —why we need it, why most of us don't get enough of it, and why we all strain to find a million excuses for perpetually walking around like a sad zombie. Chock-a-block with painful personal anecdotes, horrible cautionary tales, and scary hand-waving about Recent Medical Science, your hosts make their best case for taking yo...

TOPIC : Programming Your Kid's Danger Room. This week, Dan and Merlin discuss the parenthood racket: the advice and expectations, the doubt and the fear, the assessment, the concentric circles, the snow cones. Parenting means programming a Danger Room that teaches you and the kid to handle the hovering, the hitting, the losing, and the play structure. Links for this episode: Shmuel - Wikipedia, th...

TOPIC : Finding Grit. This week, Dan and Merlin return to a popular topic from last week : grit . Why is it we stick with some things but totally abandon so many others? Why'd Merlin give up on learning "Little Brown Jug" on the trombone, then double-down on nailing "Pinball Wizard" on guitar? How come Dan got so good at programming, but can't kick a damned football to save his life? Is there a fr...

TOPIC: Grit, Confidence, and Intuition. This week, Dan and Merlin begin a conversation on what researchers and educators are learning about why students of all ages do or don't succeed. Yes, it's about intelligence and other cognitive skills, but it's also about tenacity, courage, self-restraint, and resolve. It's really about grit . See our show notes for lots of links to the stuff that inspired...

TOPIC: Anxious about the Change This week Merlin updates Dan about his schedule changes. They're going to come, but it's probably the anxiety, not the change, that is the problem. Take heart, it may be the change that you need. While you're at it, take the opportunity to plan your buffers and ramp up times. Your schedule will work better, your vacation may be less stressful, your pie will stay ali...

TOPIC: One Operational Paper Towel; One Safety Paper Towel. This week, Dan and Merlin discuss how to use a public restroom. There's some other stuff, too. But, yeah. Mostly Dan and Merlin discuss how to use a public restroom. Links for this episode: Flickr: The 5by5 Pool Roderick on the Line • Roderick on the Line Ep. 48 Trailer - “Wherever... Twitter / nebulousapps: Just submitted Nebulous Notes...

TOPIC : Superpowers, Madness, and the Pursuit of Interesting Problems Dan and Merlin talk about the superpowers you have and can't control as well as the demons and drivers that our heroes have and can't control. How sometimes we find ourselves craving the screaming in someone else's head. Because, we surely do love and revere our Beautiful Losers and Genius Lunatics . Entered into evidence: Hunte...

TOPIC : Obsessions, Compulsions, Obsessions, and Compulsions. Also, Obsessions—and Compulsions. This week, Dan and Merlin lick the doorknob five times, tap their heads with their shoes, and ponder the problem of obsessions and compulsions. Links for this episode: Staying on Top of Calendar Events — Jamie Phelps Morning Glory | You Look Nice Today Staying on Top of Calendar Events — Jamie Phelps Sa...

TOPIC : Capture, Contracts, and Mapping the Territory. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about keeping an honest calendar and ensuring you regularly review your "contracts" with yourself. Chock-a-block with practical COM-ponents for making sure your map is up to date with the territory. ¿Spanish question marks? ¡Si! Zibba-zabba! Fax my gal! Links for this episode: [SPONSOR] Squarespace (10% off with...

TOPIC: Honesty and Sociopathy Go to Work Merlin and Dan talk about the cultural divide between you and your work. Coping with work is a little like being a sociopath so you better make sure you're taking away the right lessons and being honest about the right things. Anything else is a little dishonest. You don't need to quit your job, but you made want to at least resign your certainty. Nice!™ Li...

TOPIC: Kicking and Screaming Merlin has been dragged kicking and screaming into at least two things this week. Sometimes, that works out, and sometimes it doesn't. But, how many of those things do we need? How many can you sign up for? How often do you see Beast coming down the hall? There aren't that many things you have to do, but how can you see it coming? Well, you know where your cumin is and...

TOPIC : Adapting to the Danger Room of Life Dan and Merlin talk about how the protagonist of your story handles change in personal and work environments. How do you respond in the face of change you haven't anticipated or isn't conducive to who you want to be? What is the worst that could happen? Who can help you except you? Links for this episode: kung fu grippe • I’m The Old One I love this phot...

TOPIC : Gut Churn, Pointing Arrows, and Recognizing Change This week, Dan and Merlin talk at length about a recent article by Radiolab 's Jad Abumrad , called, " The Terrors & Occasional Virtues of Not Knowing What You’re Doing ." From the genesis of Radiolab through casting about for what comes next, Jad's article reads like a Greatest Hits of Back to Work . Just terrific. It all comes down t...

TOPIC : Motivation, Hardware Stores, and Fighting the Last War This week, Dan and Merlin talk about motivation—how it changes, how it doesn't, and how it can be fueled by anxiety and cognitive dissonance. There is also discussion of Merlin's pear tart problem, the challenge of the engineering triangle, and, yeah, a new t-shirt That's Fine for Merlin . Links for this episode: Back to Work That's Fi...

TOPICS: Better Meat & Working Backwards This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the many strategic and tactical benefits of reverse-engineering your next project. There is also extensive discussion of choosing, preparing, and cooking meat. It's not food until is sounds like food and it smells like food. Links for this episode: 5by5 | The Incomparable #98: Obscure References and Sadness [SPONSOR]...

TOPIC : Feeling Stuck in the Middle This week, Dan and Merlin talk about a topic suggested by listener, @toddsandends : what happens when you're stuck enforcing rules you don't agree with? Whether you're a security guard, an RA, a SysAdmin, a character on The Wire , or pretty much anybody else, sometimes there's just stuff you gotta do. Even when you think it's a terrible idea. So, who's allowed t...

TOPIC : How Much Honesty Can We Stand? This week, Dan and Merlin talk about how ridiculously complex "Honesty" can be. Do "Candor," "Transparency," "Frankness," and all those other Capital Letter Nouns mean the same thing? Links for this episode: Things said can't be unsaid - selfesteem cruelty brutalhonesty | Ask MetaFilter The 'Busy' Trap - NYTimes.com [SPONSOR] Squarespace (10% off with offer c...

TOPIC : Aspects of Letting Go This week, Dan and Merlin talk about two very different viewports into doing what you want to do and being who you want to be. There's the non-fiddly value you earn from getting junk out of your head and into a place you trust (in this instance, OmniFocus location-based contexts). Then, there's the "what the cuss?" situation faced by listener, "Evan," who's struggling...

TOPIC: Confidence, Courage, and the Problem with Thinking This week, Dan and Merlin talk about why we may or may not feel confident to do stuff. How do other people seem to get it so easily, and where do they find the courage? Well. You walk through The Forum, you check the mics, and you never let thinking get in your way. Too much thinking? UNACCEPTABLE! Dungeon. Seven years. No trials. Links for...

TOPIC : The Problem with Passive-Aggression. If that's okay with you. This week, Dan and Merlin apologize if they've made you unhappy with an episode about passive-aggressiveness , wussy non-communication, and non-apology apologies. But, maybe, that'll just have to be okay with them. But, could you PLEASE take your tuna out of the fridge, pick up after your dog, make more coffee, change the toilet...

TOPIC : Recalibrating Expectations This week, Dan and Merlin talk more about struggling with expectations. Everybody's expectations . Including yours. Why it's worth recalibrating your own expectations, managing others' expectations, and accepting the impossibility of knowing—let alone meeting—the expectations of the entire world. Because, that's monkeyballs. We also learn that Merlin likes his bu...

TOPIC: Boogers and Expectations Are you making perfect reports when your boss just wants them on time? Are you making crème brûlée when you should be jumping in a trench? Are wangs and boogers causing problems at work? This week, Dan and Merlin talk more about expectations – whether you're willing to or not – and the risks of expectations of partners, bosses, and kids. How can you handle...