Topic: The Narcissism of Small Differences This week, Merlin has a quiz for Dan to determine whether Ben Franklin, The Immigrant Song, or Quantum Mechanics has the most cultural impact—as well as his go-to for uninstalling Android apps. Paying attention to the same degree you care goes nicely with having a sense of humor. Especially about those small differences regarding couch cushions, pink spaceships, and Sgt. Pepper’s. The answers are Moby Dick, Julian calendars, ZoSo, chigger bites, and—yes—The Greater Nerd Theory.
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Tagged with “barriers”
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5by5 | Back to Work #45: Finagling the Tree Bag
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5by5 | Back to Work #44: Circuitous Bridge of My Own Design
Topic: Moving from dumb nouns to awesome verbs. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the problem with Capital Letter Nouns; how real and specific verbs will always trounce Excellence, Effectiveness, and Mission Statements—even in the Best-of-Breed Pursuance of Five-Nines Quality Across The Enterprise. They also look at transitive and intransitive flavors of “feasance,” finding your keyboard’s Excellence Key, opting-in for The Johnson Treatment, lancing that actionable boil, and (as ever) shooting the obvious fish in the obvious barrel.
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5by5 | Back to Work #39: A Source of Rice with Velocity
Dan and Merlin talk about the many facets of strength, including the complexity of knowing what to be strong about, to whom, and when.
It’s about way more than nailing the “clean and jerk” or yelling at Sips-His-Coffee-Really-Loud Guy. It’s also about accepting all the things they just can’t stand about you.
Also covered: the inescapability of Italian disco, maintaining an unassailable lawn, confronting skinny ladies in heels, negotiating D-minus hip-hop, and finding the will to spelunk all the way down the personal productivity stack.
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Back to Work #38: Sorry. You Can’t Have a Candle.
On improving presentation culture. Dan and Merlin talk about bombing the deck, advancing the slides, and striving to improve the self-perpetuating bad culture of presentations. Slide?!? (Also, kid germs in the spaghetti, meeting the angry corn guy, and moving closer to the metal with our Showbot hero.)
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Back to Work #37: It’s Never Not Everywhere
This week, Merlin Mann takes on iCloud while lauding Dropbox. He and Dan observe angry corn, discuss e-mailing files to yourself, determine what to do if you take an ugly family photo, and explain Mr. Noodle, Mr. Noodle’s brother.
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5by5 | Back to Work #35: Why My Pants Were On Fire
Merlin and Dan can’t solve the problem of interviews being dumb, but Merlin will tell you what is wrong with you, how long you’ll have to wait for your resume to get you a job, how Larry Wall interviews for a Perl job, and whether or not the answer is always Yes, like they were just telling Stephen (yes, Hawking).
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5by5 | Back to Work #33: The Hypocrite You Can Live With
Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin have a totally natural emotional reaction to the unreasonable demands they place on themselves after reading The Spongebob Report. Maybe they wouldn’t have offended non-ex-Marines if they had just taken some time and consulted their Manager of Expectations.
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Back to Work #30: I’m Not Working in an Abattoir - 5by5
Back to Work #30: I’m Not Working in an Abattoir - 5by5
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Back to Work #29: I Download FLAC - 5by5
With Dan on sabbatical, Merlin is joined by TV’s Rob Corddry (Children’s Hospital, The Daily Show, Hot Tub Time Machine) to talk about Getting Things Done, writing, fear, and finding success as a blood-soaked clown.
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Back to Work #28: One Little Red Egg - 5by5
Dan and Merlin talk about kid stuff, including the threat of Hot Wheels® donation, the inevitability of skinned knees, the nefariousness of the hospital gift basket, plus an important way every Dad has to go pro.
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