Back to Work

TOPIC: LEGO and Expertise

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about LEGO and what becoming a Master Builder can teach us about expertise.

Also: tooth fairies, binder clips, and the pedagogical warning s…

TOPIC: ““Experiencing Issues”” with Customer Service

This week, Dan and Merlin analyze what's really going wrong when we get bad customer service. Spoiler: The brand is only as sound as its day-to-d…

TOPIC: Time, Sleep, and Aspirations

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about impossible trade-offs and the benefits of remembering this is actually your life.

Links for this episode:

• More Reflection, Le…

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about shaving, lights, and Dan's amazing new superpower.

Links for this episode:

• 5by5 | CMD+Space #85: Being a Geek, with John Siracusa
  This week Myke is joined by John …

Merlin and Dan talk about Library Elf, app launchers like Quicksilver and Alfred, Stanley Kubrick, pushing people to create greatness, not knowing what you like until you see it, the typefaces of Moo…

TOPIC: Why We Have Doors.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about internet nostalgia, hacking vs. whacking, and why we have doors for a reason.

Links for this episode:

• FAQ Friday - What have you wonder…

TOPIC: The Spreadsheet of You

This week, Dan and Merlin talk more about sleep and how self-quantization can goose your mindfulness.

Links for this episode:

• [SPONSOR] Build a Website — Squarespace
  
• [SP…

TOPIC: Better Sleep Habits

This week, Dan and Merlin do a deep dive on building better sleep habits with a focus on the paradoxes and planning of daily activities that can make all the difference.

…

TOPIC: Isolation and Identity

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about civility, identity, Florida, and how you can't unsee Idiocracy.

Links for this episode:

• The Living Wiccan, Curse Removal & Reversal
  
• …

TOPIC: The Attention Stack

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about—what?—maybe the attention stack. How what we pay attention to (and, yes spend our time on) can't help but affect how we see, think, fe…

TOPIC: The thoughts we think. And think. And think.

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about anxiety, compulsive thoughts, and how to at least crack an air hole in a big problem.

Way of the future.

Li…

TOPIC: Consistency, Change, and Counting-Down

This week, Dan and Merlin return to the evergreen topic of new year's resolutions. Remember: in the main, you are what you've already done a lot.

Links…

TOPIC: Christmas and Control

This week, Dan and Merlin meander through holiday matters, including the Winter Warlock-like impotence of having your electric meter blow up on Christmas Eve Eve.

Links…

TOPIC: Enough.

This week, Dan and Merlin meander around the meaning of, "enough," pondering the deep existential pit we dig for ourselves and maybe how to get out of it.

Merry Christmas. Get your h…

TOPIC: Criticism and Its Discontents

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about criticism, people who don't like you, and how much to let each have anything to do with the work you produce.

Links for thi…

TOPIC: Gooseneck Options

This week, with Dan re-sick and Merlin full of beans, the boys do a deep dive on hand washing, purpose-built bathroom activity gadgets, and the benefits of arming our childr…

TOPIC: Perfectionism and Procrastination

This week, Dan and Merlin talk about why the classic meanings of perfectionism mostly miss the mark; it's less about being scared to finish and more about be…

TOPIC: Going Mobile-er.

This week, Dan and Merlin are very sick, so they talk about being sick. Then, they talk about what it would take to move to using just an iPad Air on the road.

Links for thi…

TOPIC: Grab bag

This week, Dan takes a minute to sit down with Merlin to talk about bathroom GIFs, Marvel movies, private school ejection, and a new interview with Merlin that is very very long.

Li…

TOPIC: Perception and Perspective.

In their second ever live, face-to-face episode, Dan and Merlin talk about goats, noise gate, and taking a step back for a better view of where you are.

Links for…