43 Folders

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Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

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”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Our Most Popular Posts

Dot Grid Notebooks

I am an architect. I recently began using the extra large (7.5" x 9.75") gridded Moleskine cahiers for my note-taking. They are nice, but, what would be even nicer would be a notebook of a similar size featuring a dot grid. Instead of defining the grid with lines, just dots at 5mm vertical and horizontal centers.

Behance offers one but it is too pricey at $14.00 and I really dislike perforated pages; they all too often come loose of their own accord.

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Web tools

Does anyone have any observations and (or comparisons) of these applications (both on the web and mobile)?

Email Organization

Email Organization

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Best Entourage hack for getting inbox to empty

Best Entourage hack for getting inbox to empty

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Drop the text file, and step away from the Powerbook

MacBreakZ - Your Personal Ergonomic Assistant

Designer, gentleman, and Vice-President of my Personal Board of Directors™, Doug Bowman, recently told me about this cool OSX app for reminding yourself to take frequent breaks.

MacBreakZ is a personal ergonomic assistant that monitors our keyboard and mouse use and helps us structure our computer use in a healthy and constructive manner, thus preventing computer-related injuries from developing.

I’ve long suspected that I will eventually have a hunch and a couple glass eyes from my execrable ergonomic habits, and this seems like a smart solution for reminding myself what my brain often neglects: sometimes it’s nice to stand up and walk around.

Apparently, you can even set it to lock up your box until you’ve successfully completed your break. Might be a bit much for most folks, but I’ll bet it’s a sure way to save your eyes and wrists from some hard mileage.

Help Me Figure Out How to Spend 12 More Hours a Week

punch_clock.jpgMinor milestone in my household coming soon: my son is starting preschool, meaning I'll suddenly have more time on my hands. It's only three mornings a week though; as much as I'd like to hire someone to read to me, it's not enough time to start anything major. But it is enough that I can't waste the opportunity. Four hours of quiet, non-Sprout time in the morning is perfect for getting the high-priority stuff out of the way. I need to come up with a game plan so I don't end up watching SportsCenter and fiddling with iTunes the whole time.

I have my own strategy, of course, but I wanted to ask the wise elders here how I should spend an extra 12 hours a week, and see if we can spot any holes in my plan.

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Tags in Windows

Tags in Windows

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Un-Kinked GTD Tiddly Wiki Plus

Un-Kinked GTD Tiddly Wiki Plus

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Goodies from The Word Spy

Found a bunch of goodies yesterday on The Word Spy.

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Vertical 2-page-per-week Calendar?

Vertical 2-page-per-week Calendar?

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Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »