The Monthly Pimp

Catching Up: 3 Interviews from a Cooling Crucible

Merlin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:05:20 -0400

After almost a year of hand-wringing, fretting, and occasionally even writing the odd string of English words, I've finally started turning into the home stretch with the first draft of my Inbox Zero book.

If it hasn't been obvious, or you couldn't just guess, this book project's been a big rock for me. Given the effort it's taken (read: most every hour I'm not sleeping, working, or pushing my daughter in a swing), it's also the primary reason why updates to 43 Folders have been so scarce over the last few months. The spirit was willing, but the brain--insanely sick of thinking about these very topics--was weak.

Yes, as it turns out, writing a book does require an extraordinary expenditure of both attention and time. And, in my own case, I'll confess that this often meant working even more than four hours a week. But, who knows? Maybe that's just a consequence of my slow typing and abject lack of lifetrepreneurship.

Thing is, this has also been a fantastic and exhilarating time for me. Despite the pressure, the stress, and the alternating tickity-tock of both clock and keyboard, in the end, performing the architecture and masonry required to build such a large project demanded that I gather a lot of seemingly unrelated material, choose the most promising ingredients, and then heat it all up in a deadline-fueled crucible. Sure, it's been mostly good pressure (who the hell complains about having a book deal?), but it's still been real pressure.

Fortunately, with much relief and abundant gratitude, I can say that I'm really satisfied with the emerging artifact. And, of course, I really hope you guys feel the same way when the book comes out. Probably some time in the fall of 2049.

Coming Up for Air

I mention all this here because, if you follow any of the stuff I do and say elsewhere, you'll have noticed a recent uptick in the number of appearances I've been making around the web. That's the happy confluence of my (finally) coming up for air, combined with my determination to (finally) make good on endless months of snoozed and punted and re-re-re-scheduled interview requests from some very cool people, publications, and podcasts. (Thanks to everyone who's asked and, if I missed you, please ask again.)

So, today, I beg your indulgence to share three recent interviews with me that I like quite a lot.

While all three are profiles of me and what I've been doing and thinking about as I work on this infernal book business, they also each bear directly on the topics that I know mean a lot to you guys, too. Especially, if you're one of the band of brothers who've stuck with me and courageously kept this XML-enabled null space in your feed reader since my much-discussed shift away from productivity pr0n.

Thus, by way of inarguably self-involved catch-up--and as an informal reintroduction to how I truly believe you can "find the time and attention to do your best creative work"--here's three recent interviews:

on the values of voice, openness, and making mindful creative work;
on a very detailed exegesis of my tactical workflow;
on the benefits of diving into the projects that terrify you

I really hope you'll like them.

The Pipeline, ep. 7; with Dan Benjamin

The Pipeline 7: Merlin Mann | 5 by 5

Download MP3 of "The Pipeline, ep. 7" | Huffduff This

My longtime hero, Hivelogic's Dan Benjamin, recently invited me onto 5 by 5's flagship podcast, "The Pipeline." While it was intimidating to know I'd be standing alongside such august (and superior) talent as Zeldman, Haughey, Coudal, and Inman, I was honored to be asked, and I'm extremely happy with the results.

We cover a lot of territory in less than 40 minutes, but we basically hit on almost every major topic that means a lot to me right now, including, the power of voice, the challenges of knowledge work, the perils of the Lizard Brain, the primacy of action, the seeming unavoidability of Buddhism, and the hidden dangers of following herds, chasing dumb traffic, and aping the "success" of others.

Thanks much for this opportunity, Dan. You're a real pro.

Mac Power Users, ep. 23; with David Sparks and Katie Floyd

Mac Power Users» Blog Archive » MPU 023: Workflows with Merlin Mann

Download MP3 of "Mac Power Users, ep. 23" | Huffduff This

Averse as I am to promoting productivity pr0n for its own sake, this tour de force podcast should be a lot of fun to anyone who's interested in Mac and iPhone workflows.

Because, believe it or not, I am besieged with daily requests for details on how I actually work. And, if you have even the vaguest passing interest in how I currently sew together OmniFocus, Notational Velocity, TextExpander, Pastebot, Pinboard, Instapaper, Simplenote, Scrivener, MultiMarkdown, Quicksilver, and more, more, more, prepare for your head to explode multiple times. There's a lot here, so don't miss Katie's exhaustive show notes for a full run-down.

But, like I said, please do take all this in doses. This is something I've evolved over years, so you certainly don't need to stop what you're doing to try to implement all of this.

Still, I have to say, this podcast lays out an empirically nerdtastic workflow which even the dorkiest Mac fanboy will find something new and awesome in. And, yes, there's loads of non-tool-fetish advice on how to do the actual work. I promise.

Thanks so much to David and Katie for putting up with 90 minutes of me talking very quickly about the most embarrassing details of my encompassing Mac dorkery.

MaxFunCon Podcast, ep. 12; "Keep Moving"; with Jesse Thorn

iTunes: MaxFunCon Podcast Episode 12, Merlin Mann

Download MP3 of "MaxFunCon Podcast, ep. 12" | Huffduff This

I'm an unapologetic fan of everything Jesse Thorn does, including The Sound of Young America, Jordan Jesse GO!, and, of course, his annual conference celebrating all things awesome, MaxFunCon. In fact, you may remember the talk on "Getting Started" that I presented at MFC last year.

In this admittedly rambling (but hopefully charming) interview, Jesse and I talk about what makes MaxFunCon so special, as well as how a person who's as--to use Jesse's parlance--"ADD-addled" as I am can actually put a 50,000-word book together. Along the way I profess my love for Maria Bamford, Jonathan Coulton, and Chris Hardwick, as well as extol the virtues of drinking vodka from a glass skull with John Hodgman.

Silliness aside, we talk frankly about the pants-be-crapping fear of performing (and the more profound terror of sucking at performing) that dogs anyone who's ever decided to get up in front of a bunch of strangers and try to be entertaining. It's hard. So hard. Which is kind of why I love it.

Alas, MaxFunCon 2010 is now way sold out, but you can claim your spot on the waiting list by writing to maxfuncon at gmail. It is, as I've repeatedly said, easily the best conference I've ever attended. Ever. Even more than DB/Expo '97.

Thanks for your patience with this one, and sorry in advance if this seems all me-me-me.

But, if anything, 43 Folders is a site that started and still exists for me to share what has and hasn't worked for me along the road to trying to make great stuff.

I hope all three of these interviews will be of interest to anyone who walks that same road, stumbles onto those same shoulders, and shares my cardinal interest in always dusting yourself off, stepping back on the path, and plodding toward whatever comes next.

Onward, friends.

”Catching Up: 3 Interviews from a Cooling Crucible” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on March 18, 2010. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Today through Saturday: Merlin's Advanced OmniFocus Demo (MacWorld Booth #760)

Merlin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:46:12 -0500

I'll have a more proper Monthly Pimp on-deck here soon, but -- time being of the essence here -- I wanted to make sure and extend an invitation for something I'll be doing in town today.

If you're one of my nerdy band of brothers who's in San Francisco this week for MacWorld, please do come visit me between 1:30 and 2:30 (today, Friday, and Saturday), at the giant, glistening, Oz-like Omni Group booth (#760).

As below (via), I'll be blowing minds and curling shorties with some of the most advanced-level, post-doc OmniFocus fu that I know. And, as is my wont, I'll also be sharing some of the deeper mojo that explains why OF was built the way it was (read: why it's so [ugh.] 'complicated'), and how you can choose to leverage that functionality in building a personalized and friction-free workflow. And, yeah, while I'll certainly be touching on the connections with GTD, the big focus will be on thinking about how to support that phrase Ethan and I came up with so many years ago:

Always focus on shortening the path from cognition to completion.

Love that. Pretty much sums up my take on the whole productivity game in one sentence.

Me? I'll be easy enough to recognize today -- I'm the one with the throwing stars in my gi and the sandalfoot pantyhose¹ on his head.

from the Omni Group's post:

Merlin Mann: Advanced Secrets of the Omnifocus Ninja

Thursday through Saturday afternoons from 1:30-2:30pm, Merlin Mann (43 Folders, MacBreak Weekly, You Look Nice Today) will stealthily rappel into the Omni Group’s booth (#760) to demonstrate the arcane and deadly methods of the OmniFocus Ninja. Long thought by many to be an elaborate myth or hoax, these ancient productivity moves unlock the hidden power of Omni’s award-winning task management app.

Working the bookmarklet
Friction-free task management right from your iPhone
Tricking-out your Perspectives
Slice and dice your work into perfect-sized cubes
Novel uses for on-hold projects
Out of sight means out-of-mind — until you need it
Location, Location, Location!
Using the power of location-awareness in your contexts
BONUS: Five more tiny OmniFocus tricks almost nobody knows about
(seeeeeekr1t!)

Hope to see you there!

Come. Love. Booth. Okay?

And, yes, I the Titular Ninja also really hope to see you and your neckbeard in ole 760 today.

Because, seriously? Don't be that guy who hangs back and doesn't come up and say "hi" like a person. You must introduce yourself and high-five or shake hands or take a picture of us frenching or whatever. I don't want to see a bunch of toots about how you almost came up. Don't be that Lizard Brain guy, right? Exactly.²

Noooooo....I'm not actually wearing sandalfoot pantyhose on my heard. Everybody knows real ninjas wear taupe Sheer Energy® Control Top L'eggs®. ↩
Well. Frankly, we don't have to french. That's just what we in the industry call "a value add." If you want, you can just learn to become insanely productive, then go drink with Gruber, Moltz, Seoulbrother, and the rest of the Dream Team. (That's what I'll be doing, anyhow) ↩

”Today through Saturday: Merlin's Advanced OmniFocus Demo (MacWorld Booth #760)” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on February 11, 2010. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

The Monthly Pimp: January '09 Edition

Merlin — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:19:02 -0500

Although it's been way more than a month, per our little agreement, here's some recent Merlin-related stuff that may interest you. Really good stuff this time around.

Today/Friday: Macworld PULSE

Like Chairman Gruber, I'm frustrated that it's crazy-hard to link to our session. But, basically today is one (wow, long) day of TED-ish 20-minute presentations from...

Dan DiPaola, Co-Founder, HD-encoding.com

Adam Engst, TidBITS

John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Craig Hockenberry, The Iconfactory

Andy Ihnatko, The Chicago Sun Times

Vincent LaForet, Photographer

Merlin Mann, 43 Folders

Chris Pirillo, Lockergnome

Rick Smolan, Photographer

Ge Wang, Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), Stanford University

Musical Group LIYANA

Great group, if -- yikes -- a total sausage fest. Come hear me make shit up about "Design Patterns" for creativity.

I'm pretty sure my session is at 11:20. Right after Gruber. So, if anyone asks, I'll be happy to do my impression of him. He loves that.

New Video Project: "Most Days"

Most Days

Most Days (2009-01-04) from Merlin Mann on Vimeo.

I'm trying my hand at a (close to) daily video. Basically, every morning, I turn on the camera and just start talking. With the barest of preparation, no script, no editing, and ideally no more than two takes. The primary goal is regularity over polish, and the ideal outcome is whatever the heck it turns into.

I'm only committing to doing it (daily) for a week. But, given what I'm hoping to do with video over the next year, I have a feeling it'll go longer. We'll see. It's an exercise in I'm-not-quite-sure-what, but I hope you'll enjoy it. Or at least tolerate it.

In keeping with that lack of certainty (and with a deliberate openness to whatever the project decides it wants to be), I've titled it, "Most Days."

I'm no Jean Shepherd, but, what the heck, it's a project.

CBC Spark "How to Blog" Series

Spark | CBC Radio | Full Merlin Mann Series: How To Blog

I do a regular bit on CBC's wonderful Spark radio program. If you enjoyed my "How to Blog" video, you'll like this 5-part series we did on the same topic. Man, I love working with Nora and Dan. They're just great people and total pros.

Here's a zip file of all the Spark segments in one place.

You Look Nice Today: "The Noises Rest"

"The Noises Rest" on Vimeo
The Noises Rest | You Look Nice Today

OK, I'll admit it: I'm really proud of this.

MoMA (yes: that MoMA) asked us "You Look Nice Today" guys to make a video response to some silent films that they screened the other night. So, Adam, Scott, and I got together in LA a few weekends ago, and made "The Noises Rest."

It's a short film about doing "Foley" for silent movies. We wrote and shot it ourselves, and Adam (as usual) did an amazing job with editing the final product. Supposedly Michel Gondry was at the screening. Which is terrifying.

Looks way better in gorgeous HD, but here's an embed for you:

"The Noises Rest" from lonelysandwich on Vimeo.

Don't tell anyone, but "You Look Nice Today" is my favorite thing I do. Love those magnificent bastards. And their car horns. Subscribe to YLNT on the iTunes.

Also

Exclusive Audio Interview: Leo Interviews Merlin Mann of 43 Folders - I really like this interview. Leo was nice. If you enjoy the "new" 43f direction toward creativity, rather than "productivity tips," you'll get some insight into how I arrived here. If that matters to you.
SF Sketchfest: Monsters of Podcasting w/ Jordan, Jesse, Go! and You Look Nice Today at Eureka Theatre (Sunday January 25, 2009) - Upcoming - Come see You Look Nice Today and Jordan, Jesse, Go! live on stage, at the insanely great SF SketchFest. Tickets here.
Integrated Media Association Conference - Pretty sure I'm confirmed as a speaker at this public radio conference in Atlanta next month. Hoping I can finally meet Jay Allison and give him his long-overdue opportunity to punch me in the mouth. While someone gently fingerpicks a guitar.
43 Folders Clips - Don't forget about the new 43f sub-blog of notable things that are getting my attention. [RSS it]

And, finally

You should totally hire me to speak to your company or group. I'm good at it, plus it's really fun and theoretically useful. Now booking Quarter 2 and beyond. Email Erica: speaking at merlin mann dot com.

As ever, thanks for your patience with the pimping. I appreciate your time and attention very much.

”The Monthly Pimp: January '09 Edition” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 09, 2009. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

The Monthly Pimp: August Edition

Merlin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:11:54 -0400

Here's the latest stuff Merlin's been up to, here and abroad.

Huh? “Monthly Pimp?”

Meta: New experiment. Everybody hates endless self-promotion. I know I do. So, except where called for by amazingly useful exception, I’d like all “Yay Merlin” stuff that makes it to the content well of the 43f home page (including recent interviews and podcasts, new projects, as well as recent and upcoming appearances of possible interest) to be ganged into a single monthlyish post.

Nota Bene: I’d also like to encourage all my friends with blogs to try a similar experiment in personal curation. Our internet visitors are here to be delighted by useful stuff, not to watch a blogger smell his finger. Right? Exactly. Welcome. And thank you. No, thank you.

Merlin's Upcoming Stuff

Start. A Conference for Entrepreneurs. Tomorrow, my pals, Jeff and Bryan are putting on an amazing conference for people who are thinking of doing a startup. It's very close to sold out, but there's still time to see me, Mena, Ev, and many more folks talk about how to sensibly take your idea to the web. Register while you still can (it's cheap). Who knows? You might even get to see something special.
IzeaFest. In September, I'll be in Orlando, Florida to talk about how to build a smart blog for smart people without resorting to tricks and games. And, no: I will not be holding up AdSense checks for "Cash Proof."

For more information about inviting me to speak at your company or event, drop a line.

Merlin: Recently and Elsewhere

Guestblogging: Blogging at Maximum Fun. For the next couple weeks, me and the other You Look Nice Today "talent" will be guest-blogging over at Jesse's site; Jesse has apparently fooled a woman into marrying him. (Congrats, J&T)
Appearance: iPhone DevCamp. Participated in a fun panel with Dom, Mike, and Brian, talking about what we want from iPhone apps, what patterns to replicate, and which pitfalls to avoid. As ever, much love for Remote.
Interview: Real estate information overload | Inman News. Really enjoyed this interview with Glenn in advance of my talk at the Inman Connect conference a couple weeks back. How can you tell a good interviewer? You talk a lot about things you didn't realize you were thinking about.
Interview: "Technology in the Arts" podcast. Was interviewed by a very nice man called Brad about productivity, "branding," and why editing helps everything not to suck.

Player

Merlin's Ongoing Projects

Podcast: You Look Nice Today. We're off on walkabout until the end of the month or so, but it's a great time to catch up on recent episodes. Also the perfect time to go all the way back and start where it all began: Episode 2.
And, remember: You Look Nice Today is not safe for anything. Not even as a floor wax.
Blog: Kung Fu Grippe. My favorite recent posts on my personal blog were about MLM videos, the Flip Video camera, My Neighbor Totoro, a fertility monitor, Twyla Tharp's advice on creativity, and a test of Modomi, featuring The Long Winters.
Photos: Flickr. People recently enjoyed images of a business offer for YLNT, a banjo, the Dwight Schrute my daughter broke, and a delightful short film that my daughter directed.
Toots: Twitter. People seemed to like Toots about books, the internet, speakerphones, and my new catchphrase. Then there's my new nemesis, fakemerlinmann.

Thank you for bravely suffering my pimp. See you next month.

”The Monthly Pimp: August Edition” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on August 06, 2008. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"