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.

Solid tactics for understanding (and beating) procrastination

Overcoming Procrastination Through the Pull Method

Excellent, Neil Fiore-esque advice on unpacking why you’re procrastinating and rewiring the crummy thinking that supports it.

Advice such as “just buckle down and do it,” “get organized,” and “try harder” are based on a dysfunctional definition of procrastination. What they’re really saying is: “If you weren’t such a lazy bum you could do this. No fooling around. Life is dull and hard. There’s no time for fun. Work is a horrible thing to contemplate, but you have to do it anyway.” Most procrastination happens because through procrastinating we are temporarily able to relieve fears: fear of failure, fear of being imperfect, fear of impossible expectations. Most of these fears, in turn, are ultimately based in the idea that work and life are awful struggles which we must somehow get through and that this whole horrible process will somehow make us better people in the long run.

Z. D. Smith's picture

Oh god, oh god. That...

Oh god, oh god. That font. I was so excited—I clicked on the link, and then my eyeballs split. Arial Narrow. Boy, that's bad.

 
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An Oblique Strategy:
Honor thy error as a hidden intention


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