
Cranking - seancron
http://www.43folders.com/2011/04/22/cranking
======
InfinityX0
John Siracusa had a great point about Merlin. There was some criticism that a
"productivity expert" not being able to ship is quite paradoxical. However, as
Siracusa stated, the reason Merlin has so much to say on the subject is
because he's spent so much time struggling with his own failures in that area.
Someone who's trying to lose weight isn't going to learn much from someone
who's 80 pounds and has been their entire life, because they've never really
faced the struggle of ever losing the weight themselves. On the other hand,
Jared from Subway may be an apt subject to learn from because he has faced the
path and difficulty of obesity and continues to fight it.

That, combined with the ADD he is diagnosed with, means that I find reading
his advice and loving it while still knowing that shipping stuff for him is an
extremely difficult thing to do completely acceptable.

~~~
elithrar
Just to add: you can listen to Siracusa's comments re: Merlin on Hypercritical
[1].

Also worth listening to is Merlin's own podcast (with Dan Benjamin) called
Back to Work [2]. A lot of his recent talk has been about his book, the
challenges in meeting the deadlines (along the lines of 'a few thousand words
by next week') and how he manages the process. Merlin himself is like no-one
else, and I can assure you that you won't be bored by his show.

[1]: <http://5by5.tv/hypercritical/15> [2]: <http://5by5.tv/b2w>

~~~
fredleblanc
On the boredom thing, I think it depends. I think there is a lot of wisdom in
what Merlin is saying, but sometimes it can take him 15 minutes worth of mixed
metaphors and magical tangents to get to a point better found in a minute or
so. This show is particularly guilty in the earlier episodes.

For me, I think I prefer reading his writing. While also lengthy, it's been
edited and trimmed back. It focuses on just the metaphors that full apply.

(Although for long car/train rides, Back to Work is fantastic.)

~~~
achompas
I don't see why you were downvoted on this--Merlin cracks on himself when he
doesn't answer a question directly (which, by his own admission, happens very
frequently).

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rglover
I'm not a father and don't intend to be for some time. But as a person who can
be overly dedicated at times, this is most definitely a heads up. It's
difficult to do things that you don't like to do, especially when there are
other things that you'd much rather be doing (spending time with
family/significant others, or, generally not giving away your time to
bullshit). I think Merlin understands that and is teaching everyone a great
lesson with this article: sometimes you need to stop, think, and pay attention
to things that matter (i.e. not your job). Hopefully, anybody that takes on
the mindset that Merlin has will be comforted by a boss or whomever and be
allowed to "take a break" (not a vacation) and do as they please. Anybody who
is a boss, manager, or otherwise needs to take note.

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ja27
One of my favorite pieces from Merlin is his 'To Have Done List' podcast. The
short version is to mentally transform that todo list that isn't getting done
into a list that includes the benefit and your emotional relief once those
items are done.

[http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/16/43f-podcast-the-to-
have-...](http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/16/43f-podcast-the-to-have-done-
list)

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erik_p
Writing a book is hard. I had a book contract once, and for a multitude of
personal & productivity reasons, failed to ship. So I definitely relate to the
problems associated with the pressures of deadline driven forced
creativity/production. To this day, I regret not finishing that book.

It sounds like Merlin is making the right choice for him, right now. The end
product will probably be better for this experience... how did it get this
point? Why was he writing empty chapters to satisfy his deadlines. Assuming
this book is about productivity, there's probably some definite lessons
learned to share if he digs deep.

~~~
surfingdino
I don't know why it went that way, but I know that having kids is a full time
job that doesn't help the process of writing (books or software). I have a
small daughter and I know how hard it is to reconcile the duties of parenthood
and making money. I keep my fingers crossed for him.

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ra
As a dad, it's hard not to be touched by that story

~~~
davidjhall
As a dad, who also had a cancer-ridden father in a hospital bed that took up
most of the living room, it's hard to not cry at work reading that story.

~~~
v21
Fuck, I cried at work, just as a son who loves his father.

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VB6_Foreverr
Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that Merlin Mann got the name for his
site '43 folders' from David Allen's 'Getting things done' book. I have been
trying to implement GTD techniques for some time. The 43 folder idea appealed
to me hugely at first, on a first reading of that book it was the single most
seductive technique. I am still using GTD but I've dumped the 43 folders. At
the same time I have come to see the value of strategies in the book that at
first reading didn't seem all the helpful. The reason I dumped the 43 folders
is that I don't think it's suitable for personal organisation. The problem was
that with a folder (for every day in the current month = 31) and one for every
month (12), the daily folders were mostly empty. This meant that there wasn't
an incentive to check them every day and then you end up forgetting to do it
and then you miss stuff. The technique might work well for a business though.
Now I just store references to 'incubating' items in my phone calendar (which
is synced with my google calendar). Sorry for going off on a tangent.

~~~
jvdh
I've been doing some GTD on and off, and to me the whole point is pick and
choose. The 43 folders is one idea that I thought of as a good one, but not
suitable for me.

I wonder if the 43 folders might work in an e-mail form though for putting
e-mails off to a later date and then review them.

~~~
VB6_Foreverr
I don't think there's a way of doing that, in gmail anyway. Closest I can see
is to take the url of the email and paste it into the calendar

~~~
edash
Boomerang for Gmail does this...

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jmathai
I grew up around there (Cincinnati, OH). Have totally been to the Jewish
Hospital and the Larosas.

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joe24pack
57signals, 43folders, 114files, 99sockets, four6packs, 85meetoos ... is this a
new trend in naming sites?

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riklomas
The first post on 43folders was Aug 31 2004, so probably not

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joe24pack
See, I can't keep up with the times.

