
The Way I Work: TechCrunch's Michael Arrington - mjh8136
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20101001/the-way-i-work-michael-arrington-techcrunch.html
======
danilocampos
And with this my opinion of Arrington shifts from "hey, he's kind of a self-
important dick" to "huh, this guy is an introvert who's confident and
passionate about his work, kind of like me."

Guy's all right. And my hat's off to him for building something truly powerful
from scratch.

~~~
dabent
And I'm surprised at his drive "I’d work until I passed out, and wake up eight
or nine hours later, which might be 4 p.m. or 3 a.m. Then I’d work again until
I passed out." I don't think I've known many people to push it quite that
hard.

~~~
j79
I've met plenty of people who have to work two (sometimes, even three) jobs
just to make ends meet. They work non-stop, exposed to the elements, doing
manual labor - all to make ends meet.

The guy sits in front of his computer all day, blasting music.

As a developer, I realize sitting in front of a computer IS work. But, it's
not _hard_ work...

~~~
ardit33
it can be mentally challenging, depending on what you are working on.

While I agree you are not lifting heavy stuff, or doing anything physical,
working on hard problems can be mentally tiring and tasking to your health if
not done in moderation.

If you are just doing anything that is easy (a simple web app), then the hard
part would be getting motivated to get started, but after that it is more
mechanical, your are just cruizing by (and probably not learning much).

BUT if you are working on really technical stuff, beyond your normal comfort
level then that is not the case at all. Your brain will fatigue, and you will
actually feel the pain of work, (this is a good indicator that you are
learning something new and it is tasking your brain).

Also, for people with more responsiblities, the worrying about work doesn't
really end when you go home. If you are managing people, or need to learn new
technical skills/updating your self, it becomes a bit hard to just switch off.
When you are working more normal jobs, once you go home you can just 'switch
off' and just worry about your home tasks.

So, it all depends...

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origoterra
i worked in the same company with Michael for a little while long before his
TechCrunch days (RealNames between 1999 and 2002). He did come off as
standoffish and arrogant to most people. This said, not enough to warrant the
hate that some people devote to him since he became successful with TC. I
think he is just a somewhat clumsy person when it comes to being anything else
than a competitive opinionated door buster. Michael is otherwise a very smart
guy and impressive entrepreneur and he seems to be on his way to becoming more
of a human being too ;-)

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wyclif
I loathe Inc.'s site. The interstitial pop-up. The toolbar. Terrible, really.
But I enjoyed the piece.

~~~
btmorex
For some reason on page 2 some javascript kept scrolling the page all the way
down like every 20 seconds... so annoying. I ended up copying the text to a
text editor.

~~~
bostonvaulter2
You should really try readability:

<http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/>

It make reading articles on the web much nicer.

~~~
freddier
Wow. I didn't know this existed. You sir have made my life better today. Thank
you.

------
js2
> I’d love to have three monitors, but Macs support only two.

You can drive three monitors from a Mac Pro:

[http://blog.acceleroto.com/2010/08/28/buying-and-setting-
up-...](http://blog.acceleroto.com/2010/08/28/buying-and-setting-
up-a-2010-mac-pro-with-3-monitors-read-this-first/)

And here's a Macbook Pro driving 4 screens:

[http://daggle.com/macbook-pro-multimonitor-4-monitors-at-
onc...](http://daggle.com/macbook-pro-multimonitor-4-monitors-at-once-1577)

~~~
bostonvaulter2
Or you could use synergy to connect two macs together. You can even copy and
paste between them.

~~~
hellweaver666
I use Teleport on the mac... it's a bit more user-friendly as it has a proper
preference pane.

------
davalko
I'm impressed by the honesty. Doesn't seem to be the arrogant guy many people
play him up to be.

~~~
oubipaws
Doesn't seem arrogant, just seems to be quite the introvert.

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iampims
The early days of TC were what Arrington did best. His writing was engaging
and the his takes on startups interesting. But the urge of getting big had a
significant — and I think negative — effect on the quality of the news.
Countless stories of Twitter being down or Apple's Appstore rejections have
damaged the TC brand.

Who's the next "TC of the early days"?

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10ren
> So I’m usually working on four or five hours of sleep. Then I make it up on
> the weekends.

That doesn't sound healthy either! But if his doctor thinks so, and if he's
not gaining 50 pounds like before, I guess it is. I'm interested, because I
use his previous style (but my work is no as stressful, and I've been losing
weight by eating less and healthier.)

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annajohnson
I really enjoyed that article. What strikes me is how driven and hard-working
Michael Arrington is. Actually, 'compulsive' comes to mind. Which prompts me
to think that successful entrepreneurs aren't motivated to succeed... they're
compelled to succeed.

~~~
hrabago
Some are just compelled to act on their ideas. Unfortunately, it doesn't
always result in success.

------
rokhayakebe
_I wake up pissed..... I fall asleep happy_

------
jsherry
An interesting and seemingly revealing article no doubt. I "choose" to buy it
depicts Arrington's life genuinely.

That said, a couple weeks ago, Arrington wrote a piece on TC regarding the
"psychomanipulative" techniques he uses when he writes to get the reaction he
wants from his readers. Here's the link:
[http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/05/blogging-and-mass-
psychoman...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/05/blogging-and-mass-
psychomanipulation/) but if you don't feel like clicking here is an excerpt:

"But then you start to get really good at what you do. You write something and
you get trashed. The next time you try it a little differently and it the
commenters love you. You don’t even do it consciously – but over the years you
just get better at it. To the point where you pretty much know exactly what
the reaction will be to any given post, and how to tweak things to get the
reaction you want."

Anyway, based on this, I'm left with a slight bit of skepticism after reading
the Inc article. Is this the real Arrington, or simply the Arrington he wants
us to believe? I'm not sure there are motives for the latter, which is why I
choose to believe that the Inc article depicts his life genuinely, but not
without some doubt.

Just food for thought.

------
TimLangley
I didn't know that Michael had failed start-ups before TC. What were they?

~~~
abossy
Check out his LinkedIn profile for details about his work experience:

<http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelarrington>

Aside, from First Data Corp., he doesn't list which companies he founded. I
would assume that he was the co-founder in those that he held a C-Level
position: RazorGator and Pool.com.

He has an interesting background. For example, I don't think a lot of people
know he has a Stanford Law degree.

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learner4life
"But then at some point in the past year, I suddenly lost my short-term
memory." Has anyone else here run into this experience?

~~~
fredoliveira
Actually, yes. Not completely (as in, not forever), and it's not very serious
(I get the feeling of a failing short term memory in times when I'm more
stressed out) but it's definitely cause for concern. I guess it is the
combination of sleep deprivation and way too much stress.

~~~
patio11
This happened to me in my closing months of the old day job. I found myself at
home, with no memory of how I came to be home, or of eating the dinner whose
receipt was in my wallet.

Salaryman life, banzai.

------
TedBlosser
very impressive that he's moved to Seattle and is still as effective as he
is...great article

~~~
duck
When you are introverted like Arrington it probably _helps_ being away from
the valley. Also, you don't have to turn down some many meetings/dinners/etc
that are not as efficient as the phone or IM.

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paulnelligan
one of tech's most famous he may be, but I still wouldn't trade places with
him .. not with a lifestyle like that.

but he does seem like a good guy despite this.

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mattmaroon
I'd love to know what doctor told him it's better to sleep 4 or 5 hours and
wake up on an alarm than to sleep 8 or 9 hours and wake up whenever. Sounds
like something out of a Rodney Dangerfield joke.

~~~
eavc
I've seen a study that people who sleep 8/9 hours a night typically don't live
as long. Of course, correlation vs causation and all that.

~~~
apu
It's actually bracketed: 7-8 is ideal. Anything less or more is bad for you
(usual disclaimers, etc.):

[http://longevity.about.com/od/sleephealthandaging/a/sleep_du...](http://longevity.about.com/od/sleephealthandaging/a/sleep_duration.htm)

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olalonde
Some more surprising bits:

 _Venture capitalists were smoking pot in my backyard and passing out on my
couch._

 _I like hard music that is not happy music—Metallica, Eminem, Rage Against
the Machine._

~~~
BrandonM
> Venture capitalists were smoking pot in my backyard and passing out on my
> couch.

This is the west coast, right? You could replace "smoking pot" with "drinking
booze" and the surprise level doesn't change all that much for me.

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wallflower
> For example, in July, a CNN journalist was fired for tweeting her opinion
> about a Hezbollah leader. I wrote a piece about how ridiculous it was that
> she could not have an opinion.

I know someone who works for CNN. It is in his contract that he cannot blog or
otherwise express his opinion (and I assume not Tweet - contract predates
Twitter).

~~~
saulhoward
> It is in his contract that he cannot blog or otherwise express his opinion

Exactly what is so ridiculous. That it wasn't a arbitrary decision doesn't
make it a good one.

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alexknight
Instapaper'd this. No way I can read that article on that website.

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feint
curious as to why the date shows as Oct 1? Is something to do with the mag?

~~~
trustfundbaby
Probably because its in the upcoming issue of Inc. Magazine.

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runjake
I don't know Arrington personally, but this articles makes him sound very
arrogant. Is this how he is normally?

~~~
keyle
lack of sleep, lack of patience, overload of work and very hard on himself I'd
say make it that way.

I dealt with him only once and briefly, and it went just like a business
transaction, straight to the point. No worries there.

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onan_barbarian
"This summer, since I’d just moved, I did a lot of household things—like
unpacking or buying a shower rod. Depending on my plans, I may go out to
dinner with my friends or my parents. Or I’ll eat alone and then go back to
work."

Key insights... tell us more!

~~~
lachyg
I think the purpose of the Inc interviews is to just get the author to say
everything, and I think a lot of people appreciate the honesty and lack of
editing (removal of irrelevant content) in this article. I liked it.

