Episode 435: Scanner of Horizons

FromBack to Work

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Episode 435: Scanner of Horizons

FromBack to Work

ratings:

Length:

75 minutes

Released:

Jul 23, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

DISCUSSED: kindness; eyeglasses, at length—including eyeglasses indignities, discounts, and injuries; a renewed surfeit of dingalings, fake friends, and a dumb podcast hit piece; and, finally, your hosts respond to a listener question on getting stressed about personal quantization.

Released:

Jul 23, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Back to Work is an award winning talk show with Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin discussing productivity, communication, work, barriers, constraints, tools, and more. Hosted by Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin.

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29: I Download FLAC: With Dan on sabbatical, TV's Rob Corddry talks with Merlin about Getting Things Done, writing, fear, and finding success as a blood-soaked clown. by Back to Work
83 min listen
32: The Beertruck Scenario: Merlin and Dan talk about Dan's sabbatical, hotdogs, services, triggers, Quicksilver, Launchbar, and why there's no 'I' in 'ordnance.' by Back to Work
87 min listen
1: Alligator in the Bathroom: In the inaugural episode of Back to Work, Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin discuss why they’re doing this show, getting back to work instead of buying berets, the lizard brain, and compare the Shadow of the Mouse to San Francisco, and eventually get to some p by Back to Work
89 min listen
2: Picture of a Boat: Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin formulate a five-minute warning tactic before discussing the reality of bringing change to your company, some patterns that work for startups, solving the right problem at the right level, why you can’t find the innovation but by Back to Work
69 min listen
3: The Second Arrow: Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin discuss ADD, Buddhism, mindfulness, concentration, and insight. by Back to Work
71 min listen
4: Failing with Style: Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin talk about trying to change other people, how things really aren’t that bad, balancing fear or being driven by fear, leaving capacity for when you get The Pitch, procrastination (eventually), and giving yourself permission to by Back to Work
63 min listen
8: Little Velvet Hands: This week, Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin eighty-six their restaurant jobs—emptying grease traps, handling logs of meat, and sharing what they learned by bringing mostly bad food to America's table. Dan burns velvet hands, Merlin's Mom gives the guy with th by Back to Work
73 min listen
7: Vocational Wheel: Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin relate to Richard–a listener in the middle of a quarter life crisis working jobs he doesn't like–with stories from their pasts, suggestions to combat the cascade of seriousness, and some first steps for breaking out of the voc by Back to Work
82 min listen
22: My Baby Likes Aluminum Foil!: This week, Merlin and Dan share their Pick: The Macintosh Computer. Also, a 17-minute experimental startup sound, catching conflicts, shivving the stagecoach, machine-gunning with SoundMaster, the dangers of ResEdit, and the future of recumbent bike ba by Back to Work
71 min listen
17: Brick Building Full of Lies: Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin talk about checking email under the table to catch up on your 27 high priority tasks, a good time to use the word priority, blowing cycles on meeting with Narnia's stakeholders, and getting tasks out of your dreamcatcher. by Back to Work
86 min listen
10: At Last the 'Inspiration' Show by Back to Work
82 min listen
26: Spaghetti Guy Hits Close to Home: This week Wutang Dan and The MZA bring the ruckus to finding a job, selling your Mustang, and putting your house on the market: remember that you can't negotiate with reality, Merlin can't do anything to make you love him, enthusiasm is irreplaceable, and by Back to Work
93 min listen
15: Marionette of my own Design: Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin are here to discuss the awareness of fear, asking yourself why, and knowing the problem instead of chasing fake confidence, patches, and hacks. by Back to Work
60 min listen
12: Chewie's Medal is Not Canonical: Merlin Mann has some "followup" before he and Dan Benjamin discuss entrusting your agency to others, how to reclaim it, and picking the right balance between expertise and challenge instead of fixing your metadata. by Back to Work
65 min listen
35: Why My Pants Were On Fire: How to handle job interviews. Merlin and Dan can't solve the problem of interviews being dumb, but Merlin will tell you what is wrong with you, how long you'll have to wait for your resume to get you a job, how Larry Wall interviews for a Perl job, an by Back to Work
95 min listen
16: Bracing for the Blow: Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin aren't afraid of lawyers, dentists, negative feelings, or of not being afraid of something. by Back to Work
72 min listen
11: Johnny Heuristic: Merlin Mann joins Dan Benjamin to talk about evolution, investing in roulette, taking smarter chances and futureproofing your passion. by Back to Work
79 min listen
5: Chigger Bites on the Bus Driver: Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin talk about the black art of paying attention to the right things, how lamps are no substitute, that it's hard whether you’re working from home or a cube, being honest about your expertise before looking for independence, and t by Back to Work
80 min listen
34: Rectangular Door Conspiracy: How to say "no." Merlin talks with Dan about saying No to toilet paper diamonds, mints on pillows, and things you don't have the wallet for instead of saying Yes to a crate of bananas you don't have enough information about or giving a qualified Yes to by Back to Work
65 min listen
9: Out of Scope!: Dan and Merlin improvise topics this week and get from Synechode, NY to dopamine, being scared and being safe, believing your thoughts and coloring your dreams, and solving problems by moving your hands instead of thinking. by Back to Work
71 min listen
51: Living Inside the Nonsense: TOPIC: Slipping on Dates, Sliding on Days by Back to Work
83 min listen
6: Expectational Debt: Merlin Mann is back from Webstock and ready to recap with Dan Benjamin, which leads back to caring first, performance and fear, meditation, hypnotherapy, and why you really need the hard answer instead just more tips. by Back to Work
64 min listen
19: Corner Casey Kasem: Merlin and Dan talk about mindful tool adoption, screwdriver museums, why Vi users may (or may not) be cannibalistic insects—plus debate on whether a home video of a toy horse falling down in someone's bathroom is about Humanity. Also, Dan effs with Merli by Back to Work
83 min listen
18: Forking the Question: Merlin and Dan talk about educating "That's Just a Button Guy," practicing more humane pushback, asking better questions, why laundromats don't accept "focus," plus what happens when you put WAY too much crap in your five-pound bag. by Back to Work
85 min listen
21: Assistant TO the Regional Monkey: Merlin and Dan talk about the problem of permanent zeroes, desiring not to desire, why "hypocrisy" is killing you, stepping back on the path without apologizing, Merlin's new tattoo, and—yeah—going a little easier on yourself. Also, how almost everythi by Back to Work
62 min listen
13: The Kid's Great: Dan and Merlin talk about "Cranking" - Merlin's latest post at 43folders.com. by Back to Work
90 min listen
20: Muscle of Failure: Merlin and Dan talk about getting started, putting on your shoes instead of shopping for pedometers, false dilemmas, doing as much work with your hands as you've done in your head, why you should leave some water in the pump, meta-fiddling, and getting be by Back to Work
73 min listen
30: I'm Not Working in an Abattoir: With Dan on sabbatical, Merlin is joined by Jonathan Coulton to talk about traveling, horn sections, and Jonathan’s new album, "Artificial Heart." by Back to Work
61 min listen
14: Velocity of Disappointment: Merlin Mann joins Dan Benjamin to talk about problems that are impossible, problems that are boring, problems that you're scared of, and why you need to differentiate between fear and anxiety so you can be scared of something interesting. by Back to Work
68 min listen
24: The Daddy for your Destiny: Dan's in a closet, but Merlin has a lot of FU from the last show: good jobs don't get posted on Craigslist and while you may not know what's gonna happen next, you're not just gonna install Xcode and retire on your angry bird so either do your research, g by Back to Work
93 min listen

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Episode 643: The Price of Lies: Merlin thinks LLMs have raised the bar for voice assistants in general and Siri in particular. Dan and his kid watch the excellent HBO series, "Chernobyl." by Back to Work
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Episode 642: A Better Roll of Toilet Paper: Your hosts discuss facial hair, notebooks, the metric system, flexing about local weather, and becoming the bathroom supplies you want to see in the world. by Back to Work
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Episode 640: Bob's Big Mess: A classic odds n' sods episode. Plus, Merlin has thoughts about memory and ecosystems, and Dan is considering jetting through an eclipse. by Back to Work
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Episode 641: Germans in the Wild: Travel is not always about traveling, but it is definitely always about your life. by Back to Work
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Episode 639: The Commodore's Club: Dan talks about what he's learned from traveling a bunch, and Merlin thinks a lot of weirdness comes from our twin fears of boredom and inconvenience. by Back to Work
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Episode 635: Buffet de Canard: Dan and Merlin kick off the new year with a wide-ranging look at how tools and motivations evolve with how we work. by Back to Work
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Episode 634: Nominally Future-Resistant: A fairly epic episode covering health tracking and self-quantization. Remember: data doesn't have to hurt. by Back to Work
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Episode 633: A Self-Aware Old Man: Your hosts talk about how we perceive the world and the challenge of mindfully updating our perceptions. by Back to Work
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Episode 632: Big Strong Beef Boy: Dan and Merlin are excited about technologies that have found a place in their lives. What a blessed season of thanks! by Back to Work
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Episode 629: Benjamin Franklin's Disease: And and Merlin have a wide-ranging discussion. by Back to Work
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Episode 628: Beating Yourself Up at Scale: Talk of eyes, intentionalities, and HDMI. by Back to Work
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Episode 627: Unscheduled Dirt Event: Merlin claims he's not going to do any work for this one, and Dan has some advice for travelers. by Back to Work
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Episode 626: Chekhov's Lightsaber: Your hosts catch up on some great media, and Merlin expounds on the magic of Channels. Also, Merlin logrolls a recent podcast episode and re-extolls the power of dictation. by Back to Work
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Episode 625: Chapters of Madness: Dan and Merlin have a wide-ranging discussion. by Back to Work
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Episode 624: Rectangle Time: Dan and Merlin have a wide-ranging discussion about technology, and Merlin lays the groundwork for several spirited rants. by Back to Work
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Episode 623: My Terrible Adhesion: Over the course of this classic Odds n' Sods episode, it becomes clear that all Merlin cares about is babies and 3D printing. by Back to Work
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Episode 622: A Gentleman's Malt Liquor: Dan returns from a nice trip, and Merlin has been printing lizards. by Back to Work
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Episode 621: Hairy Legs and the Whole Nine: You’re either early or you’re late; leave time for a flat tire; have you tried melatonin?; a new search engine and some enthusiasm for blogs. by Back to Work
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Episode 620: Happy to be a Chair: With Merlin on the mend, your hosts discuss actors named Hurt, comic books, and old Macs. by Back to Work
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Episode 619: A Beautiful Jam-Up: A self-hypnosis recommendation leads to another look at meditation (as well as not-meditation), plus Merlin has a few more beta finds that contribute to the Tiny Life Improvement Project. by Back to Work
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Episode 618: The Living Room Test: Dan sets up his little office, your hosts talk about the new Apple dingus, and Merlin highlights some strong OS updates. by Back to Work
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Episode 617: Trailer for the Future: Dan needs your help with a flooring dilemma, and your hosts share some thoughts on WWDC announcements. by Back to Work
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Episode 616: Archipelagos of Functionality: Dan dives deep on his Sonos setup, and Merlin explores official state things. by Back to Work
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Episode 615: An Attractive Nuisance by Back to Work
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Episode 435: Scanner of Horizons

Episode 435: Scanner of Horizons

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Back to Work

Related podcast episodes