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Created November 7, 2021 20:59
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Revisions

  1. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 28, 2021. No changes.
  2. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 2 additions and 2 deletions.
    4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ Some introductory thoughts on the wisdom.
    - Sometimes, people ask you how you're doing when they're especially concerned about how *they’re* doing.
    - Stay focused on the outcome, not your original strategy. Viz.: if you’re looking for *a* USB cable, don't fixate on finding a *specific* box that might contain a *specific* USB cable. Just find *a* goddamned cable.
    - Related: when you get stuck and frustrated about how to solve a problem, stop, take a breath, and ask yourself, “What am I *actually* trying to accomplish here?” Because, that’s the outcome on the other side of a new and less ambiguous strategy.
    - Before you freak out about how you are feeling right now, ask yourself how much (or how little) you're having of sleep, food, water, exercise, alcohol, drugs, sunshine, human touch, family time, and probably some other stuff I don't know of but you definitely will.
    - Before you freak out about how you are feeling right now, ask yourself how much (or how little) you're having of sleep, food, sex, water, exercise, alcohol, drugs, sunshine, human touch, family time, and probably some other stuff I don't know of but you definitely will.
    - Whenever you need to carry two seemingly identical things (like, drinks or toothbrushes or what have you), always—*and only*—ever carry the one that’s yours in your right hand. When you pick up the two items, always mutter aloud to yourself, “*I’m always **right***.” Because, now, you are always right.
    - After you’ve had two alcoholic beverages, begin alternating with equal amounts of water. If you have more than five drinks, change that ratio to two-to one in favor of water.
    - Dinner parties and most large group meals are not really about eating. They’re mostly about easy socializing. So, if you get weird when you’re hungry, *eat before you arrive*. It’ll make everyone's evening more easy and more social.
    @@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    (thanks, [Marco Arment](https://marco.org)).
    - Being on time for things is a sign of character and respect. Adults who are pathologically late for things are unconsciously telling the world that other people's time is worthless to them.
    - To clean out a junky drawer, remove the contents and put it in a box. Only when you've used one of the items in the box *twice* is it allowed to live in the drawer again. After a month, pitch or donate the remaining contents—or move the precious or useful stuff to deeper storage. But, yeah, you should probably just pitch it.
    - Never argue on the internet. No one will remember whether you won or lost the argument; they'll just remember that you're a person who argues on the internet.
    - Never argue on the internet. No one will remember whether you won or lost the argument; they'll just remember that you are the sort of person who argues on the internet.
    - Whatever your problem is, remember that before you can get better, you have to stop getting worse. Try first to stop getting worse.
    - Don't let people tell you whether, when, or how to season your food. It's your body.
    - Just in general: never explain food. Yes, I see the provided sauce. And, no, I do not need a webinar on how it should be deployed.
  3. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 2 additions and 2 deletions.
    4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -150,8 +150,8 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    - Few journalists get to choose the headline for their piece. So, whenever the clickbait of a terrible, search-engine-optimized headline belies an actually-good article, consider getting mad at the editor. Not the writer.
    - You are not obligated to have a strong opinion about everything. Get fewer opinions about way fewer things, and then strive always to interrogate the basis of your strongest opinions. This is very difficult, so be grateful if you've found fewer strong opinions to interrogate.
    - Priorities are like arms. If you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy.
    - If you're struggling to understand someone's behavior or motivation, understand that usually it's because of money, fear, or both.
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers that you never used, you did it wrong.
    - If you're struggling to understand someone's behavior or motivation, understand that it's usually because of money, fear, or both.
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be carelessly joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers that you never used, you did it wrong.
    - Whenever you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them if they would share the coolest thing that's happened to them this week. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids love food and have many thoughts about it.
    - Whenever you're considering escalating any relationship, ask yourself whether you'd be okay with getting ten times more of them. In other words, consider whether a lot more of "how they are" is a thing you really want to pursue.
  4. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 4 additions and 4 deletions.
    8 changes: 4 additions & 4 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -148,19 +148,19 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    - "Experience" is rarely the verb you're looking for. Reword your sentence with a more clear and muscular focus on what actually happened—and who or what caused it to happen. So, maybe don't say "I am experiencing technical difficulties" if you really mean "I broke the internet." You're not fooling anyone.
    - Related. Please don't say "impact" (v.) if you just mean "affect" (v.). It makes you sound like a lame PowerPoint about dentistry.
    - Few journalists get to choose the headline for their piece. So, whenever the clickbait of a terrible, search-engine-optimized headline belies an actually-good article, consider getting mad at the editor. Not the writer.
    - You are not obligated to have a strong opinion about everything. Get fewer opinions about way fewer things, and then strive always to interrogate the basis of your strongest opinions. This is difficult.
    - You are not obligated to have a strong opinion about everything. Get fewer opinions about way fewer things, and then strive always to interrogate the basis of your strongest opinions. This is very difficult, so be grateful if you've found fewer strong opinions to interrogate.
    - Priorities are like arms. If you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy.
    - If you're struggling to understand someone's behavior or motivation, understand that usually it's because of money, fear, or both.
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers that you never used, you did it wrong.
    - Whenever you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them to share the coolest thing that happened to them this week. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids love food and have many thoughts about it.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them if they would share the coolest thing that's happened to them this week. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids love food and have many thoughts about it.
    - Whenever you're considering escalating any relationship, ask yourself whether you'd be okay with getting ten times more of them. In other words, consider whether a lot more of "how they are" is a thing you really want to pursue.
    - Take a walk in a place that has lots of leaves and grass and other natural, irregular patterns. It stimulates dopamine, plus you should probably be walking more anyway.
    - Related. This is why the carpeting in casinos and hotels has such whackadoo patterns. They're squirting your brain parts with free happy juice. From a scientific standpoint.
    - As soon as you're seated, always order a large pepperoni pizza _for the table_.
    - Once you're seated, always order a large pepperoni pizza _for the table_.
    - Treat every person you encounter as though they are having a way worse day than you.
    - Related: ask yourself how you might become the least annoying stranger that a given person met today. If you became the subject of a private anecdote, how great would you feel about hearing it?
    - If you're not sure what you want, it's almost definitely a nap.
    - If you're not sure what you want, it's almost definitely more sleep.


    ----
  5. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 2 additions and 2 deletions.
    4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Some introductory thoughts on the wisdom.
    - If you believe that it is possible to grow without change, you are probably neither growing nor changing.
    - Bulleted lists are a useful way to collect items that are either unrelated or may not benefit from being puffed into actual fancy prose.
    - None of this should be interpreted as actual advice of any kind or for any purpose, and, thus, it is provided _as-is_.
    - You should not rely upon this document or its content for _any purpose_ without seeking legal, medical, mental, and/or spiritual counseling.
    - You should not rely upon this document or its contents for _any purpose_ without seeking legal, medical, mental, spiritual and/or directed career counseling.
    - No glass containers, coolers, or inflammable materials are permitted. No motorcycles after 3pm.

    *The Management*
    @@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them to share the coolest thing that happened to them this week. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids love food and have many thoughts about it.
    - Whenever you're considering escalating any relationship, ask yourself whether you'd be okay with getting ten times more of them. In other words, consider whether a lot more of "how they are" is a thing you really want to pursue.
    - Take a walk in a place that has lots of leaves and grass and other natural, irregular patterns. It stimulates dopamine, plus you should probably be walking more anyway.
    - Related. This is why the carpeting in casinos and hotels have such whackadoo patterns. They're squirting your brain parts with free happy juice. From a scientific standpoint.
    - Related. This is why the carpeting in casinos and hotels has such whackadoo patterns. They're squirting your brain parts with free happy juice. From a scientific standpoint.
    - As soon as you're seated, always order a large pepperoni pizza _for the table_.
    - Treat every person you encounter as though they are having a way worse day than you.
    - Related: ask yourself how you might become the least annoying stranger that a given person met today. If you became the subject of a private anecdote, how great would you feel about hearing it?
  6. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 1 addition and 1 deletion.
    2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    - If you're struggling to understand someone's behavior or motivation, understand that usually it's because of money, fear, or both.
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers that you never used, you did it wrong.
    - Whenever you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them to share the coolest thing that happened to them this week. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids love food.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them to share the coolest thing that happened to them this week. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids love food and have many thoughts about it.
    - Whenever you're considering escalating any relationship, ask yourself whether you'd be okay with getting ten times more of them. In other words, consider whether a lot more of "how they are" is a thing you really want to pursue.
    - Take a walk in a place that has lots of leaves and grass and other natural, irregular patterns. It stimulates dopamine, plus you should probably be walking more anyway.
    - Related. This is why the carpeting in casinos and hotels have such whackadoo patterns. They're squirting your brain parts with free happy juice. From a scientific standpoint.
  7. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 7 additions and 6 deletions.
    13 changes: 7 additions & 6 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -148,17 +148,18 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    - "Experience" is rarely the verb you're looking for. Reword your sentence with a more clear and muscular focus on what actually happened—and who or what caused it to happen. So, maybe don't say "I am experiencing technical difficulties" if you really mean "I broke the internet." You're not fooling anyone.
    - Related. Please don't say "impact" (v.) if you just mean "affect" (v.). It makes you sound like a lame PowerPoint about dentistry.
    - Few journalists get to choose the headline for their piece. So, whenever the clickbait of a terrible, search-engine-optimized headline belies an actually-good article, consider getting mad at the editor. Not the writer.
    - You are not obligated to have a strong opinion about everything. Get fewer opinions about way fewer things, and then strive always to interrogate the state of your strongest opinions. This is difficult.
    - You are not obligated to have a strong opinion about everything. Get fewer opinions about way fewer things, and then strive always to interrogate the basis of your strongest opinions. This is difficult.
    - Priorities are like arms. If you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy.
    - If you're struggling to understand someone's behavior or motivation, understand that usually it's because of money, fear, or both.
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers you never used, you did it wrong.
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers that you never used, you did it wrong.
    - Whenever you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them the coolest thing that happened to them today. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids like food.
    - Whenever you're considering escalating any relationship, ask yourself whether you'd want ten times more of them. In other words, consider whether a lot more of "how they are" is a thing you really want to pursue.
    - Take a walk in a place that has lots of leaves and grass and other natural, irregular patterns. It releases dopamine, plus you should probably be walking more.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them to share the coolest thing that happened to them this week. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids love food.
    - Whenever you're considering escalating any relationship, ask yourself whether you'd be okay with getting ten times more of them. In other words, consider whether a lot more of "how they are" is a thing you really want to pursue.
    - Take a walk in a place that has lots of leaves and grass and other natural, irregular patterns. It stimulates dopamine, plus you should probably be walking more anyway.
    - Related. This is why the carpeting in casinos and hotels have such whackadoo patterns. They're squirting your brain parts with free happy juice. From a scientific standpoint.
    - As soon as you're seated, always order a large pepperoni pizza _for the table_.
    - Treat everyone you encounter like they're having a way worse day than you.
    - Treat every person you encounter as though they are having a way worse day than you.
    - Related: ask yourself how you might become the least annoying stranger that a given person met today. If you became the subject of a private anecdote, how great would you feel about hearing it?
    - If you're not sure what you want, it's almost definitely a nap.


  8. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 2 additions and 2 deletions.
    4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -136,14 +136,14 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24

    - Sometimes in life, even though it's not your *fault*, it's still your problem.
    (thanks, [Marco Arment](https://marco.org)).
    - Being on time for things is a sign of character and respect. Adults who are pathologically late for things are unconcuisly telling the world that other people's time is worthless to them.
    - Being on time for things is a sign of character and respect. Adults who are pathologically late for things are unconsciously telling the world that other people's time is worthless to them.
    - To clean out a junky drawer, remove the contents and put it in a box. Only when you've used one of the items in the box *twice* is it allowed to live in the drawer again. After a month, pitch or donate the remaining contents—or move the precious or useful stuff to deeper storage. But, yeah, you should probably just pitch it.
    - Never argue on the internet. No one will remember whether you won or lost the argument; they'll just remember that you're a person who argues on the internet.
    - Whatever your problem is, remember that before you can get better, you have to stop getting worse. Try first to stop getting worse.
    - Don't let people tell you whether, when, or how to season your food. It's your body.
    - Just in general: never explain food. Yes, I see the provided sauce. And, no, I do not need a webinar on how it should be deployed.
    - Whenever someone demands you change who you are, it's useful to ask yourself what they stand to gain from you agreeing to become someone else.
    - To an anxious person, it often feels like the only way to achieve relaxed certainty is to keep seeking new information. But, remember that the more you know, the more you'll realize you don't know. And, then, you'll usually just find yourself fretting about getting more and more information, et cetera. Incline yourself toward getting off the information merry-go-round.
    - To an anxious person, it often feels like the only way to achieve relaxed certainty is to keep seeking new information. But, remember that the more you know, the more you'll realize you don't know. And, then, you'll usually just find yourself fretting about getting more and more information, et cetera. Incline yourself towards getting out of the information centrifuge.
    - Everybody grieves differently. You're not the mourning police, and no one benefits from you telling them they're being sad wrong.
    - "Experience" is rarely the verb you're looking for. Reword your sentence with a more clear and muscular focus on what actually happened—and who or what caused it to happen. So, maybe don't say "I am experiencing technical difficulties" if you really mean "I broke the internet." You're not fooling anyone.
    - Related. Please don't say "impact" (v.) if you just mean "affect" (v.). It makes you sound like a lame PowerPoint about dentistry.
  9. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 2 additions and 2 deletions.
    4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    - Don't let people tell you whether, when, or how to season your food. It's your body.
    - Just in general: never explain food. Yes, I see the provided sauce. And, no, I do not need a webinar on how it should be deployed.
    - Whenever someone demands you change who you are, it's useful to ask yourself what they stand to gain from you agreeing to become someone else.
    - To an anxious person, it often feels like the only way to feel relaxed certainty is to keep seeking new information. But, remember that the more you know, the more you'll realize you don't know. And, then, you'll usually just find yourself fretting about getting more and more information et cetera. Incline yourself toward getting off the information merry-go-round.
    - To an anxious person, it often feels like the only way to achieve relaxed certainty is to keep seeking new information. But, remember that the more you know, the more you'll realize you don't know. And, then, you'll usually just find yourself fretting about getting more and more information, et cetera. Incline yourself toward getting off the information merry-go-round.
    - Everybody grieves differently. You're not the mourning police, and no one benefits from you telling them they're being sad wrong.
    - "Experience" is rarely the verb you're looking for. Reword your sentence with a more clear and muscular focus on what actually happened—and who or what caused it to happen. So, maybe don't say "I am experiencing technical difficulties" if you really mean "I broke the internet." You're not fooling anyone.
    - Related. Please don't say "impact" (v.) if you just mean "affect" (v.). It makes you sound like a lame PowerPoint about dentistry.
    @@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    - Whenever you're considering escalating any relationship, ask yourself whether you'd want ten times more of them. In other words, consider whether a lot more of "how they are" is a thing you really want to pursue.
    - Take a walk in a place that has lots of leaves and grass and other natural, irregular patterns. It releases dopamine, plus you should probably be walking more.
    - Related. This is why the carpeting in casinos and hotels have such whackadoo patterns. They're squirting your brain parts with free happy juice. From a scientific standpoint.
    - As soon as you're seated, order a large pepperoni pizza _for the table_.
    - As soon as you're seated, always order a large pepperoni pizza _for the table_.
    - Treat everyone you encounter like they're having a way worse day than you.
    - If you're not sure what you want, it's almost definitely a nap.

  10. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 2 additions and 1 deletion.
    3 changes: 2 additions & 1 deletion wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24

    - Sometimes in life, even though it's not your *fault*, it's still your problem.
    (thanks, [Marco Arment](https://marco.org)).
    - Being on time for things is a sign of character and respect. Adults who are pathologically late for everything are telling the world that other people's time is worthless to them.
    - Being on time for things is a sign of character and respect. Adults who are pathologically late for things are unconcuisly telling the world that other people's time is worthless to them.
    - To clean out a junky drawer, remove the contents and put it in a box. Only when you've used one of the items in the box *twice* is it allowed to live in the drawer again. After a month, pitch or donate the remaining contents—or move the precious or useful stuff to deeper storage. But, yeah, you should probably just pitch it.
    - Never argue on the internet. No one will remember whether you won or lost the argument; they'll just remember that you're a person who argues on the internet.
    - Whatever your problem is, remember that before you can get better, you have to stop getting worse. Try first to stop getting worse.
    @@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers you never used, you did it wrong.
    - Whenever you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them the coolest thing that happened to them today. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids like food.
    - Whenever you're considering escalating any relationship, ask yourself whether you'd want ten times more of them. In other words, consider whether a lot more of "how they are" is a thing you really want to pursue.
    - Take a walk in a place that has lots of leaves and grass and other natural, irregular patterns. It releases dopamine, plus you should probably be walking more.
    - Related. This is why the carpeting in casinos and hotels have such whackadoo patterns. They're squirting your brain parts with free happy juice. From a scientific standpoint.
    - As soon as you're seated, order a large pepperoni pizza _for the table_.
  11. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 3 additions and 3 deletions.
    6 changes: 3 additions & 3 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -89,11 +89,11 @@ Some introductory thoughts on the wisdom.
    > (**As featured in *Do By Friday* #78, "Snot Yoga"**)
    - Every project is a triangle made of time, money, and quality; shortening the length of one side necessarily lengthens one or—more often—*both* of the other sides.
    - Less well known is that we each tend to blow it hardest in estimating the sides of the triangle we least respect or understand.
    - Kindly note that the existence and existential truth of the Project Management Triangle is *non-negotiable*. People **hate** this. Which is normal.
    - Less well known is that we each tend to blow it hardest in estimating the sides of the triangle we least understand or respect.
    - Kindly note that the grave existential truth of the Project Management Triangle is *non-negotiable*. People **hate** this. Which is normal.
    - If the person with whom you are negotiating finds it difficult to provide a decisive budget estimate for their project, ask them to try and situate it between two orders of magnitude. As in, "How many zeroes are we talking about here?" Quickly discovering that your ballpark figures are 2 to 6 zeroes apart can save you both a *lot* of time and frustration.
    - Related: if the client's estimate for any given aspect of the project feels poorly thought out, mentally double the estimated budget for money and time. At the end of all estimations, add *at least* another 20% to the time and budget. You’re gonna need it, and, boy, are you ever going to earn it.
    - Related: have you leavened your estimate of the project with your hunches about the client? Have you accounted for human foibles and flakiness in your estimate?
    - Related: have you leavened your estimate of the project with your hunches about the credibility of the client? Have you accounted for human foibles and flakiness in your estimate?
    - When estimating the time it will take to do anything involving a child, add at least ten minutes per child. Make that 30 minutes for kids under five or over twelve.
    - Always have a twelve-pack of Diet Coke and a good quantity of unflavored fizzy water. A lot of people love one (or both), and most of the people who do drink a lot of it.
    - Whoever wants the meeting most usually holds the least power.
  12. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. No changes.
  13. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 15 additions and 13 deletions.
    28 changes: 15 additions & 13 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -64,34 +64,36 @@ Some introductory thoughts on the wisdom.
    - *Never* give advice to a pregnant person unless they specifically asked for it.
    - *Never* touch a pregnant person unless they specifically asked for it.
    - *Never* tell a pregnant person horror stories about childbirth unless they specifically asked for it.
    - Stop correcting people by immediately telling them what they *should have said*. You are not helping.
    - Stop correcting people by immediately telling them what they "*should have said*." You are not helping.
    - When you’re feeling awful and aren't sure what to do, pretend you are the person you love the most, and give *them* your best advice.
    - If you see someone photographing a group, offer to take the photo for them so they can get in the picture. Please do not steal their camera.
    - Related: When you shoot a group photo, always take *at least* five shots from *at least* two angles. For the last couple photos, say: "Everybody say ***'BUTTS!'***" You will instantly get many totally natural smiles, plus you just gave them a fun story.
    - In photography—as in life—always keep the light behind you.
    - Sometimes, a person will confess something embarrassing that obviously makes them feel really dumb and vulnerable. That is *never* the time to say "I told you so," and it is rarely the best moment to offer advice that they never asked for. Just shut the fuck up and listen.
    - If you have a small household responsibility—no matter how lame or quotidian—just do it now and without being asked. If you think the trash may need to go out, do not "check" to see if the trash needs to go out. Just take the fucking trash out. And quit reminding everybody you took the trash out. This is not Vietnam, and you are not a forgotten hero.
    - Related: the greatest curse of the middle-aged American man is believing that he is inadequately appreciated.
    - If you have a small household responsibility—no matter how lame or quotidian—just do it now and without being asked. If you think the trash may need to go out, do not "check" to see if the trash needs to go out. Just take out the fucking trash. And quit reminding everybody you took the trash out. This is not Vietnam, and you are not a forgotten hero.
    - Related: the greatest curse of the middle-aged American man is the persistent belief that he is inadequately appreciated.
    - Do not ask someone if they want a glass of water. Just bring them a glass of water. Everybody likes being given a glass of water.
    - Buy the nicest screwdrivers you can afford.
    - Every few months, take at least one panorama photo of your kid's room. At least annually, secretly record your kid talking for at least ten minutes. I promise you'll treasure both, and then you will curse yourself for not having done each way more often.
    - Most well-written characters have something they want—or something they *think* they want. The more fascinating characters also have something they don’t want you to know. The best ones also have something they’re not pulling off nearly as well as they think.
    - Related: these are each also true for real people.
    - Related: These are each also true for real people.
    - Try always to store something in the first place you just looked for it. Not "where it's pretty" or "where we used to keep it" or "where we have more room." It goes *where it goes*—not where you **think** it goes.
    - Related: Almost every task in life benefits from the addition of a nearby trash bag.
    - Just because you know it doesn't mean everybody knows it. Every day, somebody's born who's never seen *The Flintstones*.
    - If an item is very precious or valuable to you, never set it down anywhere that you wouldn't want it to be overnight.
    - Call people what they'd like to be called, and don't be a dick about it.
    - Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?
    - Almost every task in life benefits from the addition of a nearby trash bag.
    - Just because you know something doesn't mean everybody knows it. Every day, somebody's born who's never seen *The Flintstones*.
    - If an item is very precious or valuable to you, never set it down anyplace that you wouldn't want it to be overnight.
    - Call people what they'd like to be called. And, don't be a dick about it.
    - Constantly ask yourself: do I want to be right, or do I want to be happy?

    ## Revisiting Some Older Wisdom

    > (**As featured in *Do By Friday* #78, "Snot Yoga"**)
    - Every project is a triangle made of time, money, and quality; shortening the length of one side necessarily lengthens the other sides. Less well known is that we each tend to blow it on any side we don't respect or understand.
    - Related: the existence and truth of the Project Management Triangle is not negotiable.
    - If the person with whom you are negotiating finds it difficult to give you a budget or an estimate, ask them to put their best guess between two orders of magnitude. Viz. "How many zeroes are we talking about here?" Quickly discovering that your ballpark figures are 2 to 5 zeroes apart will save you both a *lot* of time and frustration.
    - Related: if the client's estimate for any given aspect feels poorly thought out, mentally double the budget for money and time. At the end of all estimations, add at least 20% to the time and budget. You’re gonna need it, and you’ll definitely earn it.
    - Every project is a triangle made of time, money, and quality; shortening the length of one side necessarily lengthens one or—more often—*both* of the other sides.
    - Less well known is that we each tend to blow it hardest in estimating the sides of the triangle we least respect or understand.
    - Kindly note that the existence and existential truth of the Project Management Triangle is *non-negotiable*. People **hate** this. Which is normal.
    - If the person with whom you are negotiating finds it difficult to provide a decisive budget estimate for their project, ask them to try and situate it between two orders of magnitude. As in, "How many zeroes are we talking about here?" Quickly discovering that your ballpark figures are 2 to 6 zeroes apart can save you both a *lot* of time and frustration.
    - Related: if the client's estimate for any given aspect of the project feels poorly thought out, mentally double the estimated budget for money and time. At the end of all estimations, add *at least* another 20% to the time and budget. You’re gonna need it, and, boy, are you ever going to earn it.
    - Related: have you leavened your estimate of the project with your hunches about the client? Have you accounted for human foibles and flakiness in your estimate?
    - When estimating the time it will take to do anything involving a child, add at least ten minutes per child. Make that 30 minutes for kids under five or over twelve.
    - Always have a twelve-pack of Diet Coke and a good quantity of unflavored fizzy water. A lot of people love one (or both), and most of the people who do drink a lot of it.
    - Whoever wants the meeting most usually holds the least power.
  14. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 2 additions and 0 deletions.
    2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions wisdom.md
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    @@ -168,4 +168,6 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24

    ----

    #### Legalese

    <p xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><a property="dct:title" rel="cc:attributionURL" href="https://gist.github.com/merlinmann/09af1df28d76ba028b0999f66945fd61">Wisdom from Merlin</a> by <a rel="cc:attributionURL dct:creator" property="cc:attributionName" href="http://www.merlinmann.com">Merlin D. Mann</a> is licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=chooser-v1" target="_blank" rel="license noopener noreferrer" style="display:inline-block;">Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International<img style="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;" src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/cc.svg?ref=chooser-v1"><img style="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;" src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/by.svg?ref=chooser-v1"><img style="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;" src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/nc.svg?ref=chooser-v1"></a></p>
  15. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 27, 2021. 1 changed file with 6 additions and 2 deletions.
    8 changes: 6 additions & 2 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -24,10 +24,10 @@ I co-host called [*Do By Friday*](https://dobyfriday.com).

    Some introductory thoughts on the wisdom.

    - The items on offer here are based on my own experience and sensibilities. They are each and all things that, above all, I have needed to learn.
    - The items on offer here are based on my own experiences and sensibilities. They are each and all things that, above all, I have needed to learn.
    - None of these items is true for every person or for all times. In the event you ever find things that are true for every person or for all times, you may wish to start a religion.
    - None of these thoughts is offered with the intention of being unkind, exclusionary, hurtful, or existentially ugly. If any comes across that away, I sincerely apologize in advance.
    - Related: for any item here that strikes you as irrelevant or dumb or wrong or antithetical to your own experiences or sensibilities, please consider that it may not be, as we say, *for* you. The reader is encouraged to ignore or reject items that match any of these unsavory criteria.
    - Related: for any item here that strikes you as irrelevant or dumb or wrong or antithetical to your own experiences and sensibilities, please consider that it may not be, as we say, *for* you. The reader is encouraged to ignore or reject items that match any of these unsavory criteria.
    - These are things that I have believed to be true for myself at the time of composition. They are not immutable truths about The Universe, and I am open to changing my mind about any of them at any time.
    - If you believe that it is possible to grow without change, you are probably neither growing nor changing.
    - Bulleted lists are a useful way to collect items that are either unrelated or may not benefit from being puffed into actual fancy prose.
    @@ -165,3 +165,7 @@ Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24

    ![Your Author (detail)](https://res.craft.do/user/full/e736ad70-e0a5-3d4c-c6da-919c20843698/doc/4FFB315E-F42B-4E74-B9C2-CE76DC20B8EF/E7D734BC-31F7-49A7-9E09-843EBC70737D_2 "Your Author (detail)")


    ----

    <p xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><a property="dct:title" rel="cc:attributionURL" href="https://gist.github.com/merlinmann/09af1df28d76ba028b0999f66945fd61">Wisdom from Merlin</a> by <a rel="cc:attributionURL dct:creator" property="cc:attributionName" href="http://www.merlinmann.com">Merlin D. Mann</a> is licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=chooser-v1" target="_blank" rel="license noopener noreferrer" style="display:inline-block;">Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International<img style="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;" src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/cc.svg?ref=chooser-v1"><img style="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;" src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/by.svg?ref=chooser-v1"><img style="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;" src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/nc.svg?ref=chooser-v1"></a></p>
  16. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 26, 2021. 1 changed file with 5 additions and 5 deletions.
    10 changes: 5 additions & 5 deletions wisdom.md
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    @@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ Some introductory thoughts on the wisdom.
    ## Yet _Yet_ More New Wisdom

    ```ad-info
    Updated 2021-10-26 11:28:24.
    Added 2021-10-26 11:28:24
    ```


    @@ -142,15 +142,15 @@ Updated 2021-10-26 11:28:24.
    - Just in general: never explain food. Yes, I see the provided sauce. And, no, I do not need a webinar on how it should be deployed.
    - Whenever someone demands you change who you are, it's useful to ask yourself what they stand to gain from you agreeing to become someone else.
    - To an anxious person, it often feels like the only way to feel relaxed certainty is to keep seeking new information. But, remember that the more you know, the more you'll realize you don't know. And, then, you'll usually just find yourself fretting about getting more and more information et cetera. Incline yourself toward getting off the information merry-go-round.
    - Everybody grieves differently. You're not the mourning cop, and no one benefits from you telling them that they're being sad wrong.
    - "Experience" is rarely the verb you're looking for. Reword your sentence with a more clear and muscular focus on what actually happened—and who made it happen. So, maybe don't say "I am experiencing technical difficulties" if you really mean "I broke the internet." You're not fooling anyone.
    - Everybody grieves differently. You're not the mourning police, and no one benefits from you telling them they're being sad wrong.
    - "Experience" is rarely the verb you're looking for. Reword your sentence with a more clear and muscular focus on what actually happened—and who or what caused it to happen. So, maybe don't say "I am experiencing technical difficulties" if you really mean "I broke the internet." You're not fooling anyone.
    - Related. Please don't say "impact" (v.) if you just mean "affect" (v.). It makes you sound like a lame PowerPoint about dentistry.
    - Few journalists get to choose the headline for their piece. So, whenever the clickbait of a terrible, search-engine-optimized headline belies an actually-good article, consider getting mad at the editor. Not the writer.
    - You are not obligated to have a strong opinion about everything. Get fewer opinions about way fewer things, and then strive always to interrogate the state of your strongest opinions. This is difficult.
    - Priorities are like arms. If you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy.
    - If you're struggling to understand someone's behavior or motivation, understand that usually it's because of money, fear, or both.
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers you never used, you did it wrong.
    - When you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it.
    - Whenever you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them the coolest thing that happened to them today. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids like food.
    - Take a walk in a place that has lots of leaves and grass and other natural, irregular patterns. It releases dopamine, plus you should probably be walking more.
    - Related. This is why the carpeting in casinos and hotels have such whackadoo patterns. They're squirting your brain parts with free happy juice. From a scientific standpoint.
    @@ -163,5 +163,5 @@ Updated 2021-10-26 11:28:24.

    [**Merlin Mann**](http://www.merlinmann.com/) is a podcaster and retired project manager who lives in San Francisco. He has a [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hotdogsladies) and a [bearded dragon](https://twitter.com/bandomanndo).

    ![so angry - 960.jpg](https://res.craft.do/user/full/e736ad70-e0a5-3d4c-c6da-919c20843698/doc/4FFB315E-F42B-4E74-B9C2-CE76DC20B8EF/E7D734BC-31F7-49A7-9E09-843EBC70737D_2)
    ![Your Author (detail)](https://res.craft.do/user/full/e736ad70-e0a5-3d4c-c6da-919c20843698/doc/4FFB315E-F42B-4E74-B9C2-CE76DC20B8EF/E7D734BC-31F7-49A7-9E09-843EBC70737D_2 "Your Author (detail)")

  17. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 26, 2021. 1 changed file with 2 additions and 2 deletions.
    4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ Updated 2021-10-26 11:28:24.
    - To an anxious person, it often feels like the only way to feel relaxed certainty is to keep seeking new information. But, remember that the more you know, the more you'll realize you don't know. And, then, you'll usually just find yourself fretting about getting more and more information et cetera. Incline yourself toward getting off the information merry-go-round.
    - Everybody grieves differently. You're not the mourning cop, and no one benefits from you telling them that they're being sad wrong.
    - "Experience" is rarely the verb you're looking for. Reword your sentence with a more clear and muscular focus on what actually happened—and who made it happen. So, maybe don't say "I am experiencing technical difficulties" if you really mean "I broke the internet." You're not fooling anyone.
    - Related. Please don't say "impact" if you just mean "affect." It makes you sound like a lame PowerPoint about dentistry.
    - Related. Please don't say "impact" (v.) if you just mean "affect" (v.). It makes you sound like a lame PowerPoint about dentistry.
    - Few journalists get to choose the headline for their piece. So, whenever the clickbait of a terrible, search-engine-optimized headline belies an actually-good article, consider getting mad at the editor. Not the writer.
    - You are not obligated to have a strong opinion about everything. Get fewer opinions about way fewer things, and then strive always to interrogate the state of your strongest opinions. This is difficult.
    - Priorities are like arms. If you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy.
    @@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ Updated 2021-10-26 11:28:24.

    ----

    [**Merlin Mann**](http://www.merlinmann.com/) is a podcaster who lives in San Francisco. He has a [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hotdogsladies).
    [**Merlin Mann**](http://www.merlinmann.com/) is a podcaster and retired project manager who lives in San Francisco. He has a [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hotdogsladies) and a [bearded dragon](https://twitter.com/bandomanndo).

    ![so angry - 960.jpg](https://res.craft.do/user/full/e736ad70-e0a5-3d4c-c6da-919c20843698/doc/4FFB315E-F42B-4E74-B9C2-CE76DC20B8EF/E7D734BC-31F7-49A7-9E09-843EBC70737D_2)

  18. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 26, 2021. 1 changed file with 4 additions and 3 deletions.
    7 changes: 4 additions & 3 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -31,10 +31,11 @@ Some introductory thoughts on the wisdom.
    - These are things that I have believed to be true for myself at the time of composition. They are not immutable truths about The Universe, and I am open to changing my mind about any of them at any time.
    - If you believe that it is possible to grow without change, you are probably neither growing nor changing.
    - Bulleted lists are a useful way to collect items that are either unrelated or may not benefit from being puffed into actual fancy prose.
    - None of this should be interpreted as actual advice of any kind or for any purpose, and, thus, are provided _as-is_. You should not rely upon this document or information for _any purpose_ without seeking legal, medical, mental, and/or spiritual counseling.
    - No glass containers coolers or inflammable materials are allowed. No motorcycles after 3pm.
    - None of this should be interpreted as actual advice of any kind or for any purpose, and, thus, it is provided _as-is_.
    - You should not rely upon this document or its content for _any purpose_ without seeking legal, medical, mental, and/or spiritual counseling.
    - No glass containers, coolers, or inflammable materials are permitted. No motorcycles after 3pm.

    –The Management
    *The Management*


    * * * * *
  19. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 26, 2021. 1 changed file with 26 additions and 0 deletions.
    26 changes: 26 additions & 0 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -13,6 +13,32 @@ I co-host called [*Do By Friday*](https://dobyfriday.com).
    ```



    * * * * *





    ## Voi ch'entrate…

    Some introductory thoughts on the wisdom.

    - The items on offer here are based on my own experience and sensibilities. They are each and all things that, above all, I have needed to learn.
    - None of these items is true for every person or for all times. In the event you ever find things that are true for every person or for all times, you may wish to start a religion.
    - None of these thoughts is offered with the intention of being unkind, exclusionary, hurtful, or existentially ugly. If any comes across that away, I sincerely apologize in advance.
    - Related: for any item here that strikes you as irrelevant or dumb or wrong or antithetical to your own experiences or sensibilities, please consider that it may not be, as we say, *for* you. The reader is encouraged to ignore or reject items that match any of these unsavory criteria.
    - These are things that I have believed to be true for myself at the time of composition. They are not immutable truths about The Universe, and I am open to changing my mind about any of them at any time.
    - If you believe that it is possible to grow without change, you are probably neither growing nor changing.
    - Bulleted lists are a useful way to collect items that are either unrelated or may not benefit from being puffed into actual fancy prose.
    - None of this should be interpreted as actual advice of any kind or for any purpose, and, thus, are provided _as-is_. You should not rely upon this document or information for _any purpose_ without seeking legal, medical, mental, and/or spiritual counseling.
    - No glass containers coolers or inflammable materials are allowed. No motorcycles after 3pm.

    –The Management


    * * * * *

    ### Collecting Some Newer Wisdom

    > (**As featured in *Do By Friday* #219, "Master Cable Daddy"**)
  20. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 26, 2021. 1 changed file with 8 additions and 3 deletions.
    11 changes: 8 additions & 3 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ It's only advice for you because it **had** to be advice for me.

    ```ad-info
    This collection began life as a challenge for a podcast I co-host called [*Do By Friday*](https://dobyfriday.com).
    This odd collection began life as a challenge for a podcast
    I co-host called [*Do By Friday*](https://dobyfriday.com).
    ```

    @@ -46,11 +47,10 @@ This collection began life as a challenge for a podcast I co-host called [*Do By
    - Related: the greatest curse of the middle-aged American man is believing that he is inadequately appreciated.
    - Do not ask someone if they want a glass of water. Just bring them a glass of water. Everybody likes being given a glass of water.
    - Buy the nicest screwdrivers you can afford.
    - Every few months, take at least one panorama photo of your kid's room. At least annually, secretly record your kid talking for at least ten minutes. I promise you'll treasure both, and then you will curse yourself for not having done each waymore often.
    - Every few months, take at least one panorama photo of your kid's room. At least annually, secretly record your kid talking for at least ten minutes. I promise you'll treasure both, and then you will curse yourself for not having done each way more often.
    - Most well-written characters have something they want—or something they *think* they want. The more fascinating characters also have something they don’t want you to know. The best ones also have something they’re not pulling off nearly as well as they think.
    - Related: these are each also true for real people.
    - Try always to store something in the first place you just looked for it. Not "where it's pretty" or "where we used to keep it" or "where we have more room." It goes *where it goes*—not where you **think** it goes.
    - If you can’t understand someone’s behavior, ask yourself what they might be scared of.
    - Related: Almost every task in life benefits from the addition of a nearby trash bag.
    - Just because you know it doesn't mean everybody knows it. Every day, somebody's born who's never seen *The Flintstones*.
    - If an item is very precious or valuable to you, never set it down anywhere that you wouldn't want it to be overnight.
    @@ -125,6 +125,11 @@ Updated 2021-10-26 11:28:24.
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers you never used, you did it wrong.
    - When you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them the coolest thing that happened to them today. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids like food.
    - Take a walk in a place that has lots of leaves and grass and other natural, irregular patterns. It releases dopamine, plus you should probably be walking more.
    - Related. This is why the carpeting in casinos and hotels have such whackadoo patterns. They're squirting your brain parts with free happy juice. From a scientific standpoint.
    - As soon as you're seated, order a large pepperoni pizza _for the table_.
    - Treat everyone you encounter like they're having a way worse day than you.
    - If you're not sure what you want, it's almost definitely a nap.


    ----
  21. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 26, 2021. 1 changed file with 5 additions and 6 deletions.
    11 changes: 5 additions & 6 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -51,9 +51,8 @@ This collection began life as a challenge for a podcast I co-host called [*Do By
    - Related: these are each also true for real people.
    - Try always to store something in the first place you just looked for it. Not "where it's pretty" or "where we used to keep it" or "where we have more room." It goes *where it goes*—not where you **think** it goes.
    - If you can’t understand someone’s behavior, ask yourself what they might be scared of.
    - Related:
    - Almost every task in life benefits from the addition of a nearby trash bag.
    - [Every day, somebody's born who's never seen *The Flintstones*](https://twitter.com/hotdogsladies/status/760585088035803136).
    - Related: Almost every task in life benefits from the addition of a nearby trash bag.
    - Just because you know it doesn't mean everybody knows it. Every day, somebody's born who's never seen *The Flintstones*.
    - If an item is very precious or valuable to you, never set it down anywhere that you wouldn't want it to be overnight.
    - Call people what they'd like to be called, and don't be a dick about it.
    - Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?
    @@ -64,7 +63,7 @@ This collection began life as a challenge for a podcast I co-host called [*Do By
    - Every project is a triangle made of time, money, and quality; shortening the length of one side necessarily lengthens the other sides. Less well known is that we each tend to blow it on any side we don't respect or understand.
    - Related: the existence and truth of the Project Management Triangle is not negotiable.
    - If the person with whom you’re negotiating finds it difficult to give you a budget or an estimate, ask them to put their best guess between two orders of magnitude. Viz. "How many zeroes are we talking about here?" Quickly discovering that your ballpark figures are 2 to 5 zeroes apart will save you both a *lot* of time and frustration.
    - If the person with whom you are negotiating finds it difficult to give you a budget or an estimate, ask them to put their best guess between two orders of magnitude. Viz. "How many zeroes are we talking about here?" Quickly discovering that your ballpark figures are 2 to 5 zeroes apart will save you both a *lot* of time and frustration.
    - Related: if the client's estimate for any given aspect feels poorly thought out, mentally double the budget for money and time. At the end of all estimations, add at least 20% to the time and budget. You’re gonna need it, and you’ll definitely earn it.
    - When estimating the time it will take to do anything involving a child, add at least ten minutes per child. Make that 30 minutes for kids under five or over twelve.
    - Always have a twelve-pack of Diet Coke and a good quantity of unflavored fizzy water. A lot of people love one (or both), and most of the people who do drink a lot of it.
    @@ -74,10 +73,10 @@ This collection began life as a challenge for a podcast I co-host called [*Do By
    - Any Slack is only as good as the guy who always has the latest post. (And, it's nearly always a guy.)
    - Avoid any children’s movie whose theatrical trailer includes more than one fart or butt joke. That’s their idea of the best parts of the movie.
    - If you don't remember what an app does, you can probably delete it.
    - If you don't remember what a cable does, you can almnost definitely discard it.
    - If you don't remember what a cable does, you can almost definitely discard it.
    - The earlier a kid is around books often (and in *any* way), the earlier and easier their life of reading will go.
    - Any time you locate a piece of digital information you were hunting for, tag it something like, "`#OutboardBrain`." Chances are you'll want to find it again, and chances are you'll definitely forget it again.
    - Avoid vegetarian dishes that struggle to recreate a recipe that’s typicall based on meat.
    - Avoid vegetarian dishes that struggle to recreate a recipe that’s typically based on meat.
    - In any large retail store, choose the line that’s mostly young people who are by themselves.
    - Always make ***all*** the bacon.
    - Never try to bribe someone unless the amount you’re offering them feels *ludicrously* high.
  22. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 26, 2021. 1 changed file with 1 addition and 1 deletion.
    2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@

    ## Wisdom From Merlin
    ## Wisdom From Merlin

    Or: “*Everybody likes being given a glass of water*.”

  23. @merlinmann merlinmann revised this gist Oct 26, 2021. 1 changed file with 28 additions and 6 deletions.
    34 changes: 28 additions & 6 deletions wisdom.md
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
    # Wisdom From Merlin

    ## Wisdom From Merlin

    Or: “*Everybody likes being given a glass of water*.”

    @@ -48,7 +49,6 @@ This collection began life as a challenge for a podcast I co-host called [*Do By
    - Every few months, take at least one panorama photo of your kid's room. At least annually, secretly record your kid talking for at least ten minutes. I promise you'll treasure both, and then you will curse yourself for not having done each waymore often.
    - Most well-written characters have something they want—or something they *think* they want. The more fascinating characters also have something they don’t want you to know. The best ones also have something they’re not pulling off nearly as well as they think.
    - Related: these are each also true for real people.
    - When you meet a new person, ask them what they're most excited about right now.
    - Try always to store something in the first place you just looked for it. Not "where it's pretty" or "where we used to keep it" or "where we have more room." It goes *where it goes*—not where you **think** it goes.
    - If you can’t understand someone’s behavior, ask yourself what they might be scared of.
    - Related:
    @@ -94,17 +94,39 @@ This collection began life as a challenge for a podcast I co-host called [*Do By
    - Stay focused on the outcome, not your original strategy. Viz.: if you’re looking for *a* USB cable, don't fixate on finding a *specific* box that might contain a *specific* USB cable. Just find *a* goddamned cable.
    - Related: when you get stuck and frustrated about how to solve a problem, stop, take a breath, and ask yourself, “What am I *actually* trying to accomplish here?” Because, that’s the outcome on the other side of a new and less ambiguous strategy.
    - Before you freak out about how you are feeling right now, ask yourself how much (or how little) you're having of sleep, food, water, exercise, alcohol, drugs, sunshine, human touch, family time, and probably some other stuff I don't know of but you definitely will.
    - Whenever you need to carry two seemingly identical things (like, drinks or toothbrushes or what have you), always—*and only*—ever carry the one that’s yours in your right hand. When you pick up the two items, always mutter aloud to yourself, “_I’m always **right**_.” Because, nowyou are always right.
    - Whenever you need to carry two seemingly identical things (like, drinks or toothbrushes or what have you), always—*and only*—ever carry the one that’s yours in your right hand. When you pick up the two items, always mutter aloud to yourself, “*I’m always **right***.” Because, now, you are always right.
    - After you’ve had two alcoholic beverages, begin alternating with equal amounts of water. If you have more than five drinks, change that ratio to two-to one in favor of water.
    - Dinner parties and most large group meals are not really about eating. They’re mostly about easy socializing. So, if you get weird when you’re hungry, *eat before you arrive*. It’ll make everyone's evening more easy and more social.

    ## Yet _Yet_ More New Wisdom

    > Added Summer, 2021
    ```ad-info
    Updated 2021-10-26 11:28:24.
    ```



    - Sometimes in life, even though it's not your *fault*, it's still your problem.
    (thanks, [Marco](https://marco.org)).
    - foo
    (thanks, [Marco Arment](https://marco.org)).
    - Being on time for things is a sign of character and respect. Adults who are pathologically late for everything are telling the world that other people's time is worthless to them.
    - To clean out a junky drawer, remove the contents and put it in a box. Only when you've used one of the items in the box *twice* is it allowed to live in the drawer again. After a month, pitch or donate the remaining contents—or move the precious or useful stuff to deeper storage. But, yeah, you should probably just pitch it.
    - Never argue on the internet. No one will remember whether you won or lost the argument; they'll just remember that you're a person who argues on the internet.
    - Whatever your problem is, remember that before you can get better, you have to stop getting worse. Try first to stop getting worse.
    - Don't let people tell you whether, when, or how to season your food. It's your body.
    - Just in general: never explain food. Yes, I see the provided sauce. And, no, I do not need a webinar on how it should be deployed.
    - Whenever someone demands you change who you are, it's useful to ask yourself what they stand to gain from you agreeing to become someone else.
    - To an anxious person, it often feels like the only way to feel relaxed certainty is to keep seeking new information. But, remember that the more you know, the more you'll realize you don't know. And, then, you'll usually just find yourself fretting about getting more and more information et cetera. Incline yourself toward getting off the information merry-go-round.
    - Everybody grieves differently. You're not the mourning cop, and no one benefits from you telling them that they're being sad wrong.
    - "Experience" is rarely the verb you're looking for. Reword your sentence with a more clear and muscular focus on what actually happened—and who made it happen. So, maybe don't say "I am experiencing technical difficulties" if you really mean "I broke the internet." You're not fooling anyone.
    - Related. Please don't say "impact" if you just mean "affect." It makes you sound like a lame PowerPoint about dentistry.
    - Few journalists get to choose the headline for their piece. So, whenever the clickbait of a terrible, search-engine-optimized headline belies an actually-good article, consider getting mad at the editor. Not the writer.
    - You are not obligated to have a strong opinion about everything. Get fewer opinions about way fewer things, and then strive always to interrogate the state of your strongest opinions. This is difficult.
    - Priorities are like arms. If you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy.
    - If you're struggling to understand someone's behavior or motivation, understand that usually it's because of money, fear, or both.
    - If you have cool stickers, use them. Put them on things. Be joyful about using your stickers. If you die with a collection of dozens of cool stickers you never used, you did it wrong.
    - When you meet someone new, ask them what they're most excited about right now. Everyone interesting is excited about something right now, and they'd probably love to tell you about it.
    - Related. When you meet a child, ask them the coolest thing that happened to them today. You can also ask them about their favorite food. Kids like food.


    ----

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    # Wisdom From Merlin

    Or: “*Everybody likes being given a glass of water*.”

    It's only advice for you because it **had** to be advice for me.

    ```ad-info

    This collection began life as a challenge for a podcast I co-host called [*Do By Friday*](https://dobyfriday.com).

    ```


    ### Collecting Some Newer Wisdom

    > (**As featured in *Do By Friday* #219, "Master Cable Daddy"**)

    - Sometimes, an email is just a way to say, “I love you.”
    - People think about you much less than you either hope or fear.
    - It’s often easier not to be terrible.
    - Whenever you’re not sure what to say, either say nothing, or ask a question.
    - Be sparing in how often you tell someone their negative feelings are wrong; it rarely helps a sad person to be told that they are also a liar.
    - Related: feelings are *real*.
    - Never organize anything you should discard.
    - As you cross the street, notice which car's driver feels most likely to do something stupid or dangerous. Walk a little slower, turn your head, and make direct eye contact. Brains cannot help but notice faces, plus eye contact startles anyone into suddenly remembering they live amongst other actual people.
    - Related corollary: navigate an urban sidewalk by *avoiding* eye contact. Not because you're anti-social, but because eyes tell you very little about where your fellow pedestrians are headed. Monitor feet and footsteps for imminent direction; unfix your gaze ~two head-heights above the crowd to detect emerging patterns.
    - If the thing you’re cooking doesn’t smell or sound like food yet, it’s probably not food yet.
    - Buy slightly larger shoes.
    - Say hello to every dog.
    - Always wave at children on trains.
    - Flirt with all elderly women.
    - Tip more.
    - Look for the chimneys.
    - [Keep moving *and* get out of the way](https://overcast.fm/+BmEPOwtek).
    - *Never* give advice to a pregnant person unless they specifically asked for it.
    - *Never* touch a pregnant person unless they specifically asked for it.
    - *Never* tell a pregnant person horror stories about childbirth unless they specifically asked for it.
    - Stop correcting people by immediately telling them what they *should have said*. You are not helping.
    - When you’re feeling awful and aren't sure what to do, pretend you are the person you love the most, and give *them* your best advice.
    - If you see someone photographing a group, offer to take the photo for them so they can get in the picture. Please do not steal their camera.
    - Related: When you shoot a group photo, always take *at least* five shots from *at least* two angles. For the last couple photos, say: "Everybody say ***'BUTTS!'***" You will instantly get many totally natural smiles, plus you just gave them a fun story.
    - In photography—as in life—always keep the light behind you.
    - Sometimes, a person will confess something embarrassing that obviously makes them feel really dumb and vulnerable. That is *never* the time to say "I told you so," and it is rarely the best moment to offer advice that they never asked for. Just shut the fuck up and listen.
    - If you have a small household responsibility—no matter how lame or quotidian—just do it now and without being asked. If you think the trash may need to go out, do not "check" to see if the trash needs to go out. Just take the fucking trash out. And quit reminding everybody you took the trash out. This is not Vietnam, and you are not a forgotten hero.
    - Related: the greatest curse of the middle-aged American man is believing that he is inadequately appreciated.
    - Do not ask someone if they want a glass of water. Just bring them a glass of water. Everybody likes being given a glass of water.
    - Buy the nicest screwdrivers you can afford.
    - Every few months, take at least one panorama photo of your kid's room. At least annually, secretly record your kid talking for at least ten minutes. I promise you'll treasure both, and then you will curse yourself for not having done each waymore often.
    - Most well-written characters have something they want—or something they *think* they want. The more fascinating characters also have something they don’t want you to know. The best ones also have something they’re not pulling off nearly as well as they think.
    - Related: these are each also true for real people.
    - When you meet a new person, ask them what they're most excited about right now.
    - Try always to store something in the first place you just looked for it. Not "where it's pretty" or "where we used to keep it" or "where we have more room." It goes *where it goes*—not where you **think** it goes.
    - If you can’t understand someone’s behavior, ask yourself what they might be scared of.
    - Related:
    - Almost every task in life benefits from the addition of a nearby trash bag.
    - [Every day, somebody's born who's never seen *The Flintstones*](https://twitter.com/hotdogsladies/status/760585088035803136).
    - If an item is very precious or valuable to you, never set it down anywhere that you wouldn't want it to be overnight.
    - Call people what they'd like to be called, and don't be a dick about it.
    - Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?

    ## Revisiting Some Older Wisdom

    > (**As featured in *Do By Friday* #78, "Snot Yoga"**)

    - Every project is a triangle made of time, money, and quality; shortening the length of one side necessarily lengthens the other sides. Less well known is that we each tend to blow it on any side we don't respect or understand.
    - Related: the existence and truth of the Project Management Triangle is not negotiable.
    - If the person with whom you’re negotiating finds it difficult to give you a budget or an estimate, ask them to put their best guess between two orders of magnitude. Viz. "How many zeroes are we talking about here?" Quickly discovering that your ballpark figures are 2 to 5 zeroes apart will save you both a *lot* of time and frustration.
    - Related: if the client's estimate for any given aspect feels poorly thought out, mentally double the budget for money and time. At the end of all estimations, add at least 20% to the time and budget. You’re gonna need it, and you’ll definitely earn it.
    - When estimating the time it will take to do anything involving a child, add at least ten minutes per child. Make that 30 minutes for kids under five or over twelve.
    - Always have a twelve-pack of Diet Coke and a good quantity of unflavored fizzy water. A lot of people love one (or both), and most of the people who do drink a lot of it.
    - Whoever wants the meeting most usually holds the least power.
    - Archive any email that’s older than 30 days. If it kills you to archive a given email, *immediately* turn it into a task, and then archive it.
    - Most team culture comes out of a combination of what is tolerated and what is rewarded. If you legit want your culture to improve, change what you reward and rethink what you will tolerate.
    - Any Slack is only as good as the guy who always has the latest post. (And, it's nearly always a guy.)
    - Avoid any children’s movie whose theatrical trailer includes more than one fart or butt joke. That’s their idea of the best parts of the movie.
    - If you don't remember what an app does, you can probably delete it.
    - If you don't remember what a cable does, you can almnost definitely discard it.
    - The earlier a kid is around books often (and in *any* way), the earlier and easier their life of reading will go.
    - Any time you locate a piece of digital information you were hunting for, tag it something like, "`#OutboardBrain`." Chances are you'll want to find it again, and chances are you'll definitely forget it again.
    - Avoid vegetarian dishes that struggle to recreate a recipe that’s typicall based on meat.
    - In any large retail store, choose the line that’s mostly young people who are by themselves.
    - Always make ***all*** the bacon.
    - Never try to bribe someone unless the amount you’re offering them feels *ludicrously* high.
    - If you really want a glass of water at a restaurant, always order that first. As you do this, look the server in the eyes and nod.
    - You’ll probably need to listen to at least three episodes of a podcast before you will know if you could *really* love it.
    - If you want an honest opinion, ask for the second superlative. For example, if you want a thoughtful answer about someone's job, ask them their *second-least-favorite* thing about it.
    - Avoid any food whose name has been altered for legal reasons.

    ## Yet More New Wisdom

    > Added post-episode, starting in early 2021

    - Sometimes, people ask you how you're doing when they're especially concerned about how *they’re* doing.
    - Stay focused on the outcome, not your original strategy. Viz.: if you’re looking for *a* USB cable, don't fixate on finding a *specific* box that might contain a *specific* USB cable. Just find *a* goddamned cable.
    - Related: when you get stuck and frustrated about how to solve a problem, stop, take a breath, and ask yourself, “What am I *actually* trying to accomplish here?” Because, that’s the outcome on the other side of a new and less ambiguous strategy.
    - Before you freak out about how you are feeling right now, ask yourself how much (or how little) you're having of sleep, food, water, exercise, alcohol, drugs, sunshine, human touch, family time, and probably some other stuff I don't know of but you definitely will.
    - Whenever you need to carry two seemingly identical things (like, drinks or toothbrushes or what have you), always—*and only*—ever carry the one that’s yours in your right hand. When you pick up the two items, always mutter aloud to yourself, “_I’m always **right**_.” Because, now…you are always right.
    - After you’ve had two alcoholic beverages, begin alternating with equal amounts of water. If you have more than five drinks, change that ratio to two-to one in favor of water.
    - Dinner parties and most large group meals are not really about eating. They’re mostly about easy socializing. So, if you get weird when you’re hungry, *eat before you arrive*. It’ll make everyone's evening more easy and more social.

    ## Yet _Yet_ More New Wisdom

    > Added Summer, 2021

    - Sometimes in life, even though it's not your *fault*, it's still your problem.
    (thanks, [Marco](https://marco.org)).
    - foo

    ----

    [**Merlin Mann**](http://www.merlinmann.com/) is a podcaster who lives in San Francisco. He has a [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hotdogsladies).

    ![so angry - 960.jpg](https://res.craft.do/user/full/e736ad70-e0a5-3d4c-c6da-919c20843698/doc/4FFB315E-F42B-4E74-B9C2-CE76DC20B8EF/E7D734BC-31F7-49A7-9E09-843EBC70737D_2)