Back to Work

It's your show.

About the show

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

Back to Work on social media

Episodes

  • Episode 17: Brick Building Full of Lies

    May 27th, 2011  |  1 hr 26 mins

    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.

  • Episode 16: Bracing for the Blow

    May 18th, 2011  |  1 hr 12 mins

    Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin aren't afraid of lawyers, dentists, negative feelings, or of not being afraid of something.

  • Episode 15: Marionette of my own Design

    May 10th, 2011  |  1 hr 9 secs

    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.

  • Episode 14: Velocity of Disappointment

    May 3rd, 2011  |  1 hr 7 mins

    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.

  • Episode 13: The Kid's Great

    April 26th, 2011  |  1 hr 30 mins

    Dan and Merlin talk about "Cranking" - Merlin's latest post at 43folders.com.

  • Episode 12: Chewie's Medal is Not Canonical

    April 19th, 2011  |  1 hr 4 mins

    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.

  • Episode 11: Johnny Heuristic

    April 12th, 2011  |  1 hr 18 mins

    Merlin Mann joins Dan Benjamin to talk about evolution, investing in roulette, taking smarter chances and futureproofing your passion.

  • Episode 10: At Last the 'Inspiration' Show

    March 29th, 2011  |  1 hr 21 mins
  • Episode 9: Out of Scope!

    March 22nd, 2011  |  1 hr 11 mins

    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.

  • Episode 8: Little Velvet Hands

    March 15th, 2011  |  1 hr 13 mins

    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

  • Episode 7: Vocational Wheel

    March 8th, 2011  |  1 hr 22 mins

    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

  • Episode 6: Expectational Debt

    March 1st, 2011  |  1 hr 3 mins

    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.