If you’re a writer or and artist or just someone who wants to make/do something you really need to read Merlin Mann’s latest post on 43 Folders, entitled Fake Rocks, Salami Commanders, and Just Enough to Start:
Your Lizard Brain is absolutely right when it tells you that most people won’t notice if you don’t make something, and that a lot of people won’t particularly care if you do. But, how you choose to respond to that existential kōan will say a lot about your potential as both an artist and as an engaged human.
Go and read it. I’m going to read it again right now.
Wow, that's weirdly synchronous. Like 16 years ago, I was at a party in Tallahassee, Florida, and this guy crashed it, played a really funny little original song about cheese on an acoustic guitar, and then raided the fridge. I chatted with him briefly, mainly to see if I could buy a CD or something with the cheese song on it, and that was that. For some reason, it stuck in my brain, but no one ever seemed to know who I was talking about. Just this week, though, I was talking with a friend of mine in Tallahasse, asking him if he knew who the guy was, and he instantly realized who I was talking about. "Oh, yeah, that was Merlin Mann," and he linked me to his 'folders' site. I had no idea. And now, like four days later, here he turns up again on your site. Small virtual world.
Yeah, that is extremely weird! I love Merlin's recent stuff, cuts through all the productivity rubbish and gets down to talking about what really helps.