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Creative work only seems like a magic trick to people who don't understand that it's ultimately still work.

Merlin Mann

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Merlin Mann
Age: 57
Born: 1966
Born: November 26
Podcaster
Television Producer
Writer
Cincinnati
Ohio
Merlin Dean Mann III
Understand
Stills
Seems
Still
Trick
Work
Tricks
Like
Ultimately
People
Magic
Creative

More quotes by Merlin Mann

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Creative work, summarized: In the time you set aside each day to work your ass off, ignore anything that makes you consider stopping.
Merlin Mann
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Being consistent is way less interesting than being yourself. And if you're not interesting? Good luck with your Big Consistency Project.
Merlin Mann
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My narrative is that I've never known what's coming next-I still don't. I fell down the right set of stairs and have been surrounded by people who have picked me up and said, “Let's try this again.” It's been one anxious block of uncertainty after another.
Merlin Mann
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If you want to make a chili, you're going to break some cows.
Merlin Mann
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Go a little easier on yourself, and in so doing, be prepared to make and do things that might seem silly at first. Just keep moving: don't ruminate and stare at the wall. Don't just play with your phone: go out and produce something.
Merlin Mann
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When you die, no one's going to remember what iPhone you had.
Merlin Mann
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Feeling creative produces great work in approximately the same way that feeling like a doctor makes you a gifted thoracic surgeon.
Merlin Mann
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People with tiny glasses and costly shoes can always find a couple of hours to explain how you did it all wrong.
Merlin Mann
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People either make things or they don't. Inspiration is a poster.
Merlin Mann
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Personally, it's changed my game - it's how I think now. Can't imagine writing more than a paragraph in anything that doesn't do MMD.
Merlin Mann
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Stop. I’m not going to take any more input until I’ve made something with what I got.
Merlin Mann
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A lot of the best work I've ever done started out as something completely different because I gave myself permission to have space around my time and expectations.
Merlin Mann
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Where you allow your attention to go ultimately says more about you as a human being than anything that you put in your mission statement.
Merlin Mann
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Typing in all lowercase is popular among young people, SMS users, and anyone who feels literacy has become too time-consuming.
Merlin Mann
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Never let the guy with the broom decide how many elephants can be in the parade.
Merlin Mann
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Thing is: the internet's made of IP addresses, opinions, and assholes. It's what's there. That's the basic equipment.
Merlin Mann
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If you need to appear on an internet list to know whether you're someone's friend, you may have problems a computer can't solve.
Merlin Mann
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It's just that it's mind-boggling to me how many people I encounter every day who are struggling to subsist on a diet of bad advice about fake solutions to nonexistent problems.
Merlin Mann
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Priorities Are Like Arms If You Think You Have More Than A Couple, You’re Either Lying Or Crazy.
Merlin Mann
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Everything takes more time than you thought, everything costs more money than you thought, and almost everything turns out not quite as cool as you expected.
Merlin Mann