Cranking and Bar Raising

Yesterday was the second anniversary of something that made a difference to me.1 Two years ago, I had a revelation about the people I see through my web browser: They are people, not logos and avatars.

Merlin published Cranking on 43Folders in 2011. I imagine it was a farewell to many things. It was the second to last post on 43Folders and it meant a lot to me. It changed what I wanted out of the Internet. It changed what I wanted out of myself. Cranking is what changed my boundaries.

This is not about a guy named Merlin Mann. Sure, I like him a lot. He’s swell. He transformed in front of the whole world from a productivity caterpillar into a wonderful cult hero butterfly of humanity. He took a business and made it a love letter.

This is about being excellent. Cranking raised the bar for the whole Internet. No one gets my attention and adoration without showing me that they are a human being. No one matters to me unless they can make me care about something half as much as Merlin did.

Things matter. Worthwile things should make you cry just a little.

I was seven. I didn’t know how to help anyone.

You do now. Thanks.

  1. I do what my calendar tells me. My calendar is a month early on this post. ↩︎