Also on early episodes of Back to Work he talked a lot about oscillating between time and attention. That is if you stay in your bubble all the time you won't create very interesting things, but that's not a common problem these days because distribution and consumption is so easy that the vast majority of people can go through life without creating anything (which was not the case when 90% of people were subsistence farmers). Instead you need to find the balance where you are actually receiving the right amount of input to do your best work.

I love hearing Merlin talk about this stuff because he is intellectually honest and communicates in an almost koan-like style. That said, the hard part is closing the gap between thought and practice. I struggle with it every day.