Reminds me of something I'd see on Oprah.

I'm sure it's useful to some people, but this kind of advice -- for want of a better word -- just doesn't do anything for me.

Perhaps I am too old and jaded.

I suspect that the delivery is probably the problem for you, rather than the content. To me, the core of it reduces to:

* If you disengage your brain periodically (e.g., get enough sleep, have fun, etc) you will find you work better

* Occasionally one should look at their life on a macro-level, and evaluate their long term goals

I don't think many people would disagree with this advice, it is pretty common sensical.

precisely. It's ridiculously obvious common sense wrapped up in a parable. I guess if that floats your boat though :/

What is your strop?

For me, it's physical exercise. And, concrete coding (as opposed to reading specs, designing, modeling or proving). It's easier for me to not do them than to do them, but I'm always amazed at how refreshing they are.

My strop is a strop, and I use it on my razor before shaving.

Coincidentally, the practice of straight razor shaving tends to put me in a state of relaxation and reflection that has a positive impact on the rest of my day.

Long hot shower

Wow, I thought that because I was a bit older, I could appreciate it more.

If nothing else, everyone should have a zen-like hobby where they can disengage their mind and use their hands. Meditation has some tremendous benefits.

This article made me realize how much the internet has changed our expectations of what makes a good analogy. I seemed almost odd to base an analogy on an actual, physical process as low tech and fundamental as carving. I'm more used to hearing abstract qasi-buzzword laden analogies built on some ethereal technology illustration. Here's to returning the the real world in our online literature.

Jamis is a cool guy, but his newfound obsession with wood carving is a little off-putting.

This article actually seems quite lame, like it's trying too hard to find a way to fit wood-carving with some sort of positive message about 37-signals, and ends up with some sort of religious parable where you almost expect DHH to come in near the end and turn water to wine or walk on water.

> Jamis is a cool guy, but his newfound obsession with wood carving is a little off-putting.

As a pretty hands on person (I do woodcarving, woodturning, and am taking blacksmithing lessons right now), I actually enjoy these sorts of digressions / riffs.

Wood and software have a surprising number of parallels. I like to tell people not in the industry that software people today are the carpenters and craftsmen of the 1900s.

Point that he's trying to make is that you can still make money the traditional way by charging customers for wood figures as 37s does, instead of going down the more common path nowadays of etching adverts into them

But in the 37signals style, the wood carvings only contain about 4 cuts maximum. Anything more and it's overly fussy feature creep.

And they don't scale... (badum pshh)

Reminds me of the joke about the two women eating in a restaurant where the one complains about how terrible the food is there, and the other agrees and says, and what little portions.

Don't talk bad about about people whom's hobbies you know.

Are the only good articles that ones where we learn about a new shell command or where frameworks are debated?

"Yeh see boy, beck in mah day we use't walk 15 mile into town just fer tah return our lib'ry books. Now, ah 'member it 'us a long way on in there, but it 'us important, and mah brother an ah use't kick a tin can down t' road so's the trip 'ud go faster. An' thet's why yeh should always code in emacs, so's you got somethin' ta keep yer mind occupied."

(Needs about another 10 sentences rambling on about walking to town, but I don't feel like writing that much)

Brigham Young to 37signals - now that's a culture shift.

I worked on the same team as Jamis Buck at BYU (I was a student). He introduced me to Ruby. If you think you know something about the culture there, I'd be very interested to hear about it.

I hear they have a very good MRS degree :)