profile

Josh Knox

Just Joshin' #89 (Wanderful)

Published 4 months ago • 3 min read

1 Family Photo: Wander

This week was a nice reminder that adventures can be anywhere. On Tuesday, Calvin wanted to go to the train museum and see if it was open. I knew it was not open. It's only open on Saturdays.

We went anyways.

The train museum is next to the real, actual train station. So we peaked in there. We walked up and over the train bridge that crosses the railroad tracks. A train passed by. We waved. Calvin told me everything he knows about Amtrak trains, and the Pacific Surfliner, and the Coast Starlight Train. Lawrence ran around a lot. We all got some good exercise and fresh air. It was good.

We would have missed the adventure if instead I'd told Calvin, "No, the train museum is closed. We're not going,"

--

Thanks to my friend Steven, I recently turned gridlines on in my camera app. It's helped me think about photo composition and the rule of thirds. I like how the shot above turned out.

1 Dad Joke: Wonderwall

Highlights: Wanderings

​How to Maximize Creativity by David Perell​

To activate the subconscious, remember the Three B’s of Creativity: Bed, Bath, and Bus:
1. Bed — Nap and dream
2. Bath — Relax and let the mind wander​
3. Bus — Travel, escape your routine and move like a river.

​How to Embrace Doing Nothing by Arthur C. Brooks​

“It is awfully hard work doing nothing,” as Algernon said in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.
...
During your unstructured vacation, choose activities that can gently hold your attention while also leaving you plenty of bandwidth to mentally meander. This is what three University of Michigan psychologists call “soft fascination,” and you might find it by walking in nature, or watching the waves. In contrast, “hard fascination” (found by, say, watching television) occupies attention and rules out mind-wandering. Research has found that soft fascination is more restorative than hard fascination. For example, in a 2018 study, survey respondents said that walking in nature was 15 percent more effective at helping them “get away from it all” than watching television.
​
One can always take this defense of idleness too far and risk becoming like the lazy man who, when asked “What do you do?” answers, “As little as possible.” The trick is to avoid becoming either a workaholic or a layabout. It’s a question of finding balance between work and leisure, where neither is neglected or crowding the other out. Both should be on your to-do list, undertaken with purpose and seriousness in designated places and times.

​What Ever Happened To Brendan Fraser by Zach Baron​

His mind is like a maze. You wander in and then emerge, hours or days later, disoriented but appreciative that something so unpredictable can still exist in this world.
...
“I'm okay,” he says. “I think I just need to let some arrows fly.” He excuses himself as I ponder what this means. A few minutes go by. When he returns, it's with a leather quiver full of arrows strapped to his back. He steps out onto his porch. Outside, he lofts a bow, nocks an arrow. Down below on his lawn, maybe 75 yards away, is an archery target. He releases the arrow straight into the target's center. Bull's-eye. Then nocks a second arrow, and does it again.

​Aspiration, Meaning, & The Traps of Ambition by Paul Millerd​

To aspire is to wander on to a pathless path, not knowing where you might end up. This can be terrifying but it also seems that these kind of pursuits are the ones that make life worth living.

iamJoshKnox Highlights: Resolutions

Congratulations everyone still sticking with your New Year's Resolutions: You're 1% there!​
​
On January 1st, I took some time to rearrange the apps/widgets on my iPhone screens. I was tired of the clutter, and also frustrated by the bloat that had crept into some apps (like Apple podcasts) that I'd regularly used.

​Design My Year - New iPhone Home Layout​

I started by thinking of the areas of my life I care about, and how using my phone facilitates those areas. I don't think the arrangement I've settled on is "perfect", but it's an improvement over the default. I've noticed it has made me more focused this week (ie focusing on areas of my life I care about). We'll see if this carries over to the whole year.

Want to Chat?

I've updated my availability for my new time zone:

​Let's Chat!​

Book some time even if you don't know what you want to talk about:
​https://calendly.com/iamjoshknox​

Until next week,
​iamJoshKnox​​

Thoughts? Feedback?
😊Hit Reply and let me know😊

Josh Knox

Hi! I am Josh Knox. Read more of me here: 👇

Read more from Josh Knox

1 Family Photo: Woodwork Home Depot has Kids Workshops on the first Saturday of each month. While supplies last, each kid gets a kit with instructions to make a box, or a picture frame, or a mini-whiteboard, whatever the project of the month happens to be. First-time kids get an orange apron to wear while they build their kit. The kit includes a little pin representing that month's project. They get to tack the pins onto their aprons. This establishes some seniority—you can tell the...

1 day ago • 5 min read

1 Family Photo: Railroad Museum The other trip within our trip to Truckee was visiting the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, Nevada. Longtime newsletter readers will note visiting train museums is sort of our thing—we've visited train museums in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Virginia City, and Tiradentes to name a few. Our house (and everywhere we stay) becomes train museum, eventually. Thanks to generous tips from newsletter readers, the Sacramento Railroad Museum and the Altoona...

8 days ago • 5 min read

1 Family Photo: Water Cycle The Discovery is a science museum in Reno. We celebrated Lawrence's birthday with a visit. The museum's biggest exhibit is a model of the Truckee River watershed and the water cycle, complete with "clouds" cut from stacks of pringles-shaped platforms towering 3-stories above the atrium. The clouds create an irregular jungle gym for "climbers of all ages". Lawrence loved the clouds—undeterred by their height—dragging me up and down the tiny crawlspaces they created....

15 days ago • 3 min read
Share this post