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Joshua Wold

Joan Westenberg: I Deleted My Second Brain

For years, I had been building what technologists and lifehackers call a “second brain.” The premise: capture everything, forget nothing. Store your thinking in a networked archive so vast and recursive it can answer questions before you know to ask them. It promises clarity. Control. Mental leverage. I’ve been

Experiencing physical conversations

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the chance to spend time in a number of great in-person conversations with real people. These have been dynamic, engaging discussions on all kinds of topics—with real humans in a physical space. Yes, I get to do this on a daily

Why I run

It’s nearing 90 degrees, the running trail has gotten a bit dusty and dry as summer comes on, and I’m feeling the heat. I dance around bushes and cut across a dry riverbed to make it to my spot. At a dip in the river I strip down

Designing calm software

Collectively, these three features are explorations in the idea of software explicitly designed around taking breaks. Break and holiday mode let you disable your reader while you are away. Catch-up mode helps you catch up after you have been away for a while. Night mode lets you configure your account

The year I outlived my father

This morning I rewatched Steve Job’s Stanford commencement address. It’s as good as I remember, and even hits better as I get older. If you’ve never seen it, today’s your lucky day. I’d highly encourage you to pause and watch it. If it’s been

Embracing the rhythm of days

Last month I felt worn out. I’d completely filled up my time with numerous tasks. In hindsight, all of them were things I wanted to do, each worth consideration, and having earned a right to be on my todo list. But taken together it was too much. And if

Earnest over brash

When you first join a new team it’s hard to figure out how to connect well. You’re trying to understand your the dynamic, where your strengths fit in, and what weaknesses need to be shored up. When you first start with a team—or frankly at anytime; you

Ryan Gosling nails the tone of Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir is one of my favorite writers. He doesn’t put out books at the pace I’d prefer (we can’t all be Brandon Sanderson), but boy does he nail it with every book. The Martian was a perfect story. It’s the sort of book I go

Losing yourself in the story, telling your story, design chaos, making it all fit, finding your crazy

Here are my five top articles this week. Thank you as always for reading. * Lost in worlds, found in our world - Reading fiction opens up how we see our own world. If you haven’t found a great novel recently I encourage you to try again. I’ve got

Finding your unique crazy fans

There are no new ideas. Instead there’s riffing and adding to existing ideas. Austin Kleon lays this out beautifully in his book series, starting with, Steal Like An artist, which obviously steals its title from earlier references. Part of the magic of ideas is taking them from multiples sources