About Field Notes for a Modern Life
Field Notes for a Modern Life is a place for grounded writing in a noisy world.
The promise is simple. Every post should leave you with at least one useful takeaway. An idea you can try, a tip you can use, a question worth sitting with, or a small shift in perspective that helps you move through life with a bit more clarity.
What you’ll find here
These are field notes in the literal sense, observations made while living, travelling, working, paying attention.
You can expect writing that sits at the crossroads of:
- Modern life and meaning: resilience, headspace, perspective, the small habits that steady us.
- Travel and place: districts, cities, airports, long walks, and what you notice when you slow down.
- World events, through a human lens: what matters, what changes us, and how to stay informed without being flattened by it.
- Writing craft: process, creativity, and practical ways to write more, and better.
- Photography and noticing: using the camera as a tool for attention, not performance.
- History and echoes: especially conflict, leadership, and the way the past keeps turning up in the present.
The takeaway principle
I write with a reader in mind who wants something to do or hold onto, not just something to consume.
So most posts will include at least one of the following:
- a practical tip
- a simple framework
- a question for reflection
- a small habit to try this week
- a perspective shift, grounded in lived experience
Who’s behind it
I’m Woz. I’m a British Army veteran, a sustainability consultant, a photographer, and a writer.
I’ve spent years working in high-pressure environments, and I’ve learned that clarity is rarely found in grand gestures. It’s built through small resets, honest conversations, and paying attention to what’s actually happening, in the world and in ourselves.
Field Notes is where I bring those threads together: the discipline of service, the curiosity of travel, the calm of photography, and the craft of writing.
What Field Notes for Modern Life is, and what it isn’t
Field Notes is:
- thoughtful, practical, and human-centred
- reflective, but not heavy
- curious about the world, without doomscrolling for sport
It isn’t:
- academic commentary
- a productivity cult
- therapy, or a replacement for professional support
If you’re new here
Start anywhere, but do it slowly. Pick a post that matches the season you’re in, busy, stuck, curious, tired, restless, hopeful.
If you subscribe, you’ll get new Field Notes delivered directly, and you’ll help keep this project independent. I’m building this into a long-term body of work, and yes, into books too