Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday! Thanks for spending part of it reading The Lake Street Journal.

Hope you had a great week. These are some of the things I've been enjoying. Thought you might like them too.

East of Eden

I always want to like "classic" books, but most of the time I find myself wondering, why does anyone enjoy this book?

I thought Brave New World was terrible.

The Great Gatsby? Meh, it was alright.

Anything by Cormac McCarthy? More effort than it's worth.

Even so, I keep trying. This week I was pleasantly surprised.

I started East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and within the first chapter I was hooked. His writing is beautiful and clear. The story is engaging and easy to follow. The characters are deep and interesting.

I totally understand why this is a classic.

All this to say, if you feel like I do about classics, keep trying. You probably just haven't found the right book yet.

And if you have any classics you love, send me your recommendations!

40 Questions to Ask Yourself

I love reflecting on the year as it comes to an end. Since having kids, I haven't had much time to reflect on anything, but I still think it's a useful practice.

This week I came across a list of 40 questions to ask yourself. I think it would be a fun activity to do every year. It helps you remember the past year, plan for the next year, and see how you change over time.

A couple of my favorite questions:

• Who did you miss?

• What was the best book you read?

• What did you do this year that you'd never done before?

Knees Over Toes Workout

I enjoyed this workout with Tim Ferris and Ben Patrick, the Knees Over Toes guy. They focus on some simple movements and exercises to improve knee health.

Lots of great tips if you have knee issues or if you're trying to prevent knee issues.

Workout of the Week

As so often happens with CrossFit workouts, I burned myself out in the first round. Pace yourself. That's my only advice.

"Pull Throttle"

3 rounds for times:

• 30 cal row

• 20 alt. dumbbell snatches (50)

• 10 toes to bar

My goal was sub 12 minutes, and my actual time was 13:45. Pretty humbling. Good luck.

Quote of the Week

"Too many people equate activity with adding value." - Howard Marks

Have a question or a comment? Respond to this email.

Talk soon,

Joe