Hi Everyone,

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

This week we’re talking about Robert Caro’s research, home improvement projects, and life lessons from Ryan Holiday. Let's get into it.

Staring at a Senator

Robert Caro conducted over 1,000 interviews with 263 different people during the 12 years he spent writing Master of the Senate, the third in his four book series on Lyndon Johnson.

Perhaps the most unique interview was with Senator Bill Bradley from New Jersey. This is what Caro said about that day:

"Senator Bradley provided one bit of assistance that he was unusually (almost uniquely, in fact) qualified to give. Many of the men who had been present on the Senate floor during the 1950s had told me how Lyndon Johnson was so tall that he "towered" over senators in the well as he stood at his Majority Leader's front-row desk one step above it, and how his eyes were almost at the level of the clerks and the presiding officer on the dais across the well.

Bill Bradley, as I realized from perusing an old program I had kept from a Princeton University basketball game, was six feet four and a half inches tall, just slightly taller than Johnson. When, near the end of the wonderful day on the floor that he arranged for me, he asked if there was anything further he could do to be of assistance, I said there was.

The then Majority Leader, Bob Dole, wasn't at his desk. I asked Senator Bradley if he would mind going over and standing at it, so I could get a picture of precisely to what degree Johnson had in fact "towered" as he stood there.

Bill was gracious enough to comply. Since this was an opportunity I was not likely to have again, I was determined to get the picture fixed firmly in my mind no matter how long that took.

After a while, I realized that Bill had been standing there for quite some time, and that he was in fact looking at me as if to inquire if he had been there long enough. I said I would appreciate it if he would stand there a while longer, and he did, uncomplainingly—for as long as I needed."

Can you imagine asking a United States Senator to go stand at a desk while you stared at him—for what sounds like an uncomfortably long period of time?

It feels like an absurd request. Any normal person would've been incredibly uncomfortable—both to ask and then to stand there staring.

But Robert Caro isn't normal. He's spent nearly 50 years writing more than 3,000 pages on a single individual. He moved across the country to live in Texas while writing about Johnson's childhood. Then he moved again to live in Washington while writing about Johnson's years in politics. He tracked down the man who helped Johnson steal the 1949 election which made him a Senator—a man nobody else had been able to find.

To say Caro takes his job seriously is unimaginably understated.

And from his effort, Caro has won two Pulitzer Prizes, the National Book Award, the Gold Medal in Biography, and countless other awards. He's been called the greatest political biographer of our times.

All a result of taking his job seriously.

Every week we talk about leaders, and Caro isn't a leader in the traditional sense. But like most of the great leaders I've studied, Caro takes his job seriously.

Taking your job seriously seems obvious. But I'm talking about a different level. I'm talking about going to lengths that any normal person would find unreasonable.

Like asking a Senator to stand at a desk while you stare at him. Or Steve Jobs making the insides of his products as beautiful as the outsides. Or Teddy Roosevelt as police commissioner, walking the streets of NYC at 2am to catch officers shirking their duties. Or Bill Belichick being at the office from 6am until midnight, Monday through Friday.

The greatest leaders in history, just like the most successful people in any field, take their work much more seriously than their peers, often at a much younger age.

It's a great predictor of success and solid leadership. But it's also a quality you can cultivate. To be a great leader, you need to be great at your job. To be great at your job, you have to take it dead seriously. You have to treat it like an obsession. Like an insatiable quest for improvement.

Like Caro, you must be willing to stare at the Senator, in uncomfortable silence, for an unreasonable amount of time. That's the price. Are you willing to pay it?

Turning a Garage Into a Super Cool Space

My wife and I have no shortage of projects we want to do at our house.

One of the things I've been thinking about since we moved in last fall is how to make the garage a more functional, organized space.

This video gave me some great ideas, plus it was really well done and fun to watch. If you need some inspiration for your garage, or if you just enjoy watching well-made videos of various projects, you'll enjoy this one. (If you fall into the latter category, definitely check out Beau Miles. He has some great videos.)

38 Lessons on the Way to 38

I've been enjoying Ryan Holiday's annual life advice articles for a long time. He recently turned 38 and shared another one. These were a few of my favorite lessons/observations:

• Whenever I go and do something with my kids (like a trip or an activity or an errand) I try to tell myself: Success is wanting to do this again.

• I’m not sure I’ve ever opened a social media app and then after logging off thought, “Wow, I’m so glad I did that.”

• Conversely, I have never taken a walk without thinking, after, “I am so glad I did that.”

• The basic most essential of responsibilities: Do not let assholes turn you into an asshole. 

• Remember, you don’t die once at the end of your life. You are dying every second that passes. We are going in one direction. Don’t rush through it. Don’t miss it. Have something to show for it.

If you enjoy this one, I curated my favorite lessons from his last 10+ years. Check them out here.

Workout of the Week

This is one of those CrossFit benchmark workouts that will absolutely destroy you. Which is kind of what makes it fun. I haven't done this one in a while, so I think I'm due.

"Kalsu"

For time:

100 thrusters (75# bar)

At 0:00 and every minute on the minute, perform 3 burpees.

There are a lot of different variations to this workout. I did the one above—which is one of the easiest versions—and it took me 11:39. If you want a more challenging version, check these out.

Quote of the Week

“Power doesn’t corrupt, it reveals.” - Robert Caro

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

Talk soon,

Joe