Hi Everyone,

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

Do Hard Things

I live in a small town outside Hartford, Connecticut. On Wednesday and Thursday this week, we got over four inches of rain.

As I mentioned last week, I'm training for a half marathon. I had my hardest workout of the week scheduled for Thursday. It was my longest tempo run yet. One mile warmup, 3.5 miles around a 7:20 pace, and a one mile cool down. 

On paper, it looked like a tough one. I had a little bit of a cold. It was raining so much the animals were pairing up and heading for the ark. I had plenty of excuses to scrap it.

But I also had plenty of reasons to do it. It was the next box to check on the way to my goal. The temperature was cool—perfect for running. It was my wife's day off, and we could run together. 

So we hopped in the car and headed to the track.

As we kicked off our warmup mile, the sky was gray, and the clouds were thick, but the rain had paused. We chatted through the first few laps, and as the workout began, so did the rain. Our conversation trickled to bits of encouragement with each lap we finished. The only sounds were the low static of the rain, the rapid breathing, and our feet keeping time with the music blasting from my phone. 

With every quarter mile, I felt better and better. Proud to be there. Proud of my progress. Happy to be exercising with my wife.

As I rounded the last corner and ended the workout on my watch, I was in an incredible mood. I was standing in the middle of the pouring rain, but I had 5.5 miles behind me, and my best workout so far in the books. I did something hard. I wrung out my shorts, slid into my car, and I rode that wave the rest of the day.

I'm sharing this as a PSA to do hard things. For me, that run was hard. For you, maybe it would be easy. Maybe it would be impossible. The run isn't the point. It's finding that thing that's a challenge for you and doing it on a regular basis. It's good for your body. It's good for your soul. It's a good example for those around you. And it will make you better in the other areas of your life.

If you do something hard this weekend, reply here and let me know.

You're Rich. Here's How to Raise Great Kids.

This was an awesome video on a topic I think about often. How do I raise kids who aren't spoiled? How do I teach my kids good work ethic? How do I teach my kids the value of a dollar?

Here's a crazy statistic from the video: kids from households making more than $200k have rates of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse that are 2-3x the national average.

This is an episode of the Moneywise podcast—a show that typically focuses on conversations with founders and CEOs with net worths between $5 million and multiple billions. That's probably not super relatable for most of us. But that $200k stat doesn't feel as far afield.

And honestly, the strategies shared in this video can apply to parents at all levels.

The video is super interesting and goes into a lot of detail, but the main recommendations for raising grounded kids are:

• Frustration is good. You may use money to remove frustration from your life, but your kids need friction for proper development.

• Do and say. You can talk all you want. Your kids are going to copy your behavior.

• Praise effort, not traits. You can use targeted praise to help your kids build the identity of a hard worker.

• Money has to feel finite. You can't give your kid unlimited access to your credit card and country club tab and expect them to understand tradeoffs.

• Presence is paramount. You have to spend time with your kids to develop a relationship with them. That sounds obvious, but if you're on your phone, you're not really with your kid.

If you have kids, what has worked for you?

This School is Now Our Home

Ok, so you did something hard. Then you talked to your kids about money. Now it's time to enjoy a little brain junk food.

I randomly found this video this week, and I couldn't stop watching.

This husband and wife, after living in NYC for years, purchased an abandoned school in their hometown in Indiana. Then they remodeled the whole thing and turned it into their home. The transformation was unbelievable. The end product was beautiful. And the video did a great job of telling the story.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Song of the Week

I love when artists share nicely produced live sets in small places.

This is one of those sets from a country singer I've been enjoying lately, Charles Wesley Godwin. I don't have a specific song to share because I watched and enjoyed the whole set. I recommend throwing it on the TV and sitting down to enjoy with a cup of coffee.

Here it is. Enjoy!

Quote of the Week

"I will have no man in my boat who is not afraid of a whale." - General George T. Caldwell

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

Talk soon,

Joe