Hi Everyone,

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

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I've been reading Jack Raines for at least five years now. It's been fun to watch his writing and career evolve, and I've really enjoyed a lot of his perspectives.

He shared a life lessons article this week for his 29th birthday, and it was filled with gems. He's much more perceptive than most people twice his age. These were some of my favorites (paraphrased):

• Optionality is a depreciating asset. Keeping your options open is valuable in your early 20s, but the happiest people in their later 20s and beyond are the ones who've committed to something, specifically a relationship or a career.

• Perceived risk is usually an exaggeration of realized risk. "Most of what we call “risk” is really “uncertainty,” given that the worst-case-scenario, if plotted out logically, usually just isn’t that bad."

• Someone stupider than you is going to make a lot of money.

• Intuition is underrated. We're overloaded with data to the point that we ignore our gut feelings—which are usually right.

• The bottom 10% dictates society. "Most rules, norms, and laws that inconvenience or hinder your day-to-day life are consequences of the actions of the bottom 10% (or even bottom 1%), not the top 1%."

If you enjoyed those, you'll like the rest of the article too.

Ryan Holiday on 'The Road'

I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road a few years ago. I was hoping to love it. I only liked it. The story was amazing. The way it was told was lacking, in my (not a fan of McCarthy) opinion.

Even though I didn't love the book, I can still appreciate its power and value, especially as a parent.

This was a conversation with Ryan Holiday where he talks about the book and explains what it meant to him. If you loved The Road, you'll love this conversation. If you didn't, I think this will help you appreciate it more. And if you haven't read it, I think this conversation will make you want to check it out.

Pairing a book with a podcast is the best way to get the most out of it, and I try to do this with whatever I'm reading.

Long Term Money

I often think about how to give my kids a good life while still teaching them the discipline and work ethic I learned as a kid.

I've been lucky, but I've also worked hard to have what I have, and they just get to be here by nature of their birth. To think that doesn't come with a certain sense of entitlement would be naive.

I'm sure I'll continue thinking about this, and I'm sure my thinking will evolve, but I always appreciate different insights on the topic. This week, I read an interesting insight from Morgan Housel.

The whole piece is worth reading, but the basic idea is this: part of success as a parent is giving your kids a better life than you had. You can think of it as spoiled or fortunate.

As Housel writes, "I hope my kids and grandkids won’t have to worry about cancer in the ways we do. I hope they have incredible technology that makes their jobs easier than ours. I hope that everyday frictions we deal with today disappear. I hope their energy is so abundant they consider it unlimited."

If these boxes are checked, the job of parenting shifts to teaching your kids how to find fulfillment. Teaching them that the best things in life come on the other side of hard work, and then helping them find the right hard things to work on.

I don't think this essay fully answers the question, but it definitely adds another piece to the puzzle—one piece closer to seeing the full picture.

Song of the Week

Since I put the Workout of the Week on pause, LSJ reader Dan suggested I share a song of the week. I thought that was a great idea.

This week I've been enjoying some Noah Kahan, and the song I keep coming back to is All My Love from his 2022 album, Stick Season.

If you're looking for something to listen to in the gym, I also enjoyed Vol. 27—the newest Big Bootie Mix.

Quote of the Week

"Success is about taking advantage of those rare moments of opportunity that you can't predict but come to you provided you're alert and open to major changes." - Stephen Schwarzman

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Talk soon,

Joe