Hey folks!

Happy New Year! A couple things on my mind...

1. Google Workspace vs. The World: II am seriously considering switching every piece of software I pay for at Allsmith.org over to Google Workspace. For example: Otter.ai, Slack, Calendly, ChatGPT, and Typeform would all be replaced by Google-native tools. I am curious if anyone out there has made this jump and how it went. I feel like Google is getting close enough that it may be worth going all in, especially as their agentic tools seem to be picking up steam. Reply with any experience you have please!

2. A Failure Of Nerve: I'm almost done with A Failure of Nerve by Edwin Friedman wow. Excellent book. He does a great job describing the leadership shift over the past 15 years in both parenting and corporate America, where data, empathy, and group cohesiveness have often displaced a differentiated leader who takes a bold position and sets and holds a standard. This book has helped me both with my 3-year-old and with clients, which is a pretty impressive feat. 10/10 would recommend.

3. Evening Rhythm: We had a family member pass over Christmas, and combined with the dark days of winter, Chandler and I realized we needed to launch an hour-by-hour evening rhythm for being at home. With a bunch of young kids, this has noticeably reduced stress and fatigue, and everyone gets into the groove more easily. Here is the rhythm:

• 5:00pm - Whole-house pickup with the kids and me / Chandler makes dinner
• 6:00pm - Dinner
• 7:00pm - Younger three down for bed
• 7:30pm - Yoga with the older four kids (realistically, the 8-year-old plays Legos in the same room)
• 8:00pm - Sauna with the older four kids
• 8:30pm - 8 and 10-year-old in bed
• 9:00pm - One episode of a TV show with the oldest two
• 9:30pm - In bed

It will not be like this forever, but it is a good reminder that when energy is low or grief is present, defining what a good night looks like and repeating it for a season is an incredibly powerful tool for a family. AMA.

Thats it for this week!

Best,

Blake

P.S. Shameless nepotism plug, but I really mean this: my 14-year-old son Everett wrote a 450-page fantasy novel this summer. On a typewriter. The website he built is genuinely dope and I still cannot believe he finished it.

If you like Brandon Sanderson or Tolkien-style fantasy, I think you will actually enjoy the book. You can read the first chapter, try a free AI tool he built for naming books, and subscribe to his newsletter here.

It would absolutely blow his mind to hit 50 subscribers. He did all of this completely on his own. I would be grateful if you checked it out.