Hey folks,

Just got back from FL last night and spent this morning getting everything back in order (thus the later send). Great vacation, but man I’m glad to be home. A couple things on my mind…

1. Career Strategy: Whenever I start to get worried or confused about what the future will hold for my career or for my children, I keep coming back to this Proverb:

Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings - Proverbs 22:29

As a professional, no matter what, I have two goals: 1) Gain skill = try to be the top 10% in what I do, and 2) Find kings = be in a network of people who can make decisions. If I can use AI to do this, awesome, but there is no way around these two things, for me or for the kids I’m trying to prepare.

2. The Case for “No”: I’ve noticed a growing sentiment that saying “no” is bad. We avoid telling our kids “no.” When we must say it, we bend over backward justifying it. “Yes” has become the word for love. And for ourselves, every impulse we resist gets reframed as something sinister like “internalized capitalism.” So we start to wonder: wouldn’t we be happier if we just gave in more often?

No. Master the appetite or it masters you. Every tradition that has lasted teaches some version of this, because the logic is simple. If you can’t say “no” to yourself, you’ve left a hole in your wall. Any potato chip company can walk through it by convincing you that you want something or “deserve it.” A man who can’t refuse himself can be bought by anyone selling anything.

This is also why “no” is the highest form of love for our kids. Every “no” they hear is a rep. It builds the muscle they’ll use to refuse the world later. Indulging them feels like love, but it’s bribery, and it leaves the same hole for the culture to climb through. We’re not denying them. We’re making them unexploitable.

This week I’ve just noticed this allergy to “no” in myself, so I’m writing this to double down: Self-denial isn’t the cost of a good life. It’s the path to one.

3. How To Drive Long Distances With Kids: We’ve driven 22+ hrs this week. Here is our schedule for how we drive long distances with 7 kids under 14 without going crazy. (Jk, we still go crazy, but this has made it a little more pleasant.)

• 6am: Wake up early and put the kids in the car while they’re still PJ’d. Drive 2 hrs while everyone’s still sleeping / slowly waking up in the dark-ish.
• 8-9am: Stop at a Waffle House
• 9-10am: Audiobook or podcast as a whole family (we did Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan)
• 10am-Noon: Movie in the car
• Noon-1pm: Eat a packed lunch at a playground. (This is key! Get out your energy.)
• 1-2pm: Quiet reading alone and kids nap
• 2-3pm: Audiobook or podcast
• 3-5pm: Movie #2 in the car

Boom. And that’s a 10hr drive! Stay at an Airbnb that night, check out a museum the next day, then do another of those. From Cincinnati, two of these gets you pretty much anywhere in the country.

That’s it for this week! Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Blake

P.S. One quick favor. I've written this newsletter the same way for two years now: three things on my mind - generally one on work, one on personal growth, and one on family. I'm genuinely curious what you think. Hit reply and tell me anything: what you love, what you'd change, what you wish there was more of. Even one word helps, and I read every single reply.