Hey folks,

Writing from an Airbnb in Birmingham AL on our way down to FL right now. (It's nap time for littles, thus the late send.) A couple things on my mind...

1. Default LLM Setting: I saw this prompt from Marc Andreessen maybe 2-3 weeks ago and have since used it as the default setting for my Claude and Claude projects. It's been the most effective thing I've tried to keep Claude from trying to please me (agreeing with me, affirming me, making stuff up) instead of actually telling me the truth. I've been documenting our family's long term investment thesis, and the first time through Claude was super nice and affirmed all my ideas. The second time around (with the prompt below) it poked all sorts of holes in them and pushed back hard. I didn't love how I felt reading version 2, which is probably exactly why all the LLMs are so sycophantic by default. But the best thing for my family in the long run is the cold hard truth. Give it a whirl:

2. Summer Shorts: These shorts are pretty much all I'm wearing this summer (other than a swimsuit). They're nice enough to wear casually, not too short for a 40yo, Chandler says they look good, they have pockets, and they're inexpensive. Buy 2-3 colors and call it a summer. No affiliate, just thought I'd use my influencer status to bless my fellow man.

3. Traveling With Family: We just left yesterday for a week long road trip to FL. In case you're considering (or doubting your decision to) travel this summer with your family - let me just say - this is SO good for a family to road trip together. Chandler homeschools our kids, I work from home, we try to integrate as much of life together as we can - and even for us, the first 12hrs of a trip is a tough adjustment: operating in new places, in close quarters, navigating new experiences. But now 24hrs in Chandler and I can already see us operating better as a team. Last night we walked a mile to the grocery store and back with all 7 kids through downtown Birmingham. It started with a LOT of bickering. By the end they were working together - hauling bags, watching for each other at crosswalks, just figuring it out - because they really needed to. That's the whole thing: friction first, then the team rises to the occasion. We're all becoming more considerate and patient, our pace is slowing, and there's something about stripping out the daily routine that lets you see each other in a new way. So if you're on the edge, I hope I'm successfully shoving you off - book the trip - there's nothing better for building a team culture in a family.

That's it for this week!

Best,

Blake

P.S. Does your spouse get my newsletter? If not, maybe sign them up here: https://theallsmiths.com/. Most of the topics on here come from Chandler and me talking them through, so maybe you could do the same!