No. 292 | August 1, 2025
Welcome to this week’s Friday Five — a quick dose of insights, inspiration, and personal favorites to kick off your weekend with clarity and intention.
Music of the Week
The Herringbone Orchestra is the brainchild of composer Courtney Lain–a New Orleans-based group that sounds like something out of a smoky Frenchmen Street dive bar with green banker’s lamps and dim bulbs.
Their sound blends harp, trumpet, clarinet, and the occasional double bell euphonium, layered with the eerie charm of an accordion in a haunted county fair.
Their music feels both timeless and strange–Grand Budapest Hotel meets Poor Things.
Start with Toska, Siren Queen, and Dragonfly Tea Party to get a taste of what the group sounds like. 🎧 Listen on Spotify
Quotes of the Week
The past week tested my mental fortitude. I had to fight through a few tough moments, and these quotes helped me stay grounded, reset, and push forward:
You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. — Marcus Aurelius
Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. — Epictetus
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities… forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes — including you. — Anne Lamott
Sometimes the most urgent thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest. — Ashleigh Brilliant
Articles of the Week
June Reading List: 4 Best Books I Read in June 2025
My June reading list habits were all over the map–and I’m glad it was.
A self-help classic, a spy novel, an investing deep dive, and a history of Louisiana politics don’t sound connected at first glance. But together, they reflect the themes I’ve been thinking about most: discipline, legacy, and leverage.
Turns out, some of the best insights come from unlikely pairings. In my case, they usually do.
Book of the Week
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
Naval Ravikant is one of my favorite thinkers. I first discovered him years ago on The Tim Ferriss Show, and I’ve been hooked ever since–reading his essays, chasing down his podcast appearances, and diving into just about every book he’s recommended.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant distills decades of Naval’s insights into two big ideas: how to build wealth and how to be happy. Naval argues both are skills, and like any skill, they can be learned and mastered.
Getting rich, he says, is about knowing what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it. Happiness, on the other hand, is a choice–one only you can make.
What I love most about the book is how curated it feels. No fluff–just Naval’s best, most impactful ideas, pulled from years of interviews, tweets, and essays.
I read the book a few years ago, but recently listened to the audiobook. It holds up just as well, though one note: I always wish the author narrated. Hearing Jorgensen or, better yet, Naval himself add extra context in their voice would’ve taken the audiobook to another level.
🎧 Listen to the audiobook on Spotify
Podcast of the Week
Founders – How Geniuses and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1
Founders is one of my go-to podcasts. Each week, host David Senra dives deep into the life of a legendary entrepreneur, pulling lessons you can use in your own life and work. This episode explores how F1 became one of the world’s fastest-growing sports, and three outsiders who made it happen:
- Colin Chapman, the engineering genius who changed F1 design forever
- Bernie Ecclestone, the businessman who transformed F1 into a global commercial powerhouse
- Dietrich Mateschitz, the Red Bull founder who bought two F1 teams and insisted on shaking up the status quo
🎧 Listen to the episode on Spotify
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