There are few places in modern life where we’re forced into such close quarters with strangers as the humble elevator. For a brief moment, people of all stripes — coworkers, neighbors, delivery drivers, and the guy who just reheated fish in the break room — are pressed together in a small, moving box. It’s a setting ripe for potential awkwardness and irritation.

That liminal space in an elevator also offers a small but meaningful opportunity to practice everyday courtesy. Like all etiquette, it isn’t about stiff formality, but rather a sense of awareness, restraint, and consideration for others. A few simple habits, as outlined in the guide above, can turn a potentially uncomfortable ride into a smooth, frictionless interaction. This is a situation that you actually don’t want to be memorable; if you make it into someone’s stories of an elevator ride, it’s likely that things have gone awry. 

Master these basics to become an elevator passenger with an air of gentlemanly grace.

Illustration by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

While we often think of life as linear, my guest’s own life, along with a decade of research, has taught him that it’s anything but. In his latest book, What to Make of a Life, Jim Collins unpacks the cyclical pattern life actually unfolds in, and how to navigate it. He explains how we all go through periods of “fog” — times of disorientation and uncertainty — at least three times: in youth, after a life-changing “cliff” event, and as we move through midlife into older age. We find our way out of these fogs by what Jim calls coming into “frame” — aligning what you’re built to do with what you actually do in a way that feels enlivening and meaningful. And Jim unpacks the three elements that help you find, and re-find, this frame over the course of your life.

Along the way, Jim shares case studies of these principles at work, and we explore the role of luck, the inevitability of drudgery (even in work you love), and how to keep your inner fire lit over the long haul.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• All Rise: The Remarkable Journey of Alan Page by Bill McGrane
• Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society by John W. Gardner
• Sunday Firesides: You Never Know How Many Chapters Are Still to Come
• Sunday Firesides: Do the Right Thing, for Right Now
• AoM Article: The 5 Best AoM Podcast Episodes on Finding Meaning and Purpose
• AoM series on finding your life’s vocation

Connect With Jim Collins

• Jim’s website

Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)

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Transcript Coming Soon

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, if my dad wasn’t watching In the Heat of the Night on our wood-paneled television, he was sitting in his recliner with a book in his hand. But not just any book. Popular, mass-market paperbacks. Thick ones, with embossed covers and those pages with that distinct mass-market paperback smell. I love that smell.

Back then, a lot of fathers were reading these paperbacks, which I’ve taken to calling “90s Dad Novels.”

90s Dad Novels were written by a handful of guys who, between them, basically owned the bestseller list for a decade. I’m talking Grisham, Crichton, King, and Clancy. 90s Dad Novels weren’t high-brow literary fiction. Nobody was winning a Pulitzer for these yarns. But their authors were masters at what they did. They knew how to write exciting, engaging, entertaining stories. The 90s Dad Novel was, and remains, the perfect vacation read.

A lot of 90s Dad Novels got turned into blockbuster movies. You’ve probably seen a bunch of them.

I’ve been doing a lot of heavy reading lately and needed a break. So I decided to go back and revisit some of these 90s Dad Novels (I read a few of them when I was in middle school and high school) and also pick up a few I’d never gotten around to. And let me tell you: 90s Dad Novels hold up.

Here’s a list of 10 to check out. Pick up a few for your summer reading. What’s nice about 90s Dad Novels is you can get them cheap at a used bookstore. Mine were $1.50 each.

When you’re done, enjoy watching the generally quite good films these books were turned into, while wearing a polo shirt, pleated khaki shorts, and white New Balance sneakers. (If you happen to own a 1996 Buick Roadmaster like we do, all the better.)

It’s going to be a fun, chill 90s Dad summer.

90s Dad Novels to Check Out

The Firm by John Grisham (1991)

This is the novel that started the Grisham juggernaut. Mitch McDeere is a hungry young Harvard Law grad who gets recruited by a small, mysterious Memphis firm. The money seems too good to be true. And, of course, it is. There’s a reason the firm is so generous with its recruits, and once Mitch figures out what it is, he’s in a race for his life. I was able to knock this page-turner out in a few evenings.

The movie adaptation starring Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, and Jeanne Tripplehorn is also a great flick.

The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy (1984)

Yes, this book was published in 1984, but we’re calling it a 90s Dad Novel because 90s dads were still reading this thing a decade later. This is the book that introduced Jack Ryan, a literary character about whom books and shows are still being made. A Soviet submarine commander named Marko Ramius has gone rogue . . . or so it appears. He’s taken the USSR’s most advanced nuclear sub, the Red October, and is heading toward the American coast. CIA analyst Jack Ryan has 24 hours to convince the brass that Ramius is trying to defect, not attack.

The 1990 Sean Connery film is one of the better book-to-movie adaptations of the era.

Ten-year-old Brett enjoyed the video game version of the movie based on the book, too.

The Green Mile by Stephen King (1996)

In the 80s and 90s, Stephen King pumped out one bestselling 90s Dad Horror Novel after another. The Green Mile was something a bit different. Originally published as six slim paperback installments (King’s experiment in old-school serialized fiction), the novel is set on death row at a Southern prison in 1932. Paul Edgecombe is the block supervisor. John Coffey is the enormous, gentle man who arrives convicted of a crime you’re not sure he committed, and who turns out to have abilities nobody can explain.

The 1999 film adaptation starring Tom Hanks is one of the all-time best film adaptations of a book and spawned a great meme in the 2010s that you can use when you’re really, really tired.

The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe (1987)

Bonfire of the Vanities is a bit different from the other books on this list. Wolfe was a literary heavyweight, and Bonfire is more highbrow than your typical 90s Dad Novel. But 90s Dads were definitely into it, and it’s incredibly readable and a lot of fun. I love Wolfe’s writing style.

Sherman McCoy is a Wall Street bond trader who considers himself a “Master of the Universe.” He’s pulling down a million bucks a year, lives in a Park Avenue co-op, and has a wife, a daughter, and a mistress. One night, he picks up his mistress at JFK, takes a wrong turn off the expressway, and ends up in the Bronx, where things go very, very wrong for Sherman. What follows is Sherman’s slow-motion unraveling as the incident gets picked up by a washed-up tabloid reporter, an ambitious Bronx DA, and a publicity-hungry reverend, each of whom sees an angle to work.

Wolfe’s satire of 1980s New York — Wall Street greed, tabloid journalism, racial politics, social climbing — is sharp, funny, and surprisingly still relevant in 2026.

The 1990 film adaptation starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, and Melanie Griffith is famously one of the biggest Hollywood flops of the era. But I watched it, and if you go into the movie expecting it to not be as good as the book, I think you can enjoy it.

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham (1992)

Another blockbuster entry in the Grisham canon. Two Supreme Court justices are assassinated on the same night. A Tulane law student named Darby Shaw writes a speculative brief connecting the murders to a Louisiana oil tycoon with friends in high places. She shares it with her professor/boyfriend, who then shares it with the wrong person, and suddenly Darby becomes a target of people in high places. The pacing is fast, fast, fast. A lesson from this book is if you ever get a manila envelope that says “Pelican Brief” on it, throw it away immediately so you don’t die.

When you’re done with the book, check out the 1993 film, starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1990)

The 90s Dad Novel that launched a multi-billion-dollar franchise. Welcome to Jurassic Park!

A billionaire builds a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs on a Costa Rican island. A chaos theorist, a paleontologist, and a couple of kids are among the first visitors. Things go wrong. Very wrong. Even though you’ve probably seen the movie and know the plot, you gotta read the book. It’s darker and weirder.

The 1993 Spielberg film is a classic. Never gets old. Our kids loved it. It should be added to the list of movies every millennial dad should introduce his kids to.

Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy (1989)

Jack Ryan gets pulled into a covert American military operation against the Colombian drug cartels after the President quietly authorizes a war nobody is supposed to know about. When things go sideways, the soldiers on the ground get abandoned by the politicians who sent them there, and Ryan has to figure out how to bring them home. This was a quick read. I really enjoyed it.

The 1994 Harrison Ford film is entertaining. It also guts about two-thirds of what makes the book interesting.

The Last Heroes by W.E.B. Griffin (1985)

Griffin is the outlier on this list in that he’s not as well-known as the other 90s Dad Novel authors, but he had a devoted following among dads who were into military history.

The first book in Griffin’s Men at War series, The Last Heroes is set during the early days of WWII and the birth of the OSS. A group of wealthy, well-connected Americans is recruited to run covert operations before the government has any real infrastructure for that kind of thing. One of those missions was tied to securing uranium for the top-secret development of the atomic bomb.

If you like this one, you’re in luck! Griffin wrote about a hundred more.

Needful Things by Stephen King (1991)

A mysterious shop opens in Castle Rock, Maine. The proprietor, Leland Gaunt, sells people exactly what they most want, and for extremely cheap. The catch is a small favor — pulling a cruel prank on a neighbor. The pranks escalate. The town tears itself apart.

King called this his farewell to Castle Rock, which he’d been using as a setting since The Dead Zone in 1979. The place goes out with a bang.

Sphere by Michael Crichton (1987)

A team of scientists gets deployed to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to investigate a spacecraft that’s been sitting on the seafloor for 300 years. Inside the spacecraft, they find a perfect golden sphere. Things get weird: the subconscious of each crew member begins to manifest into reality. And we’re not talking the manifesting that the girlies are doing on TikTok.

High-school Brett enjoyed this novel. The 1998 movie adaptation starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Capital One spokesman Samuel L. Jackson is fun.

Bonus: My American Journey by Colin Powell (1995)

Not a novel, but this list wouldn’t be complete without it. Colin Powell’s autobiography was the dad gift of 1995. It was the gift dads got because no one knew what to get Dad, and you randomly saw it on Christmas Eve on the front table at Waldenbooks at the mall after visiting KB Toys.

Turns out it’s actually a great book. Powell’s life is a genuinely remarkable American story, and he tells it plainly and without a lot of self-congratulation.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Few things have captured the passion, the sometimes obsession, of men like the motorcycle. There’s no mystery as to why this is. Motorcycles represent a peculiar combination of several manly elements: danger, speed, singular focus, solitude, mechanics, noise, and physical skill.

Many famous men were motorcycle enthusiasts; they combined their passion for things like acting, music, and adventure with a love of bikes. Motorcycles were a perfect outlet for their zeal for life; riding the open road with the wind in their faces left them invigorated and inspired. Today, we take a look at the relationship ten famous men had with their motorcycles.

T.E. Lawrence

A skittish motorbike with a touch of blood in it is better than all the riding animals on earth, because of its logical extension of our faculties, and the hint, the provocation, to excess conferred by its honeyed untiring smoothness. —T.E. Lawrence

T.E. Lawrence, aka “Lawrence of Arabia,” was a passionate motorcyclist and a devotee of the Brough Superior. Brough Superiors were considered the “Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles,” and Lawrence had his custom-made; short of stature at 5’5″, he ordered his bikes with a smaller back wheel to accommodate his height. Lawrence owned seven Brough Superiors during his lifetime, referring to them as his Boanerges (sons of Thunder), and calling each George (the first was George I, the last George VII). In 1935, while riding George VII and awaiting delivery of George VIII, Lawrence swerved to avoid hitting two boys on bicycles, was thrown over the handlebars, and died a week later from his injuries at age 46. Lawrence loved to ride his bikes fast and hard; he was likely going around 100 mph, the bike’s top speed, at the time of the accident.

Marlon Brando

It still pleases me to be awake during the dark, early hours before morning when everyone else is still asleep. I’ve been that way since I first moved to New York. I do my best thinking and writing then. During those early years in New York, I often got on my motorcycle in the middle of the night and went for a ride — anyplace. There wasn’t much crime in the city then, and if you owned a motorcycle, you left it outside your apartment and in the morning it was still there. It was wonderful on summer nights to cruise around the city at one, two, or three a.m., wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a girl on the seat behind me. If I didn’t start out with one, I’d find one. —Marlon Brando

Before he became famous, Brando cruised the streets of NYC on his bike, and in the coming decades, whenever his fame started to feel oppressive, he’d get on his motorcycle and simply head out into the Southwest, riding through the desert for miles on end.

In the iconic film, The Wild One, Brando rode a 1950 Triumph 6T Thunderbird.

Bob Dylan

In 1966, Bob Dylan’s career was going full throttle; several of his albums had gone gold and platinum, he was touring the world, and he was soon to publish a novel. His schedule and impending commitments were brutal. Success was crashing over him like a wave — a wave that perhaps would have drowned him if a mysterious motorcycle accident hadn’t intervened. While tooling along near his Woodstock, NY home, Dylan apparently crashed his 1964 Triumph Tiger 100 and suffered an injury to his vertebrae. While he was not taken to a hospital, he enjoyed a long convalescence; he did not return to touring for almost a decade. The accident provided Dylan with a way to slow down his life. He would later say:

When I had that motorcycle accident . . . I woke up and caught my senses. I realized that I was just workin’ for all these leeches. And I didn’t want to do that. Plus, I had a family and I just wanted to see my kids.

Clark Gable

While this seems to be a posed press photo, Clark Gable did indeed ride a motorcycle, a 1934 Harley Davidson RL to be exact.

Hunter S. Thompson

But with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin and no room for mistakes. It has to be done right . . . and that’s when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that the fear becomes exhilaration and vibrates along your arms. You can barely see a hundred; the tears blow back so fast that they vaporize before they get to your ears. The only sounds are the wind and the dull roar floating back from the mufflers. You watch the white line and try to lean with it . . . howling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica . . . letting off now, watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds on the edge . . . The Edge  . . .  —Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels

Writer Hunter S. Thompson earned his motorcycling chops the hard way: by riding his BSA A65 Lightning for a year with the Hells Angels. His experience riding with (and getting stomped by) the gang became the book, Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga.

Clint Eastwood

While Eastwood was only an occasional rider in his personal life, he rode motorcycles as part of several of his films. In Coogan’s Bluff, for example, he chases an escaped criminal through Central Park while astride a Triumph Bonneville.

Charles Lindbergh

As a boy, Charles Lindbergh had a keen fascination for the mechanical workings of machines generally and for internal combustion engines in particular. When he was in high school, he ordered a twin-cylinder 1920 model Excelsior “X” motorcycle through the local hardware store. Lindbergh was a shy and quiet young man, but he rode his bike fast, hard, and, as his classmates remembered it, rather recklessly. “I loved its power and speed,” he admitted. On the way to town, Lindbergh would tear down a path that ran past a power plant, through a thicket of bushes, and along the steep banks of the Mississippi River. As an observer remembered, “it seemed like he wanted to see how close to the edge he could get without plunging in.” The owner of the plant became so concerned that he closed off the trail. But the future pilot was as cool on that bike as he was behind the controls of a plane; he never had an accident.

Buddy Holly

In 1958, coming off a tour and flush with success, Buddy Holly and the Crickets decided to spend some of their hard-earned money on new motorcycles. They flew to Dallas and started shopping the local bike stores. But the owners, unaware of who these young lads were, treated them dismissively; the owner of the Harley dealer practically pushed them out the door. But they found what they were looking for at Ray Miller Triumph Motorcycle Sales, where each man picked out one of the latest models: Buddy chose an Ariel Cyclone, J.I. picked a Trophy, and Joe B. decided on a Thunderbird. The guys then headed back to Lubbock on the bikes, but not before stopping by the Harley dealer to show off their new rides.

James Dean

Hope for teenage nerds everywhere: James Dean on his first real motorcycle, pre-smoldering angst.

Of course, the “Rebel Without a Cause” had a thing for motorcycles. He got his first real motorcycle at age 15, a 1947 CZ 125cc. He was the only kid in his small town in Indiana with his own motorcycle, and he rode it full throttle, losing two teeth in a fall. The locals called him “One Speed Dean.” And that one speed was “wide open.”

When he dropped out of college to pursue acting, he traded his beloved CZ for a Royal Enfield 500cc vertical twin. But he wouldn’t hold onto that bike for long. While home in Indiana on break from working on a play in NYC, Dean decided to ride his Royal Enfield all the way back to the Big Apple. But when it broke down along the way, he traded it in for an Indian Warrior TT. When Dean arrived back in New York, he had the bike serviced at a shop . . . where Steve McQueen worked as a mechanic.

Later, wanting to emulate Marlon Brando, Dean bought a Triumph TR5 Trophy, the last bike he rode before he died.

Steve McQueen

There is perhaps no famous man we associate more with motorcycles than the King of Cool, Steve McQueen.

Before Steve McQueen made it big as an actor, he would compete in — and win — weekend motorcycle races on the first bike he owned: a used Harley. Even when Hollywood success came calling, acting gigs always had to compete against his passion for motorcycles. McQueen amassed a collection of over 100 motorcycles, his favorites being vintage Indians. When the weight of celebrity grew too stifling, McQueen would grab one of those Indian bikes and tear out of Tinseltown and onto the open road. McQueen loved off-road racing as well, and raced the Triumph TR6 in everything from the Baja 1000 to the prestigious International Six Days Trial.

The TR6 also famously makes an appearance in The Great Escape. In that film, McQueen performed many of his own stunts; however, contrary to popular belief, it was not McQueen who jumped his bike over the barbed wire fence in that iconic scene. Because of insurance concerns, Bud Ekins was called in to make the leap.

With our archives 4,000 articles deep, we’ve decided to republish a classic piece each Sunday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in March 2011.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

In the last decade, the emerging science of gut health has made fermented foods wildly popular. Kombucha, kimchi, sourdough breads, some cheeses and pickles, and, of course, yogurt. 

After years of buying big tubs of Greek yogurt, I discovered that it was actually pretty easy to make your own yogurt at home. It admittedly felt a little out there at first. Was I really going to be someone who made their own yogurt? Our household was not a 19th century homestead, after all. But after just a couple of batches, the taste and affordability, combined with how easy it is in terms of active time, convinced me (and my wife and kids) that we didn’t need to buy yogurt at the store at all anymore. 

Why Make Homemade Yogurt?

1) Yogurt is loaded with protein, beneficial bacteria, and key nutrients like calcium and B vitamins. Yogurt is a surprisingly high-protein food — about 15–20 grams per cup — that actually keeps you full. Just as important is its impact on gut health: yogurt contains live cultures (probiotics) that help support digestion and a healthy microbiome. While the nutrition is similar to store-bought yogurt, the homemade stuff skips the artificial additives and stabilizers found in most grocery store options and often retains more active cultures.

2) Homemade yogurt has better flavor and texture. Homemade goods almost always taste better. This one is no exception. The flavor is richer and tangier, just how Greek yogurt should be. Additionally, store-bought yogurt is pretty watery (it’s actually whey) and can have an uneven texture. Homemade stuff is very smooth and creamy, and much less liquidy if you drain it. 

3) Homemade yogurt is cheaper. You can make about 100 oz of homemade yogurt for the cost of a gallon of milk ($3-$5). Buying the same amount of yogurt would be between $15 (at a discount warehouse like Costco) and $30 (at a local grocery store). 

The Cookware You Need to Make Yogurt

I like to make yogurt in an instant pot. It will need to be fermented at a constant temperature for hours and the instant pot makes the process a breeze. 

But it’s not that much harder if you don’t have one — simply get yourself a kitchen heating pad and you’ll be set. You’ll follow the same steps outlined below for heating and cooling the milk, adding the starter, and keeping it at ~110° for 8-24 hours. Instead of using the instant pot, you’ll just use the heating pad instead. 

The most important thing is that you get a heating pad that can be set to relatively low temps for long periods of time. Most of the top Amazon results are for high-temp warming pads for parties and whatnot, which automatically shut off after a few hours. That’s not what you want. 

How to Make Homemade Yogurt With an Instant Pot 

Ingredients 

• 1 gallon whole milk 
  • You can make yogurt with milk of any fat percentage, but the lower you go, the thinner the final product will be. For this reason, I’ve always used whole milk. You can also make yogurt with lactose-free milk or non-dairy milks, but those often require extra steps and ingredients (like thickeners). 
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup yogurt “starter” 
  • You can buy yogurt starters online, but you can also just use plain Greek yogurt from the grocery store (that’s what I’ve done). Once you get a regular process going, you’ll just use yogurt from your previous batch to “feed” the next one. 

Directions

1. Heat milk to 180°. 

While the instant pot can heat the milk to 180° with the “Yogurt” or even “Saute” setting, I prefer to heat it in a large pot on the stove. Heating it in the instant pot takes longer, and I like having a separate vessel for cooling, rather than doing it all in one pot. It really comes down to individual preference though. I simply pour the gallon of milk into a large soup pot, heat it on “High” on the stovetop, and wait ~18 minutes for it to reach 180°. Your stove time may vary (our gas range is pretty hot), and it’s best to check every couple minutes after 15 minutes or so; if you ignore it too long and let it boil over, it makes a huge mess (yes, I know from experience).  

You want it frothy, but not boiling.

This desired temp of 180° may seem arbitrary, but the science behind it makes sense. At this temperature, the proteins get denatured, and it puts the milk into the proper state for the creamy, rich texture of yogurt. The number is somewhat flexible, but if it gets to a boil, the proteins get too damaged and you start cooking the milk, leading to funky textures and an off-putting taste. 

2. Cool milk to 110°. 

Once your milk is heated, it’ll take 1-2 hours to cool down on its own, or you can speed it up with an ice bath in the sink. 110° is the temperature at which yogurt culture bacteria thrives; if it gets lower, it’ll still work just fine, it just takes a little longer to ferment (more on that in Step 4). 

3. Transfer to instant pot and add yogurt starter. 

When the milk gets down to 110°, transfer it to your instant pot and add a couple hearty dollops of yogurt starter. A small package of plain Greek yogurt from the store will do, or a couple big spoonfuls of your previous batch of yogurt. I’ve never measured too closely, but it’s somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 cup. 

4. Ferment for 8-24 hours. 

Fermenting yogurt simply entails keeping the milk and yogurt starter mixture at a constant low temp (~110) for anywhere from 8-24 hours. It’s extremely flexible. 

After you’ve added the starter, hit the “Yogurt” button on the instant pot and adjust the ferment period to your desired time. 

At 8 hours, it’ll be barely tangy and more like a store-bought yogurt in its texture and flavor. At 16 hours, it’ll be noticeably tangy and a bit more firm. At 24 hours, it’s quite tangy and almost sharp (much like sharp cheddar vs. regular), as well as rather dense even without filtering. I do 12 hours — most often overnight — because that’s the default on the instant pot, and it turns out great. 

Once it starts, I simply cover the top with plastic wrap rather than the instant pot lid for the simple reason that our lid has a distinct savory smell embedded in it that I don’t want transferred to the yogurt.

5. Cool and drain.

Once the yogurt is fermented, put the pot in the fridge to cool it down for a few hours. After this, you can either serve it as is, or drain it to filter out the whey and make the texture less watery. 

To drain it, line a large strainer with a few coffee filters or cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl. After a few more refrigerated hours, you’ll have a thicker yogurt and a lot of whey byproduct. You can use the whey for a bunch of things from pancakes to smoothies, but I’ve always just dumped it.

6. Enjoy! 

Add any combo of fruit, granola, and sweetener (honey, syrup, etc.) to enjoy a protein-packed meal or snack.

While the active time for making yogurt is pretty minimal, the inactive time is indeed considerable: it takes 20-24 hours from heating the milk to packaging up the final product. Since I work from home with a flexible schedule, it’s definitely worth it. That ~100 oz of yogurt lasts 5-7 days in our household (all five of us love it!), so it’s just become a regular part of the routine to make more yogurt when there’s 2-3 servings left in the fridge.

If you’re wary, as I initially was, give it a shot once or twice and see what ya think. If you or your household goes through yogurt like ours does, it may indeed be worth it; if not, maybe you do it on weekends when you don’t have much else happening. Either way, I can promise you that homemade yogurt is far superior to the liquidy store-bought stuff. 

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Building substantial personal wealth can feel difficult and out of reach. But my guest says that even those with modest means can, with a few simple decisions and strategies, become millionaires, and even multi-millionaires.

David Bach is the author of the bestselling, newly updated personal finance classic, The Automatic Millionaire. Today on the show, we talk about the money management framework that will put you on the path to a free, secure, rich retirement. David explains his controversial “Latte Factor” principle, the astonishing power of compounding interest, how setting your finances on autopilot may be the most important financial move you can make, why he still believes in buying a home as an incomparable way to build wealth, the best way to pay down your debt, and more.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• investor.gov compound interest calculator
• AoM Article: What Every Young Man Should Know About the Power of Compound Interest
• AoM Article: Know-Nothing Investing — Index Funds For Beginners
• AoM Article: Build Your Wealth — Graduate from a Paycheck Mentality to a Net Worth Mentality
• AoM Article: A Young Man’s Guide to Understanding Retirement Accounts — IRAs

Connect With David Bach

• David’s website
• David on IG
• David on FB
• David on X
• David on YouTube
• David on LinkedIn

Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)

Listen to the episode on a separate page

Download this episode

Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice

Transcript Coming Soon

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

The other day, as I was driving my kids to school in our Toyota 4Runner, I noticed a dashboard light indicator turn on. It was a yellow exclamation point inside a horseshoe shape: check tire pressure. I flipped my dashboard display to check the tire pressure, and sure enough, my passenger side rear tire was at 27 PSI. So after I dropped the kids off, I pulled into a gas station to check things out and found a nail in that tire. I dropped the car off at a nearby Firestone, they patched it up in a few minutes, and I was back in business.

That experience reminded me of the usefulness of dashboard warning lights, and it nudged me to review what all of them mean, not only for myself, but for my son Gus, who has his learner’s permit and is starting to drive. Good opportunity to go over this stuff with him.

Dashboard lights are largely standardized across makes and models of vehicles. Because they’re uniform, they clearly convey what might be wrong with your rig, whether you’re driving a Honda Accord or a Ford F-150.

Treat dashboard lights like a traffic light. Green and blue lights are informational. They’re confirming that a feature on your vehicle is active. Nothing to worry about here. Yellow lights mean something needs attention, but you’re not in immediate danger. Red lights mean find somewhere safe to pull over and figure out what’s going on before you keep driving.

Let’s get more specific and look at the most common dashboard symbols and what they mean.

Red: The “Pull Over Now” Lights

These are the ones that, if you ignore them, will run up a repair bill that will make you want to cry.

Oil Pressure Warning 

People assume this means they need to top off their oil. It doesn’t. It means oil isn’t circulating through the engine. Without pressure, metal components start grinding against each other, and your engine can seize up into a solid block of useless metal in minutes. Get off the road and take it to a mechanic post haste!

Engine Temperature Warning 

Your engine is overheating. Pull over, turn it off, and let it cool down before you do anything. Don’t open the radiator cap while the engine is still hot unless you want pressurized coolant to spray out and burn you.

Brake System Warning 

Best case, your parking brake is still engaged. If the light stays on while you’re driving and the parking brake is definitely off, you may have a hydraulic leak or severely worn pads. Test your brakes carefully and get it looked at ASAP.

Battery/Charging Alert 

Your alternator has stopped recharging the battery. You’re running the car on battery reserves alone, and you’ll start losing power to your lights, steering, and eventually the engine. Take it to the shop to get it checked out.

Airbag/SRS Warning 

This one is easy to ignore because the car still drives fine. Don’t. If this light stays on, your airbags may not deploy in a crash. Get it diagnosed.

Yellow: The “Handle This Week” Lights

These indicate something has failed or is approaching failure. Not pull-over emergencies, but not something to sit on for two months either.

Check Engine Light 

The most notorious light on any dashboard, though the dread it produces may or may not be warranted. It could be something minor. It could be a failing catalytic converter. You won’t know without a diagnostic scanner — most auto parts stores will pull the code for free. One thing to know: if the check engine light is flashing, that’s an active engine misfire that can cause serious damage. Treat a flashing check engine light the same as a red light.

ABS Warning 

Your anti-lock braking system has been deactivated. You still have brakes, but you’ve lost the system that prevents your wheels from locking up during hard braking on slick pavement. Drive accordingly and get it diagnosed.

Tire Pressure Monitoring

This is the one that popped up for me recently. It means one or more tires have dropped below their recommended PSI. Pull over to check for any sources of leaks. You’ll often find a nail.

This warning light can appear even when you don’t have a leak. Usually occurs during the winter because colder temperatures reduce tire pressure. Once you start driving, things start warming up again, and tire pressure goes back to normal.

You’ll want to address this issue soon since low tire pressure affects handling, fuel economy, and tire life.

Power Steering Warning 

More common on newer cars with electric power steering. When this system goes, the steering wheel gets very heavy very fast. If you’ve never experienced it, it’ll catch you off guard. Get it looked at.

Traction Control 

If this flashes briefly while you’re driving through rain or snow, that’s normal — the system is managing wheel slip. If it stays on solid, the system has been disabled or has a fault.

Blue/Green: The “Just Keeping You Informed” Lights

These aren’t warnings that something is wrong with your car. They’re your car confirming a feature is currently active.

High Beam Indicator 

Your brights are on. Flip them off for oncoming traffic.

Coolant Temperature 

Appears when the engine is still cold and disappears once it reaches normal operating temperature. Go easy on the throttle until it’s gone.

4WD Indicator

Green means four-wheel drive is engaged, which is purely informational. One thing worth knowing: if you leave it in 4Hi on dry pavement, you’ll start binding the drivetrain. Use 4WD for the conditions that call for it, then shift back out when you’re on a dry road.

Get Yo’ Self an OBD-II Scanner

An OBD-II scanner is a device that plugs into your car to read diagnostic trouble codes and monitor engine performance. Pick one up and keep it in your glove box. They run $25–$50 on Amazon. Whenever you see a dashboard light (particularly that yellow check engine light), plug it into a port under your dashboard. It will give you an error code in about 60 seconds, so you know exactly what’s wrong with your car. Most auto parts stores will do this for free, too, but having your own scanner will allow you to check issues immediately instead of driving to a shop and waiting. It also lets you know what the problem is before going into a shop, monitor ongoing problems, clear codes, and avoid unnecessary trips for minor issues.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

In most modern high schools, P.E. is a complete blow-off class — something to take when you don’t play a sport, and have to fulfill a health/fitness-related elective. Participants often sit on the bleachers and talk, or half-heartedly play some basketball. 

There was a time in this country when P.E. was taken more seriously, however, and it reached its absolute apex at La Sierra High School in Carmichael, California.

During the 1950s and 60s, La Sierra boasted what was arguably the most rigorous P.E. program in the country, if not the world. The so-called “La Sierra System” was born in a time when World War II was over, the Cold War was still heating up, and prosperity and technological advancements were making life increasingly sedentary and comfortable. In this atmosphere, there existed a national concern over whether Americans were becoming too soft, overweight, and complacent to not only defend their country in war, but to vigorously meet the challenges of peace.

As President John F. Kennedy wrote in “The Soft American”:

physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body; it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity. . . . [We] know what the Greeks knew: that intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong; that hardy spirits and tough minds usually inhabit sound bodies.

In this sense, physical fitness is the basis of all the activities of our society. And if our bodies grow soft and inactive, if we fail to encourage physical development and prowess, we will undermine our capacity for thought, for work and for the use of those skills vital to an expanding and complex America.

Thus the physical fitness of our citizens is a vital prerequisite to America’s realization of its full potential as a nation, and to the opportunity of each individual citizen to make full and fruitful use of his capacities.

To stem the physical deterioration of his fellow Americans and promote the idea of developing a sound mind, in a sound body, JFK utilized the President’s Council on Physical Fitness to reinvigorate physical education programs around the country, and looked to La Sierra as an example of what was possible in this line.

The first few minutes of the above video will give you a look at what some aspects of the La Sierra program were like.

The La Sierra System had been developed by WWII-veteran Stan LeProtti, who was inspired by the classical, “whole man” approach to fitness that had been championed by the ancient Greeks. LeProtti’s program sought to improve the strength, agility, balance, flexibility, power, and endurance — as well as the leadership qualities — of all the males in the student body, not just those relatively few boys who participated in organized athletics. The program not only incorporated physical exercise — a regimen that included an intense 12-minute calisthenic warm-up, sports, games, dance, combatives, gymnastics, running, aquatics, and off-the-ground work on various apparatuses like peg boards — but also involved regular meetings to talk about the philosophy — the why — behind it. Students were taught that the fitness routines in which they engaged not only built their bodies, but prepared their minds for learning and their spirits for tackling life’s setbacks. 

The “Philosophy” section of the La Sierra P.E. handbook includes both “Physical Fitness” and “Psychological Fitness” as two of the program’s goals, and lists the following among the aims of the latter:

• Pupils are systematically and deliberately required to ‘go all out’ within their individual capacities in a number of physical development activities, thereby progressively raising endurance and tolerance of pain levels.
• Pupils develop a well-disciplined attitude toward the ‘hard work principle’ in terms of heavy, energy-output type activities.

When the producers of The Motivation Factor, a documentary about the La Sierra System, interviewed those who had gone through it in their youth, they reported that the program had delivered on just this desired effect — and that it stayed with them into adulthood; when these La Sierra grads had experienced challenges in later years, they returned to their P.E. experiences as a touchstone — a reminder that they were capable of doing hard things.

Another unique trademark of the La Sierra System was its use of “ability grouping” — a hierarchy of ranks denoting different levels of physical proficiency. The boys were put in teams based on these levels, and each team/level was identified by different color satin trunks worn by its respective members (sans shirt) while they exercised. All freshmen started out on the White Team, wearing white shorts, and then could work their way up the ranks throughout their high school years. When you tested into the next level, you got to discard your old color shorts for new ones and proudly display your earned achievement. The color system was designed to harness boys’ natural propensity for competition and publicly-recognized status as a spur towards “physical excellence.”

One might be apt to wonder if this system didn’t shame and embarrass those boys who were at a lower level of fitness, and had to wear the lower-level shorts. Wouldn’t the color groups make them feel bad about having to broadcast their position at the bottom of the ladder?

A coach at the time, Richard Chester Tucker, who went on to write his PhD dissertation on La Sierra’s color system, looked into this very question. He compared the least physically capable third of students at both La Sierra and at a school that had a traditional P.E. program. What he found was that there was no difference between the self-esteem of the boys in each group. But, the boys at La Sierra were more physically fit than those at the other school; for example, on average, the lowest third of boys at La Sierra could do nine pull-ups, while the lowest third of boys in the traditional P.E. program could only do two. In other words, the color-coded shorts system didn’t make students feel bad about themselves, but it did inspire them to strive higher; maybe these kids weren’t ever going to be elite athletes, but the color-code system motivated them to become their best. As Tucker says in The Motivation Factor, “We came under a lot of criticism because [people said] ‘You’re making these kids walk around in white trunks. What does that do to their self-esteem?’ It makes them want to get red trunks!”

When interviewed as adults, those who went through the La Sierra program remembered it as being fun and highly supportive; the boys encouraged each other and helped each other reach the next tier.

Within the color system, there were four main levels: White (Beginner), Red (Intermediate), Blue (Advanced), and Navy Blue (Ultimate Athlete). Within the Blue level, there were two sub-levels: Purple and Gold. More than 90% of students were able to advance from the White Team to the Red Team by the end of their freshman year, and 60% were eventually able to make the Blue Team. For every 100 students, only one or two were still wearing white trunks by the time they graduated.

The following benchmarks had to be hit to move beyond the White Team and reach subsequent color levels within the La Sierra System.

Each color level had minimum, median, and “ceiling” sub-standards; the ceiling standard of one color level was the minimum standard of the next; hitting the ceiling standard within a color level advanced you the next color up. What is listed below is the minimum standard for each main color level:

Red (Intermediate)

• Pull-Ups: 10 
• Push-Ups: 32
• Bar-Dips: 12 
• Sit-Ups: 60 
• Standing Broad Jump: 6’9″ 
• 200-Yard Shuttle Run: 34 seconds 
• Rope Climb (18’, Stand Start): Use hands only (no feet)
• Agility Run: 20 seconds 
• 880-Yard Run: 3 minutes
• Mile Run: 7 minutes
• Man Lift and Carry: 880 yards
• Peg Board (Vertical): 6 holes
• 50-Yard Swim (Freestyle): 36 seconds

Blue (Advanced)

• Pull-Ups: 14 
• Push-Ups: 48
• Bar-Dips: 18 
• Standing Broad Jump: 7’3″
• Hanging Leg Lifts: 24 
• 300-Yard Shuttle Run: 52 seconds 
• Rope Climb (18’, Stand Start): 15 seconds, hands only 
• Agility Run: 19 seconds 
• 1320-Yard Run: 4:20 
• Man Lift and Carry: 1320 yards
• Peg Board (Vertical): 1 trip
• Extension Press-Up: 5
• 1.5-Mile Run: 10:30 
• 50-Yard Swim (Freestyle): 32 seconds

Navy Blue (Ultimate Athlete)

The median and ceiling sub-standards within the Blue level were categorized as their own colors: Purple and Gold. To test for the Navy Blue trunks, you first had to earn your Gold trunks.

• Pull-Ups: 34
• Bar-Dips: 52
• Handstand Push-Ups: 50
• Alt. 1 Arm Burpees (30 sec.): 26
• 300-Yard Shuttle Run: 47.5 seconds
• Rope Climb (20’, Hands Only, Sitting Start): 2 trips
• Agility Run: 17 seconds
• Extension Press-Up (8”): 100
• Pegboard (Vertical): 5 trips
• Handstand: 45 seconds
• Man Lift and Carry: 5 miles
• Mile Run: 5:15
• 5-Mile Jog: Finish
• Obstacle Course: Complete
• Swim (Front Prone Position): 1 mile
• Swim (Underwater): 50 yards
• Swim (Any Combination of Strokes): 2 miles
• Execute Front Hanging Float With Arms and Ankles Tied (Deep Water): 6 minutes
• Stay Afloat in Deep Water in Vertical Position (Use of Arms and Legs Permitted Within 8’ Circle): 2 hours

Representing the pinnacle of physical fitness, the Navy Blue shorts were obviously extremely difficult to earn, and as a result highly coveted. When a student earned his Navy trunks, his accomplishment was announced over the school’s PA system, and the entire student body would erupt into thunderous cheers. 

Between 1958 when the Navy Blue level was introduced and 1983 when La Sierra High School closed, only 21 students were able to achieve these trunks. Today, the standard remains as a testament to a time that had high expectations for its youth — that believed in their potential and pushed them to reach for as much of it as they could.  

Listen to this episode of the AoM podcast for more on the La Sierra P.E. program:

With our archives 4,000 articles deep, we’ve decided to republish a classic piece each Sunday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in March 2022.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Pandora. This was my music player of choice when it launched in the late 2000s. Like a lot of people, I slowly migrated to Spotify and forgot about it. I’ve been souring on Spotify lately, for a variety of reasons. One is that the algorithm just keeps recycling what I listened to last year (no DJ X, I don’t want to hear my 2024 favorites again) or pushing new releases that are popular on the platform but I have zero interest in. The AI slop proliferating on the app and its slow decline as a podcast player haven’t helped. For some reason, this week I had a hunch that I should log back into Pandora after a decade of non-use. My account was so old it was still tied to my Hotmail address from high school. Pandora is a breath of fresh air. The Music Genome Project is amazing. I’ve already found new artists I like. You actually get a mix that feels random and novel. It never feels stale. My channels: Maná, the Killers (natch), and a jazz and classical channel for work. If it’s been a while since you’ve used Pandora, give it another look. Surf the web like it’s 2008 again.

Keychain Screwdriver Set. You’d be surprised how often you need a screwdriver. This cheap little two-piece set — a flathead and a Phillips, each about the size of a key — clips right onto your keychain. I’ve had the set on my keychain for years now, and it’s come in clutch more times than I expected. It came in especially handy when my kids were little and had toys that had a screwed-in battery compartment. Didn’t have to schlep to the garage to get a screwdriver. Just pulled out my keys. You can’t use these for jobs that need serious torque, but most screwdriving situations in daily life don’t. 

A Cinema Humanities Program. Last year, I became a cinephile. Watching good movies on the regular has become one of my favorite adult pastimes. Substacker Ted Gioia (The Honest Broker) started a 52-week self-directed humanities curriculum a couple years back that consists of great reading and music listening. But Gioia acknowledged that a cinema component was lacking. Kyle Worley took that as a challenge and built out a 52-film supplement — one great movie per week — to pair with it. The list is solid. I’ve highlighted several of its entries here on Odds & Ends over the years, including Citizen Kane, Seven Samurai (check out my article about the lessons from that film), and The Searchers. If you’ve been meaning to develop a more well-rounded film education, this is a good place to start. Worth checking out alongside Gioia’s original curriculum.

The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow. I’ve been doing a series over on Dying Breed on the role of luck and chance in our lives, so I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the philosophy of luck and probability theory for the past year. Mlodinow’s book is an approachable introduction to both the history of probability and how it actually works. The central argument is that randomness plays a much bigger role in outcomes than we typically acknowledge, and that our brains aren’t wired to recognize it very well. You’ve really got to squeeze those mind grapes when you think about chance. This book can help you start that squeezing. 

On our Dying Breed newsletter, we published Making a Living Online: The Rise and Fall of Banner Ads and Sunday Firesides: It Will Stay With You (Until You Stay With It).

Quote of the Week

Better to be a strong man with a weak point, than to be a weak man without a strong point. A diamond with a flaw is more valuable than a brick without a flaw.

—William J.H. Boetcker

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.