ON WEEK #1 OF 1946...

Hirohito, the 124th Emperor of Japan, issued a statement declaring that he was not a deity. This was following Japan's defeat in World War II and at the request of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers,    He was 2,331.14 weeks or 44.7 years old.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Skill to do comes of doing." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Many of the most foundational quotes about how to get what you want in life are the simplest.

I can’t boil it down any better than this. This is some of the most concentrated wisdom I have ever read. It has been borne out time and time again for me.

I have always been ambitious. But youth is impatient, and so It took me quite a while to realize that there is only one path to skill. But once you know how to apply this truth, you can do anything.

Hours, and hours, and hours of intentional doing. Doing while thinking about doing.This is the only thing that I think I can add to this quote.

If you want your skill to be valuable and valued, you are going to have to be mentally involved in all your doing.

Sure, you can get skilled by mindless repetition, but that is the kind of skill that is easily commodified. If you are constantly thinking about the doing while doing the doing, that is the path to being a master.

This is why I have opinions about the right and wrong way to sweep a shop floor. I am always thinking about doing while doing the doing.

WHAT I CONSUMED THIS WEEK

Working on a Song, The Lyrics of HadesTown By Anais Mitchell Everyone who has read this email for a while knows that I love HadesTown. My wife gave me this book for Christmas.  The book is Mitchell's notes on how each song made its way into the world over the course of more than a decade of consistent work... and also a lot of amazing writing that was left out of the final musical. In Paragraph 25 of the Enchiridion, Epictetus talks about being willing to pay the cost. There is a price for everything, and you shouldn’t wish for a thing if you aren’t willing to pay the price.  This is made more difficult by the fact that even if you pay the price, you still might not get the thing you desire. This book is a real document about what it means to pay the price.  I would love to have written an award winning musical… but I am not willing to spend the next 10 years scraping and clawing to bring it into the world.

Instagram Nugget: Are your attachments worth the weight? 

WHAT I AM THINKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

Am I lucky, or do I just feel lucky?

I am a very lucky man.  I believe that to my core.  It is hard to imagine a chain of events that would weaken that belief.  

And there is no question that just the reality of having been raised in a loving home, with two parents who made it to “till death do us part” is just one bit of luck I had no control over.

But… I know quite a few people who got that luck, and a good bit more, who don’t have a similarly ironclad belief that they are lucky. 

Why do I have that ironclad belief, and how can you develop one yourself?

It may be odd, but a lot of it begins with understanding that it is hard to imagine a situation that couldn’t get worse.

And since every situation could get worse, you can always feel lucky for the fact that whatever situation you are in hasn’t gotten worse… and if it does then get worse, you can STILL be thankful that it hasn't yet gotten EVEN WORSE

Are you overwhelmed with all the food you have to cook for the holidays?  How lucky are you to own an oven!

Did your oven break? How lucky are you to be faced with a novel cooking challenge!

Are you annoyed about that one uncle who is coming to New Years? How lucky are you to not be lonely! How lucky are you that you only have to see him once a year! How lucky you are to not be him!

Are you mad at all the traffic on the road at rush hour?  How lucky are you to have a car and maybe even a job! 

There is no bottom to this well… Epictetus said It is hard to imagine a man whose situation can’t be made worse.  “Do you only own a small loin cloth?  You could lose the loin cloth.”

For some of you this habit will likely begin (and perhaps return often) with a bit of sarcasm.  That’s fine, because your internal self will understand the truth of each situation. It is a habit worth building even if you fake it until you make it.

I don’t know if I really am lucky, or if I am just constantly noticing how lucky I am compared to how unlucky I could be in any given moment.  

Maybe it is just one more example of the Baader Meinhof Phenomnenon. 

The more you notice lucky things, the luckier you feel. The luckier you feel, the more you notice lucky things.

Lucky you!

Until next week!

Spencer, Owner of 4K Weeks