Week #10, 2025
Week #10 of 2025 has arrived... We are almost 1/5th of the way through the year that just began a hot second ago. But... the spring is on the way... lush, vibrant worlds, springing to life again. It's damn near magical.
Time to walk over to your 4K Weeks poster and fill in another square. Done?
You know what blows my mind? Rivers. How can there possibly be enough little tributaries to fill the Mississippi River every second of every day, forever? It's mind-blowing.
Nearly everything has a kernel of wonder if you can convince yourself to stop knowing things just for a second.
If you have read this newsletter or listened to the podcast a few times, (and enjoyed it!), it would mean the world to me if you forwarded it to a friend, or subscribed to the podcast.
The more people that benefit from any nuggets of goodness, the better.
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ON WEEK #10 OF 2019...
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain shared her first Instagram post which featured a letter between Charles Babbage and Prince Albert.
She was 4,846.14 weeks or 92.93 years old.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you" - Henri-Frederic Amiel
I would add the "time" that has been entrusted to you. Many of us might get lost on that "talent" word. Talent is just: inclination + hours of work x time in years. And so, in order not to get caught up in a discussion of agency, let's substitute time for talent. Time is the most precious thing you have been given.
The light will go out. There is no need to stress about it... you don't have to always be racing the clock. Recovery is part of growth... But... you can always take advantage of the light while you have it. Don't mistake a lack of resources for a lack of resourcefulness
WHAT I AM CONSUMING THIS WEEK
My son is friends with the son of the playwright who wrote Broke-ology. It is a spectacular, and small, window into the struggles of one black family. If you get a chance to see it in your town, you should.
Reputation matters... In this substack from Sam Harris, about the degeneration of his friendship with Elon Musk, the thesis of the essay comes down to Sam's reputation. It's a good read.
"Can New York City Win its War on Rats?" Super interesting... but not for those with rodent phobias!
The Ezra Klein Show. "A Theory of Media that Explains 15 years of Politics".
This is a thoughtful discussion with a former CIA analyst who: 2016-didn't vote, 2020 didn't vote, 2024-voted for Trump. I found myself thinking more deeply about things I just take for granted for a while after listening.
Cautionary Tales: "The Nursery Rhyme that Ruined a Rockband!"
"I said, do you speaka my language?" He just smiled and gave me a...
Insta Nuggets:
WHAT I AM THINKING ABOUT THIS WEEK
It is an overwhelming impossibility to change the world.
In light of that... what CAN you do?
It is a conundrum, trying to balance the struggle and the fight inherent to life with a resigned acceptance of your fate. Last week's email was about how gross all of the striving for power, money, and influence is.
But isn't striving good? Should we just lay down and die in the face of injustice? What is injustice? Is life zero sum? If I get more, do you have to have less? Should we not try to make progress for fear of falling into shameless, naked ambition?
Victor Frankl, in Man's Search of Meaning said, "On the average, only those prisoners could keep alive who, after years of trekking from camp to camp, had lost all scruples in their fight for existence; they were prepared to use every means, honest and otherwise, even brutal force, theft, and betrayal of their friends, in order to save themselves. We who have come back, by the aid of many lucky chances or miracles-whatever one may choose to call them-we know: the best of us did not return."
What a thing to realize about the worst human-on-human atrocity in modern history.
The best humans died early. The ones who would give up their life in the face of injustice were shot on the train platform. The ones who would give up their watery soup to a starving child, starved.
One part of me would tell you to fight and scrape and gnash and bite your way to continued existence. And then another part of me would tell you the most noble thing you can do is to give us your life for another.
I don't have an answer here for you. I think the only correct answer is to make sure you regularly ponder the question.
Which brings me to a second thing I have been thinking about this week. A few people questioned my addition of the No Mercy/No Malice Podcast about Elon Musk last week.
I struggle with a few things regularly in this newsletter.
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This newsletter is about living well, these 4000 Weeks. That means talking about living honestly, earnestly, lovingly, kindly, curiously, and most of all, with internal and external integrity.
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My filter bubble. It is a fine balance with a big fuzzy middle, the difference between coming to thoughtful conclusions and having a bias. I do seek out alternate opinions, and I try to hold my mind open, but I think what I think because I have (mostly) thought about it and come to conclusions.
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Everything is Politics. In the modern world everything is always politics. Sometimes, in times of tranquility (like my entire youth) it is easy to ignore that fact, because things are stable. These days, when things are decidedly not stable, and we are yanking a new world order into existence, it is impossible to ignore the fact that everything is politics.
My Dad always quoted Bismarck, "Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable—the art of the next best."
And while I just spent last week's newsletter and the first half of this section talking about not striving, I am not quite ready to lay down and die.
I am still interested in pulling the world towards ideals that I believe in. So, that means that this equation is in effect...
"This newsletter is about living well" + "Everything is politics" = there will be some "politics" in this newsletter.
But, this isn't and won't be a political newsletter... So, I will make you a few promises.
I promise not to be a political hack.
I promise to keep my mind open.
I promise to pull no punches.
I promise to talk about hard things.
I promise not to ever try to hurt your feelings.
I promise not to worry that I might hurt your feelings.
As my good friend Ben often says, "People who are offended easily should be offended more often."
I promise that if you tell me that I am wrong with a respectful, reasoned argument, I will consider it.
I promise that the only conflict is still between have nots and the have yachts, just like it's always been.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK! ... that's mostly up to you.
Until next week!
Spencer, Owner of 4K Weeks
P.S. I'm serious about the 33 Day Foundation. It works, and in the nascent 4K Weeks Community, I am happy to help you define your goals and stay accountable.
P.P.S. Here is your reward for reading this whole email: Oh dang! last week I said that This is the best version of this song. And then this was just released... which might be a better version!
DAD JOKE O' THE WEEK
What do you call a man with a rubber toe?
Roberto!
Shoutout to Johnny G. for contributing this week's joke!
Think you can do better? Join our Dad Joke thread!
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