Week 11, 2023
Week eleven is here. Pouncing on your plans like a playful kitten with a ball of string.
It's time to walk over to your 4K Weeks Poster, and fill in one more square... Done?
Keep changing the world!
The 4K Weeks Brightsider- A Multicolor Extravaganza!
The 4K Weeks Fade to Black- Momento Mori, Anyone?
The 4K Weeks Long View- A Different Horizon
The 4K Weeks Fade to Black- Momento Mori, Anyone?
The 4K Weeks Long View- A Different Horizon
Remarkable Weeks
Week #11 in the year 1986, Susan Butcher won the 1158 mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and then again in 1987, 1988, and 1990! She was 1628.43 weeks old. (31.23 yrs)
Week #11 in the year 1905, Albert Einstein finished his scientific paper detailing his Quantum Theory of Light, one of the foundations of modern physics. He was 1602.43 weeks old. (26.02 yrs)
Week #11 in the year 2002 Elon Musk Founded SpaceX. SpaceX has successfully launched 181 rockets since 2008. He was 2125.57 weeks old. (40.76 yrs)
This Week's Quote
" Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths." - Etty Hillesum
Etty Hillesum was murdered in Auschwitz on November 30th, 1943. I just think that is important to note. The first step towards genocide is to divide and make a person "the other.” Don't do it.
This quote struck me as I was scrolling through my quotes list, trying to be inspired by something... (It is strange that even eternal truths can seem uninspiring when you are scrolling through a thousand of them!).
I have been meditating again, (I stopped about 4 years ago) at the recommendation of my coach. 20 minutes of focusing on my breath. Which actually looks like... 30 seconds... WORK RELATED THOUGHT!!!.... nope, breathe... 30 seconds... WORK RELATED THOUGHT!...nope... repeat.
But... it seems to be working. Calming my squirrel brain, and creating space.
What I am Thinking About This Week
Big heroic efforts, vs small daily efforts.
Last week, in the "This Week's Quote" section, I mentioned that there are people for whom I would give it all up in an instant without a second thought. I was talking about this with a friend, and something flipped in my mind.
Big heroic gestures really get our juices flowing... they make great movies and, with the right soundtrack, are usually home run heart-string-tuggers.
BUT...
It is much easier to say that you will die for someone than it is to change how you live your daily life for them.
It may be true that you are willing to give your life for your loved one, but it is unlikely to ever happen. The world is mostly safe, and 99.9 percent of us will never need to test our "hero" mettle.
For every life saved by one big heroic act, maybe a million or two are cut down by a lifetime of daily slights and shortcomings.
You can see this paradox everywhere... it's not just personal relationship dynamics...
Everyone wants to win the lottery or get a windfall, fewer people want to save $10 a day for 20 years. Everyone wants a miracle diet to strip the fat off of them in a month, fewer people want to change how they eat every day... forever.
And yet, all the durable wins are in daily actions, repeated over years... the rest is just background noise. You can be a moderate asshole for 50 years, and then dive in front of one bullet, and everyone will want the rights to your story. When you grind daily to become the best version of yourself, so that your family is uplifted by you instead of dragged down by you, no one will write a screenplay of your life.
There aren't words to say how strongly I believe this is true.
Every good thing in my life has been built brick by brick, day by day. And every time I thought "This one win will change everything", it ended up being a big nothing burger.
So...if you have, as I do, people for whom you would die, surely they are worth you making the difficult daily effort to live in such a way that their life is better. That would be the ultimate "Heroic Gesture.”
I don't know... what do you all think? Email me.
Thanks for being a part of the journey with us! Please tell me if you liked/disliked the email this week. Ask my wife... those are the only emails I like to get!
Spencer, Owner of 4KWeeks.com
Dad Joke'o The Week
Did you hear about the new restaurant on the Moon? Decent food, but no atmosphere!
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