Week 16 of 2024 has arrived. Now is the time of year that I wear a light jacket on the walk to work, and then forget to wear it home. I saw 3 snakes sunning themselves on stumps this weekend, and a whole bunch of bees gathering pollen from the hyacinths.

Time to walk over to your 4K Weeks poster and fill in another square.  Done?

I have been doing this for the last five days.  When I wake up, after turning off my watch alarm and as I am still laying in bed, I have been saying some version of "Wow! I am so excited to be awake today!" and then I list a few things that I am excited or thankful for.

I know it sounds silly, and it isn't something I would lead with when introducing myself at a cocktail party, but it sure does set my mind right in that fragile sleepy moment where the trajectory of the day is getting set.

Thanks for being here and reading! These emails help me "Sharpen The Saw" and hopefully help you to sharpen yours!

The 4K Weeks Brightsider... For the colorful among us.

The 4K Weeks Fade to Black - Memento Mori, Anyone?

The Original 4K Weeks... A Striking Visual of Your Life

Remarkable Weeks

Week 16 of 1912, Harriet Quimby achieved the milestone of being the first female pilot to successfully cross the English Channel. She was the first woman in the US to obtain a pilot's license. She was 1,927.00 weeks old (36.95 yrs). 

Week  16 of 1932, Haile Selassie, former emperor of Ethiopia, ended slavery. He was known for making movements to modernize Ethiopia. He was 2,072.43 weeks old (39.74 yrs).

Week  16 of 2018, King Charles III was declared by Commonwealth countries as the successor to Queen Elizabeth as the head of the Commonwealth. Today, he reigns as King. (We happened to be in the UK when the Queen had just died... the amount of flowers outside of the palace was staggering in a way I can't describe.) He was 3,622.71 weeks old (69.47 yrs).

This Week's Quote

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. -Japanese Proverb

I have installed a fair amount of monumental bronze sculptures. I'm the bald bearded guy talking and standing on the large pedestal in this video.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of thinking and planning, and hand-wringing over all the details that have to come together to get this done correctly.

I have noticed over the years that in the weeks ahead of an install, I lay in bed at night thinking anxiously about how it will all come together.

But as soon as I start laying out the tools and the materials and scheduling the cranes and packing up the truck, all those anxieties disappear.

And that's because now we are DOING it.  Now I have my hands on the steering wheel, and I can control the outcome. When I am doing, I can bend the world to my will.

You need to make a plan, and you have to do something.

Action is the antidote to anxiety.

What I am Consuming This Week

Freakonomics Podcast. "Extra: How Much Do You Know About Immigration". This is fun... a little survey about what people "know" about immigration... Spoiler, most of us know very little factual info.

Ezra Klein Show. "Will A.I. Break the Internet? Or Save it?"

Ezra Klein Show, "What if Diario Amodei is Right about A.I.?"
A.I... it's almost cliche to talk about it now... but I don't think time spent thinking about it now is wasted. My generation remembers what it was like to live a life without the ubiquitous presence of computers, and now they are present nearly every minute of every day. That will be true about my kids' generation, but with A.I.

Cautionary Tales: "The Rise and Fall of a Megalomanic."

Insta Nuggets:

• THIS!!!!!!!!
• Lives in my head rent-free!

What I am Thinking About This Week

Intention and mindset.

Last week I mentioned that I was rereading Three Simple Steps by Trevor Blake.  I had been talking to a young guy that I play basketball with about personal growth books, and I mentioned it as a favorite and then bought it for him.  But, before I gave it to him I realized that it had been more than 10 years since I last read it, so I thought I should refresh my memory.

It still holds up.  (It is a bit WooWoo, but that's ok . . . none of us actually know anything about how the world works.)

That book was present at the beginning of the biggest change I have undertaken as a human.  It's hard to give any one thing full credit, but Three Simple Steps certainly helped me along the path to the Extreme Ownership version of my current life, and the resulting successes.

One thing that I have really been focusing on while reading is how much mindset and intention play in success.

Everything is always a struggle.  Sure, some things end up being easier, some things harder. But everything great that you have brought into the world was a struggle.  And you didn't know how you were going to get from zero to one.

And in light of that truth, the truth that the path ahead is murky and overgrown at BEST, your mindset and your intention are likely more important than the choices you make moment to moment.

And so, I have now remembered how valuable that was to me at the beginning of the journey I am on, and I have recommitted to focusing on controlling my mindset and setting my intention FIRST, and steering the ship second.

It reminds me of that prayer or meditation that the pediatric cancer doc shared with his new parents.

"I don't know what's going to happen in my future, but I do know that we are alive this day and I am deeply grateful for everything that happens for good and for bad."

Have a great week!

Thanks for being a part of the journey with us! Please tell me if you liked/disliked the blog this week. Ask my wife... those are the only emails I like to get!

Spencer, Owner of 4KWeeks.com

Dad Joke O' The Week

Why is there a long line at the cemetery?

Because people are dying to get in.