Week 17 of 2024 has arrived. How lucky are we to witness the changing of the seasons? SO LUCKY. It's hard to not enjoy your life if you are walking around feeling lucky all day.

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

I had a delightful coffee meeting with Dan last week. He is a podcast listener and his adult son lives in town.  He reached out to me when he was visiting to see if I could grab coffee. We talked about life philosophy, our journeys, and just generally vibed about self-improvement.

Our meeting, combined with the regular emails I get from some of you telling me about the successes and failures you are experiencing, has motivated me to try something....

I don't know if it will last, I don't know if it will stay free, or have a subscription one day, I don't know if you want it, and I don't know if you need it.

All I know is that I wanted to try it.  And so, I have started a community on Skool.com. 

I am looking for 25 people who are interested in talking about the journey of continuous self-improvement, looking for daily accountability, daily encouragement, etc. I think this could be the start of an awesome community focused on helping all of its members continue growing into the kind of humans we all want to live in the world with.

If you think that is you, send me an email with a daily goal you would like to be held accountable for, and why you think you would be an asset to our nascent virtual mastermind group.  I envision this group growing, with courses, digital extras for 4K Weeks products, daily inspiration to stay the course, etc and... as a thank you to the founding group, it will be free for them as long as it is active.

If you are interested and motivated, let's see what it becomes. If we get more than 25 people, I will start a waitlist.

Reminder: As a 4K Weeks newsletter reader, you always get 10% off your order.  Just email me and ask for a code.

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

I want something from you.  I want  you to record a quick (10-30 seconds) video of you and your poster (selfie style),  mentioning how it has changed you. I don't have much creative direction other than that.  I will be using these videos to change more people's lives with a 4K Weeks Poster.  If you email me a video (spencer@4kweeks.com), I will say thank you with either a $75 4KWeeks gift card, OR with the The 66 day Massive Action Society. Your choice. 

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  17 of 1952, Patty Berg, golfer, shot a 64, which was regarded as the best competitive round of golf by a woman. She put her career on hold when she served in the Marine Reserves during World War II. She was 1,784.43 weeks old (34.22 yrs). 

Week  17 of 1961, Judy Garland performed live at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The concert was recorded and released as a double live album, which later earned her a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, marking the first time a female artist achieved the honor. Also, that show was mentioned in this song... a beautiful love note to a mother and a favorite of mine. She was 2,028.14 weeks old (38.89 yrs).

Week  17 of 1994, Aldrich Ames and his wife entered guilty pleas for espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union and Russia. He was a former CIA officer. He was 2,762.86 weeks old (52.98 yrs).

This Week's Quote

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. -Melody Beattie

I can't point to any habit that I have developed as an adult that has had a larger impact on my life than the simple habit of writing 3 things I am grateful for every day.

It has simply changed everything, and I can't encourage you strongly enough to give it a shot.

What I am Consuming This Week

Rich Roll, "#826 Scott Galloway, Healthy Masculinity, How to Achieve Financial Stability, and Why Vulnerability is Power." If you have been reading for a while, I bet you can guess why I loved this podcast.  I found myself nodding along and agreeing to nearly all of it.  Strong, competent, sensitive masculinity is something I try very hard to model in my home for my young son and daughter. I think it is SO important for both of them to see a vision of me who is: big and strong, nearly fearless, not shy about crying at sad movies, good at fixing toilets, regularly cleaning the kitchen, and proud and lucky to love their mother.  There couldn't be too many examples of that walking around in the world.

Chris Stapleton, "White Horse". I have been listening to this song on repeat since we saw it on Saturday Night Live last week.  His voice and the guitar riff make me involuntarily sneer my lip, tilt my head and nod along. Also, it was co-written by Dan Wilson.  Wilson was the lead singer and songwriter for Semisonic, and has co-written and produced so many hit songs, in such diverse genres of music that you wouldn't believe it.

Speaking of SNL... this is the funniest stupidest sketch I have seen in a long while.

Insta Nuggets:

• Important perspective for parents with teens.
• This is good stuff...
• A good list to focus on if you are drifting.

What I am Thinking About This Week

Twice now I have geared up for war, and been totally unprepared for peace.

#1) We were looking for a minivan after work one evening recently.  On the ride to the dealership, I prepared my wife for the change she was about to witness in me. "Don't be surprised if I am cold, don't be surprised if I am short. They are going to try to 'put us in this car today' and I am not going to have my time wasted. We are only going to test drive one to see if it is the right model, and then we will buy one online." ...and After she rolled her eyes at me and said "OK!", I put on my armor, picked up my sword, and marched into the dealership only to be greeted by Gregory, a delightful young man. With zero pressure, he showed us the options they had, and set us up for a test drive. While we were driving, we realized that this was the best price we had seen in all of our research, so we sat down with the sales manager, asked if we could have a loaner until it was ready, and then paid the deposit. We were home in time for dinner. We had a good laugh at my expense on the way home.

#2) We needed a new section of fence to go around a portion of some new property. I like doing that kind of work, and would enjoy doing it, but I am super busy now, and so we decided to hire it out.  The guys came out and were suspiciously fast getting the posts set.  In this part of the country 24" is deep enough for a fence. The next day I asked the owner of the company, and he checked with his guys. The guys said they were as deep as they should be, and over text he seemed to pat me on the head and say they were fine.  So... I dug one up. Sure enough, 16 inches. A full 50% shallow. And it was clear the rest were between 16" and 20". It would probably be fine, but it certainly wasn't "right".  I called the owner and asked him to come look at it with me before they returned. I was ready for him to be red-faced and defiant.  We are talking about more than 30 posts... a considerable amount of work. He was delightful, not at all confrontational, and said that If I wanted them all dug up and reset, then that's what they would do.  I was almost flummoxed... I was so ready to fight. 

I am not exactly sure what the lesson is here.  It is easy to imagine either of those scenarios going the way I had feared.

Maybe it is just that while you should carry your sword and shield, you should lead with the olive branch.

That is harder.  It is easier to tolerate conflict when you are wound up and expecting it.  It requires a much more skillful touch and a stronger constitution to be easy, free and geared up for peace, but competent and ready for battle. 

(John G., my amazing friend, proofreader, and patriarch of the most mentioned family other than mine in this newsletter, sent me this immediately after I sent him the draft of this week's email... Did you want a fight?  Perfect.)

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

My Mom got fired from her job as a road worker for theft.

I refused to believe she could do such a thing, but when I got home, the signs were all there!