Week 22 of 2024 has arrived. Don't forget...We all serve at the pleasure of Mother Nature.  Her reminders can be sudden and harsh. And while it sometimes seems otherwise, it's nothing personal.  In the paraphrased words of Epictetus, who are we to gripe about how the things we borrowed from the universe are returned to the universe?

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

What is it that you are after?  What is the main goal? Ask yourself those questions, and then when you have an answer, ask yourself "why?" three times.  See if you can get to the root cause of your desires.  We are all going to die, and all that is important to us will cease to be.  The goal of being a billionaire doesn't hold up well under the harsh light of mortality.  That's not to say that money and recognition have no place on the priority list... just to say that they don't belong at the top.

The coaching and accountability group is full! If you are interested in being on the waitlist send an email to Elisha.  info@4kweeks.com

Reminder: As a 4K Weeks newsletter reader, you always get 10% off your order.  Just email 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!

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  22 of 1930, Walter Chrysler introduced the Chrysler Building in New York to the public, which was the tallest building in the world for 11 months until it was surpassed by the Empire State Building. He was 2,877.57 weeks old (55.18 yrs). 

Week  22 of 1936, Alan Turing submitted "On Computable Numbers" for publication, establishing the theoretical foundation for modern computers. He is considered today to be the father of artificial intelligence and computer science, and had a huge impact on the Allied victory in the 2nd World War due to his genius in codebreaking, but was never recognized during his lifetime because he was gay. He died prematurely at 41, due to cyanide poisoning. He was 1,248.57 weeks old (23.94 yrs).

Week  22 of 1967, Evel Knievel, motorcycle daredevil, jumped over 16 automobiles on his motorcycle in Gardena, California. He was 1,493.14 weeks old (28.63 yrs).

This Week's Quote

"Do not waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good." -Ralph Waldo Emers

If you are reading this, you are one of the lucky ones.

Of course, we all have our moments of sadness or moodiness or overwhelm.  I don't know if I could trust a person who is 100% sunshine 100% of the time.

BUT!  There is light in everything if you look for it. There is beauty if your eyes are open to it.  It is up to you to find the good. I promise you it is there, and that the more you look the more you find, and the better you get at remembering to look.

This world is full of miracles, even on the day that your dad dies.  Find the miracle.

What I am Consuming This Week

Epictetus... So Much Epictetus. The Art of Living, by Sharon Lebell is one of my top five books of all time.  It is a translation and modernization of Epictetus's Enchiridion. I been reading it (5th or 6th time?) in little bits this weeks, and I have also listened to the audio book twice.  I can still remember standing in my shop in 2014, getting ready to use the table saw, with headphones in, when the first bit of the narration kicked in : "First, say to yourself what you would be, then do what you have to do." I have also been listening to the audio book of the original Enchiridion... more words, and slightly more difficult to grasp lessons, but amazing in its own right.  I think this book might be the only self help book you need.

The Ezra Klein Show, "A Conservative Futurist and a Supply-Side Liberal Walk into a Podcast..." This was a very interesting conversation, but I don't think James Pethokoukis had any good answers to Klein's questions on how to fix it... and they seemed to both hold some very similar views...

No Mercy/ No Malice: "Earners vs Owners". This is awesome... TL:DR... Scratch, bide and claw your way to "owner" as fast as you can while also advocating for a better tax code, thereby undermining the benefits you have worked to leverage. #integrity.

Hard Fork.  This is one of the best places for know-nothings like me to stay informed on the progress of Artificial Intelligence.  AI Vertigo is real.

Insta Nuggets: 

• It's Da BEESSSST! DON'T FORGET IT!
• 13, 13, 13, 13. 
• True for life and business.

What I am Thinking About This Week

High leverage activities.

A member of the accountabilty group, Kevin S., reached a point in his goal where it was time to transition to the next phase, and that got me thinking about how we decide what our next move should be. 

There are always many different things you can spend your time on, and if we focus specifically on our "professional" or "work" pursuits, there is a pretty clear winner when it comes to next actions.

Leverage.

I am going to generalize here a bit... and that is because despite the fact that "we are all special, unique flowers, just like everybody else" we all typically follow some very similar habits and behaviors.

We often (always?) confuse activity with progress.

You and I are both probably avoiding the work that will pay the most dividends... and we are avoiding that work by doing things that seem essential and necessary (and productive) but don't actually move the needle...

We are avoiding the high leverage work because of a few reasons... it might not work, it is hard to get started, it might take a while to see results, we are afraid of failing at the important work, it doesn't feel like "work-work" etc., etc., etc. 

Having the courage to find the big levers and pull them hard is often the difference between subsistence and wild success.

We should be looking for high leverage activities.  Levers that, when we pull them, make a much bigger impact than the effort it took to pull them. 

The 80/20 rule is nearly a law... and so if you can really focus on the 20% that gets the 80%, then that 20% becomes the 100%, and then you can boil that down to the next 20%, etc., etc., etc.  This is how high achievers seem to get so much more done. Stop wasting time on things that don't move the needle. (Unless those things truly bring you joy, and then do them as much as you can!)

Just something for you to think about as you start work this week.

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

A pony walks into a noisy bar and tries to order a beer. Bartender says “I can’t hear you! You’ll have to speak up!”

Pony says: “Sorry! I’m a little horse!”