Week #24 of 2025 has arrived... I sat in the driving rain for the first act of my son's performance of School of Rock on Tuesday night...

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

We knew it was going to rain... we knew the show would go on unless there was lightning... and we knew there was no way we would miss his opening night.  And so, we didn't complain, we weren't miserable, we leaned in to the camraderie of the 1000 brave souls that were there, and just enjoyed ourselves.

There is SO MUCH strength and comfort in a "no turning back" attitude.  Once you know that there is nothing that will stop you, it is easier to tolerate, or even enjoy, sub-optimal conditions. If you have decided to live and be happy, just do it.

Enjoy the email this week.  It's a good one.

Now for the ask...

ON WEEK #24 OF 1948...

WHAT I CONSUMED THIS WEEK

	The Ember Blade, Chris Wooding I have really been benefiting from reading fiction lately.  For the last five years or so I have been on a heavy non-fiction diet.  My imagination and creativity seem to have really responded to this year's focus on fiction.  This book is awesome so far... half way through... a story of a young man's tragedy at the hand of a ruling empire, and his struggle to win back his nation from the colonizers... I can't turn pages fast enough.
	No Mercy/No Malice,Rich Kids, Scott Galloway. I believe this.  My son got his first paycheck this week.  He was astounded by the difference in the gross and net pay.  The check was from a creative venture funded by a government. In a building built by a government, and we taxied him to and from on roads paved by a government. You don't have to love them, but you can't have the infrastructure without the investment.
	Fault Finder is a Minimum Wage Job. Freakonomics Radio,  Fascinating conversation with Austan Goolsbee, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark." - Henri Frederic Amiel

I can be intense. I like to think that I am just enthusiastic and passionate.  But to be honest, I can really be an evangelist for things I believe in, and sometimes people don't love it.

We can debate about which level of passion is appropriate... more/less, whatever... but nothing happens unless someone believes in making some change... belief is passion.

Maybe that's what makes us human... passion.

I don't think you should shy away from whatever level of passion you think it is right to bring... sure, it might not be for everyone, but... nothing is.  

Bring the passion and you will bring the change.

WHAT I AM THINKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

This quote... and it's implications. for my life:

Upton Sinclair — 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

Read it again.

(You didn't... actually do it.)

I first heard this quote in the movie Who Killed the Electric Car, in 2006.  I was on a date with my now wife.  It is a great movie… and the lessons of this quote apply to myriad situations. Specifically, it was used to explain the inability of oil executives to understand Global Climate Change, and the need to stop burning fossil fuels.

I can't understand how a world would be better if foundries were't burning natural gas to melt bronze into figurative sculptures for the beautification of cities, because my "salary" depends on me not understanding that.

You have something similar. If you don't think so, you need to work on not giving yourself a pass so easily.

But to be clear, I am not asking you to change.. (Maybe you should/shouldn't change, I can't possibly know that. I am struggling with my integrity over here, I don't have time to worry about yours!) There is no way to actually square your life with this rule... Frankly, the Earth would likely be better off if humans disappeared tomorrow, but I am invested in existence, so that is a non-starter.

But, within this existence, there is a thing called integrity, and It is valuable to me.  

Recently I found myself considering an opportunity that would be very professionally advantageous to me, both from a financial perspective, and from a "work I love to do" perspective, but it was associated with an individual that I don't respect and don't want to be associated with.

In a world as complicated as ours it is VERY easy to justify nearly anything. It is so easy that it is often hard to know if a decision that would benefit you personally is actually the decision with integrity, or just a personally convenient justification.

I don't have an easy solution for you in this.  I kind of feel that awareness is vaccination... meaning that if you are the kind of person who second guesses and double checks your motivations regularly, you are likely doing fine. 

And that means that if you don't ever wonder if you might be self-interested and wrong, you should be worried... but then.. if that is the case, you likely have already unsubscribed from this newsletter and Dunning Kruegered yourself into thinking that I am a "namby-pamby, snowflake who is totally of base here, there is no nuance, BE A MAN!"

Well, you can lead a horse to water...!

Until next week!

Spencer,

Owner of 4KWeeks

P.S. Clickon this reward if you feel like letting me know you read the whole newsletter: Creative anxiety