Week 33, 2024
Week 33 of 2024 has arrived. There are Halloween decorations for sale at the Lowe's near me. I am a full and earnest participant in our culture of capitalism, but it is galling to see so plainly how companies treat me like a walking wallet.
Time to walk over to your 4K Weeks poster and fill in another square. Done?
One of the guys I play basketball with tore his ACL a week ago. He is young, he has already had surgery and he will recover. It sucks. He won’t be able to play for around a year.
We have played together weekly for almost two years. Should he not have taken that risk? I think he should have.
“All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.” Niccolo Machiavelli.
(Although I would argue that developing the strength to suffer will be a bold and useful skill in speeding along his recovery.)
Thanks for being here and reading… I really appreciate it. Let me know what you want more or less of.
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Remarkable Weeks
Week 33 of 1920, Marcus Garvey designed a flag of three horizontal stripes of red, black and green, which was adopted as the pan-African flag. He was 1,721.29 (33.01 yrs).
Week 33 of 1950, Sukarno declared the formation of the Republic of Indonesia as a unified nation and became its first President. He was a leader of the nationalist movement against the Dutch colonization. He was 2,566.71 weeks old (49.22 yrs).
Week 33 of 1962, Ringo Starr became the Beatles' drummer, replacing Pete Best. He joined his first official concert with the Beatles two days later. He was 1,153.57weeks old (22.12 yrs).
This Week's Quote
"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you." -Thomas Jefferson
There are so many answers to the question “Who am I?” that the question almost doesn’t matter.
You can tell who you are by studying your actions. Do you exercise regularly? You are an athlete. Do you show your children love? You are a loving parent. Do you give of your time and treasure to those who need it? You are generous.
There isn’t really any “who you are.” There is really only “who you are being”.
If you want to be different or better, BE different, or BE better today, and then again tomorrow. And like all things life, who you are being exists on a continuum… Some days it is easier to be an athlete, a loving parent, and a generous person… The goal is to be great on your best days, and good enough on your worst.
When my nephew was young I told him that if he wanted to change who he was for the better, he should regularly ask himself “What would my ideal self do in this situation?” and then when he had the answer, he should do that. Do that often enough and there won’t be much of a difference between the two. We are the sum total of our actions.
What I am Consuming This Week
Probably one of the most normal things in a life is to go through cycles... It's great to understand that and own it personally, but... when you have to recommend intelligent content in an email each week...!!! I'm still in in a bit of an entertainment mode. I am creating a lot, and I find that when I am in that mode, thoughtful inputs are a distraction. But here are a few things worth consuming.
Shrinking. The kiddos were gone until late in the evening all week, so my wife and I watched the final episodes of Shrinking... it's great, snappy dialogue.
Jason Segel had me crying for a few hours (and I'm crying now) when, in 2008, I watched this scene in How I Met Your Mother, on a Macbook, laying on our bed, with my wife. I think about it often when I remember my dad. I'm not ready for this either... And for that, Segel will always have a soft place in my heart. (And while searching for the scene to link here, I found this... Oh MAN!...) Still crying... and fell down a rabbit hole with this one... I miss my dad.
Ryann, my wife, is listening too and loving the audiobook How to Be Perfect. The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur, creator of The Good Place. I know it's a good book because she keeps sharing parts with me. It's on my list. (She said the audiobook is a must for fans of The Good Place. All of your favorite actors pop in and out of the reading.)
Come From Away. We saw this musical last night at Starlight Theatre. It is based on the story of diverted planes on September 11th, 2001. It was really good. It was almost 23 years ago, and it was interesting to be thrust back into it. I would like us all to embody the best of the heart of those small town Newfoundlanders, It would be such a wonderful world.
What is moving you these days? I would love for you to share it with me.
What I am Thinking About This Week
Who are we competing against.
I was talking with my son the other day. He had a theater performance last week that really required him to level up and get comfortable being uncomfortable. It was a short notice, no rehearsal, dance and sing two solos with other dancers, in front of 300 people kind of thing. He absolutely crushed it. I was really proud of him. The next day he was focusing on the two “almost mistakes” that he made, and comparing his performance with some of the other kids.
Which gave me the opportunity to ask him: “Who are we competing against?”
He wasn’t sure… and so I told him… We are only ever competing against ourselves.
All of the other competitors are a piece of cake compared to the one in our head. If you can win against the voice in your head begging for you to stop, then you are a champion.
Imagine a track team in a small town. There are 10 kids on the team, and they all train together each day. If the best runner on the team races against the other 9 kids each day, he has no idea what he is actually capable of. Each day he stays just ahead of the next guy and calls it a win, when in reality he hasn’t pushed himself at all… he hasn't built the most important skill of all, which is the strength to shut down the voice in his head screaming for him to quit when it hurts. And each day the slowest kid on the team crosses the finish line 15 minutes later than everyone else and calls it a loss and quits, even though he won the battle against his internal wimp 100 times that day.
Sure sometimes, the guy running neck and neck with you spurs you on to a faster race… but that ability was already within you… you just weren’t yet fully winning the competition with yourself.
Obviously some people are faster than others, but the only part you can control is the courage to train as hard as you can and no harder, and the courage to leave it all on the line when its time… you have no control over the genetics.
If you are competing against an external, you are limiting your potential.
I will also say this. You don’t have any control over what state your life is in today. You DID have control over it, but that is all in the past. You can’t control the past, so feeling shame or disappointment over it is useless. The only thing you have ANY control over is the next thing you do… and the next… and the next.
One of the bravest things a person can do is to look honestly at the person they were a minute ago and say “I don't prefer that way of being, I can do better.”
The best time to plant a tree was 40 years ago. The next best time is today.
Have a great week!
Spencer
Dad Joke O' The Week
What do you call a dog who meditates?
Aware wolf.
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