Week #37, 2025

Week #37, 2025

Week #37 of 2025 has arrived... We are sliding into the fall and the exhausting routine of five days of school for two kids...

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

Man... it would be so awesome if it was standard for kids to go to school three days a week.

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ON WEEK #37 OF 1961...

Jack Kilby demonstrated the first integrated circuit to his supervisor. This marked a new era in electronics.

He was 1,818.13 weeks or 34.86 years old.

 

WHAT I CONSUMED THIS WEEK

 

Read this.

This is, of course, a repeat, and I'm sorry, but I'll probably leave it in here for a long time. That's how pivotal I think this book is.

Attention... Attention is the most important natural resource in the world right now. And it's important to protect yours and value how other people are using theirs.

This book is a result of the Nine Dots Prize. Because of that, this link takes you to the actual PDF of the book.

It’s spectacularly relevant reading. A change is coming. The only question is which direction  

I. Love. A. Trilogy! This is book 2, and it is a really striking combo of real world and fantasy world.
 
Interesting interview... her personal wealth limit is much lower than mine... but still the argument holds.
"Every billionaire is a policy failure."


QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." - Mohandas Gandhi

I think a lot about the idea of pulling in the same direction. Athletes who are training for a high-level sport spend hours and hours making sure they’re not wasting energy on some bit of the mechanics that are out of line. Because there is some kind of one plus one equals four math that happens when everything is pulling in the same direction.

This is also true when your personal relationships. It’s hard enough to get anywhere when everyone has decided on the goal, but it’s impossible to get somewhere if you and your partner are headed in different directions.

And so it makes perfect sense that there is a sense of calm and contentedness that we probably recognize as happiness when what we think what we say, and what we do are all pulling in the same direction.

If you notice a little bit of a tug when you say something that isn’t in line with who you are or you do something that isn’t in line with who you are, pay attention... that’s a waste of energy that is pulling you away from your best self.

 

WHAT I AM THINKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

The Future.

I’ve been interviewing people over the last week for a job at the studio. I’ll probably be talking more about it in the weeks and months to come but for now I want to talk to you about two  things I have noticed.

I’ve seen around 120 applications. I mentioned twice in the job description “don’t just send me your resume“. Almost everybody did exactly that and just sent me their resume. Blerg.

If someone with no relevant experience had sent me their résumé and also a 30 second video saying how excited they were to apply, they would’ve gotten an interview in a heartbeat. It’s so easy to follow directions. So it’s a clear and relevant data point when you don’t.

No one wants to look stupid. And of course, I suppose most job applications are looking for the boring standard pace, but I think more often than not, everyone is so worried about looking stupid or standing out in the wrong way that they just blend into the boring basic everybody.

In fact, risking being embarrassed is how almost every awesome thing started. 


Next: Initiative.

It’s free and available to all of us, and yet we are all guilty of not tapping into it at some point or another. 

I don’t even know how to describe what I mean by initiative, but it’s clear when I see it.

This, like many things, is an art not a science. Because... if you take too much initiative, people will think that you’re being presumptuous, but almost everybody errs on the side of taking not enough initiative all the time.

I think if you are taking initiative with no ego, then you are likely hitting the right balance. No one is going to be mad if, when you have run out of explicit instructions, you sweep the floor and take out the trash.

This falls right in line with my constant refrain of “be earnest”.  

Be kind, be earnest, take initiative, have integrity, eat right and get enough sleep. 

You can make a pretty awesome life, just by following those rules. Maybe even legendary.

Until next week!

Spencer,

Owner of 4KWeeks

P.S. Click on this reward if you feel like letting me know you read the whole newsletter: Bananas!

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DAD JOKE O' THE WEEK

I told my friend 10 puns to make him laugh.

Sadly, no pun in ten did.

Think you can do better? Join our Dad Joke thread!

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