Week #4 of 2025 has arrived. The polar vortex has sent super cold weather to the Great Plains. My hands hurt it's so cold. The polar vortex is cyclical.

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

ON WEEK #4 OF 2006...

Evo Morales was inaugurated as President of Bolivia, making history as the country's first indigenous president.

He was 2,412.86 weeks or 46.27 years old.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both." - L.P. Jacks

Speaking of work, play, and cycles... the way you and I do "work" is novel. Humans have been agricultural for 12,000 years. We have only been doing "work" this way for 100 years. Modern "work" has only been around for .833% of our time as Homo Sapien Farmer.

What you think is normal, isn't. One of the side effects is that people think that when they aren't doing "work" they should be doing "leisure". I don't think that the "normal" quantity and quality of "leisure" is good for us individually or collectively.

My path has been different than most, and I almost accidentally discovered that it is much more fun and interesting to smash your work into your life, and make them one and the same. I don't know what it means for you, but it is a question worth asking.

I am always working, but only because I am always living, and my work is my play and my play is my work. I watch less sportsball and tv than most, but that is only because there is so much awesome stuff to actually be DOING!

(Also, even digging a ditch can be work, or play... usually both.)

WHAT I AM CONSUMING THIS WEEK

This Medium Article from Kelly Eden on luck and feeling lucky.

I feel lucky, oh so lucky...!

Against the Rules, Season 4, Episodes 8 and 9.

More talk about sports betting, how it is going to damage a generation of young men who already seem to be flailing, as well as a bit of discussion on how our American individualism encourages us to heap blame on victims and not the systems they exist in.

Social Nuggets

• This warning for us all
• What is your deepest fear?
• This Jimmy Carr Facebook Reel to all the video gamers out there... not trying to ruin your fun, but... (explicit)

WHAT I AM THINKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

Cycles and what actually matters.

My teenage kids have a lot of opinions about what is cool... and what isn't cool

And they're right. They have their finger on the pulse as only teens can, and when they say something is cool or not cool, they are usually right.

But... I remember when I was a teen... and totally different things were cool and not cool. And we were right then too.

I switched schools between fifth and sixth grade and I remember it took me about a year to realize that I HAD to tight roll my jeans if I didn't want people to think I wasn't cool.

And then when I switched schools again in eighth grade, it only took me about 15 minutes to realize that in this school, tight rolling jeans was NOT cool!

Cycles of truth are an inevitable part of human life, and the cycles are real, and they each carry their own momentary truths, even when they contradict each other over time. The truth at the moment is the truth.

But... are there things that transcend those ephemeral "of the moment" truths?

Absolutely.

We aren't teens anymore, desperately trying to make our place in the world, terrified of being cast out of the group for not tight rolling our jeans.

Many of us have just transposed that primal, adolescent social fear onto adult concerns, letting their integrity blow around in the wind with the current vibe. Watch this Video... I think about the queasy look of uncertainty on the face of the third guy a a lot. (The young man with the hat.)

Have the courage to not change directions just because the people around you do, for god's sake. Have some backbone.

The truths that are consistent over time, these are the things we are after. These are the truths that matter. It is nothing to make some accommodation for how you fit into a group. Tight rolled or not, wear the jeans that match the moment or don't, who cares.

But some truths are worth dying for not to betray. If you are looking, you will find them.

I asked a large language model "Can you tell me 10 eternal truths that relate to living a good life and being a good human?" The answers are up in the member community. You can sign up a free account to take a look and let me know what you think.

Until next week!

Spencer, Owner of 4K Weeks