Week #41 of 2025 has arrived... Everything is folly, meaning "an excessively costly or unprofitable undertaking" or "a foolish act or undertaking".  Nothing you will do in this life will matter when the sun collapses in on itself and vaporizes the Earth. And so, in light of that truth, have the courage to be kind to people and do awesome things, just for the sake of it. 

The fifth definition of "folly" is "an often extravagant picturesque building erected to suit a fanciful taste."  That's what you are building. Make it awesome.

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

I would really love your help! Truly, you can make a measurable difference in my life this week if you would do this favor.  I have been working for the last month on making a video series for my sculpture studio. The first 8 minute video went live at noon today.

Here's how you can help me (and see inside my studio!): watch it... all 8 minutes... subscribe to the channel, and then tell me what you think. Seriously... that would be amazing!

If you watch it and subscribe to the channel, shoot me an email with your thoughts and I will send you a 25% off coupon code for 4kweeks as a thank you.

I would love to hear what you liked, what you didn't like, if you thought it was interesting, boring, etc... 

Thank you!

Listen to this newsletter as podcast. We're on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

ON WEEK #41 OF 1963...

Linus Pauling, chemist and anti-nuclear weapons campaigner, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to weapons of mass destruction. This happened on the same day the first nuclear test treaty was made effective.

He was 3,267 weeks or 62.65 years old.

WHAT I CONSUMED THIS WEEK

	Episode #1 - E S Schubert Sculpture and Port of Curiosity You have to start... and that's what this is... Our first shot at a video series that brings people inside the sculpture studio, and takes them on an 8-week journey through how a sculpture is made. Let me know what you think... and SMASH THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON...oh brother!
	The Bright Sword, Lev Grossman  My wife did't love the Magicians Trilogy... so buyer beware!  Her critiques were totally reasonable, and made me wonder why I liked it... but I did!  So I dove into his next book.
	I do love Malcolm Gladwell's voice... and this story is so far pretty compelling!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Just as a flower, which seems beautiful has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of a man who speaks them but does them not." -Dhammapada

Words are wind.  

The hard thing is to live in accordance with your principles.

I want to be clear, this email is always a reminder for me. It is an expression of the constant discussion in my head of how to be.  As pedantic as it may sometimes sound, the first student is me.

I need the regular reminder about what is important to me and how I should act.

This isn't weakness or mealy-mouthed indecision.  It is the harder path.

The world is full of nuance, and every situation is unique.  Living according to your self-defined principles requires regular introspection.

The person most likely to be wrong is the person who is never curious about whether or not they are right.

WHAT I AM THINKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

More is more or more is less...

...when it comes to things, more is less.

The more you try to fill the hole in your soul with things and stuff, the bigger the hole gets...there is no amount that can fill the void. (Clearly, if 500 billion dollars won't satisfy Elon's broken internal child, I am pretty sure no amount of retail therapy will make you or I feel whole.)

But... creativity, human ingenuity, giving... all of the "Doing" words, instead of the "Having" words... more is more is more is more.

I remember this story from early on in my journey as a maker.  It was junior year of high school. I had gotten really into a silversmithing class in school. One day in math class I was filling a piece of paper with sketches of things to possibly make, and a guy that I played basketball, football, and track with leaned over and said, "I think I could come up with a one or two really good designs, but after that the well would run dry."

He had it all wrong... the more ideas you have, the more ideas you have. 

Most of us, when we think we are "blocked"  in whatever creative task we are attempting, are actually suffering from an overdeveloped edit button.

Seth Godin says " You think you have no good ideas?  OK, show me all your bad ideas"

I am knee deep in this new idea that I mentioned at the top of the email... videos documenting the processes that I use in the sculpture studio to make sculptures, big and small... Because of that, and all of the "I don't know - let's try it!" that we have been forced to lean into, I am awash in ideas... some bad, some good, and certainly more than I have the time do try.

All because I had the courage to do try something that might not have been a good idea.

So, get out there and fill a piece of paper with some bad ideas!  

And truly, if you have 8 minutes, I would love your support and thoughts on my latest idea, good or bad! Watch here

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: Aww, Mr. Rogers... It's still a beautiful day in the neighborhood.