Week #42, 2024
Week 42 of 2024 has arrived. We are smack dab in the peak of Fall color in the midwest. My wife is one of my greatest teachers with regard to leaning into my joy. She cheers for trees who's leaves have changed to bright reds and oranges... "Great job! Way to go! You are beautiful!" Why wouldn't you cheer for the trees?
Time to walk over to your 4K Weeks poster and fill in another square. Done?
I had occasion to sit in the far corner of a resturaunt today. I was sitting far away from my kids and 30 of their cast mates who had just finished their last show. It was so awesome to be a fly on the wall there... They are all so giddy, and uncertain, and becoming. They are trying to figure out what it means to be them in a world where they are soon to be full participants. Which is terrifying. Seriously. If we could go back to those uncertain moments, those moments where we arrived at a party, and were looking for a friendly face, or someone we know to stand next to, I bet we would be so proud of the courage we had to muster.
We should be proud of them too, even when they are in the thick of their "teening". It isn't easy work.
Adam Grant said this, and it's the spirit I try to embody when having to get after my kids for some mess they have left, or some other bummer of a parenting moment...
“I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I'm confident that you can reach them."
I think one of the most valuable things you can telegraph to young people is that you lovingly have high expectations.
P.S. If you have high expectations for yourself, the 33 Day Foundation streak tool will launch later this year. If you want to get on the wait list, send Eli a message with "33" in the subject line...Info@4kweeks.com
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Remarkable Weeks
Week 42 of 1924, Calvin Coolidge declared the Statue of Liberty a national monument. He was 2,727.86 weeks old (52.31 yrs).
Week 42 of 1950, C.S. Lewis had the first edition of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" published in London. He was 2,727.86 weeks old (52.31 yrs).
Week 42 of 1978, Marian Anderson was awarded the Congressional Medal by President Jimmy Carter. She was the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera. She also drew over 75,000 people to an open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial. She was 4,259.43 weeks (81.684rs).
This Week's Quote
"All great achievements require time." -Maya Angelou
I was talking with 2 young (27 years old) guys the other day. One of them plays basketball with me each Friday, and he and his partner are hustlers... just like I was... We were having coffee to discuss where they should put their focus... they have some things that are working, but are considering a pivot to a physical product e-commerce business.
As we were talking it became clear to me that they were in SUCH a hurry to have "success". Some background anxiety version of "I'm already 27 and can't afford a lamborghini!"
I told them this... At their age, I hadn't yet started any of the things that I currently love about my life. I hadn't started a family, I wasn't yet married, I had no businesses, I had debt, Etc. Etc. Etc.
If you are young... focus on:
- honing your skills, whatever they are
- building habits that make sure the important work gets done. (not the urgent work... the important work.)
- and get out there and meet people.
- (oh, and if you can... make a habit of saving, even if it is just a little... Do It! Most people spend 101% of the money they earn, shoot for 50%. That is freedom.
If you do those things time will be your friend, and the rest will take care of itself.
What I am Consuming This Week
We toured the former Dachau Concentration Camp this week.
We have been saying all trip long "I can't capture this all in a photo". We said it in Prague on the Charles Bridge. We said it in Berchtesgaden of the lake in the Bavarian Alps. But we still took the pictures for ourselves. It felt different in Dachau, and so I didn't take any pictures.
Dachau was the first camp, and initially mostly for the political opponents of the Nazi's.
I think often about the moment of hard, life altering, history altering, decisions. When I try to articulate this in speech, this is what I usually say... In the lead up to the US Civil War, there was a day for thousands and thousands of people... "Yesterday I opened the store..." "Yesterday I worked in the fields..." "Yesterday I tended the animals..." Up until that day, it was hard to imagine tomorrow being much different than yesterday. But then, for one reason or another, one day they decided, "I won't open the store tomorrow, instead I will march to war."
It is hard in all sorts of moments to realize that the game board is suddenly different.
And as we hope and pray that this 4th turning, with all of its chaos and upheaval, is more peaceful than the last, I hope that we can all keep going to work and opening up the store.
But the moment for me, if it comes, will be if people are being jailed en-mass for their political beliefs. That will be the day where instead of opening the store, I will be protesting in the streets. Because I bet, at the end of the war, there were a bunch of Germans who wished they could go back and give 100% standing up against the unjust incarceration of the communists, the socialists, the trade unionists...
It is hard to imagine, with my 47 years of peaceful living behind me that being a productive capitalist would ever not be my primary daily duty, but the lesson of Dachau is the lesson of Pastor Martin Niemöller's poem:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
What I am Thinking About This Week
This is the fourth post in a series of posts about how to get your crap in order, so that you can get the most out of your little square each week.Some of these may not apply to you, and that’s great… congratulations.
But… I know that I find new value in Epictetus’s Enchiridion every time I read it… so review can be good too. My plan is to write this out, and then, once it is complete, give it away to anyone who needs a map from where they are to the beautiful land of life satisfaction. If you have thoughts, I would love to hear them.
Nutrition.
This one was my least favorite to write. I purposefully put exercise before nutrition because just moving your body is enough to get started on the exercise front, but nutrition has gotten pretty murky. Largely because there is a lot of money to be made in telling people what to eat.
I am not going to tell you what to eat. There are too many variables, too many possible issues, too many good enough plans, and too many ways to get obsessed one way or another with too much or too little, or this kind is bad, or that kind is bad…
The most important part here is likely not what you should eat, but what you shouldn’t eat… and that is processed foods. It is actually pretty simple. It’s not easy though…. the habits, routines, and dopamine hooks for food can be deep. I am not a nutritionist, and I am not going to judge your choices here. I LOVE sugar and fat. I love all kinds of processed foods, and rich foods. But… duh… that’s because all those things are designed to be loaded with cheap calories and fat, and my body doesn’t know that there is plenty of food for tomorrow, so it rewards me for loading up today.
But the fact is that your body will only thrive if you are eating real food. Things with 1 or 2 ingredients on the nutrition label. Meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts. Etc.
Michael Pollan said it best. “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” That is a pretty good start. I focus on making sure I get on the higher end of the recommended protein because I am focused on building as much muscle as I can as I approach my 50’s, but your goals may differ.
You can take a deep dive down this rabbit hole if you want. You can read all the stuff, weigh all of your food, etc. Or, you can just start exercising and stop eating processed foods.
It is really up to you to what level you take this. The important thing is that you start taking seriously how much what you put in your body affects your output, especially as you age… Youth can get away with things that middle age can’t. (But that doesn’t mean that youth SHOULD eat like crap.) I can get pretty into whatever I am into… I have had body scans, blood tests, used constant glucose monitors, etc. etc. etc… all to discover what works best for me. That is just how I do things… you don’t need to dive that deep to get 90% of the benefits of starting to care about the fuel you offer your body.
You just need to start taking ownership of the fact that you are responsible for the inputs.
Here are a few resources to begin with.
The Healthy Plate This is Harvard. I don’t think they have a strong commercial agenda bias here.
Peter Attia: Nutrition I think you can trust that Peter Attia isn’t trying to sell you something, just trying to figure out what works and share.
Tim Ferris; The 4 Hour Body. I used the 4 Hour body to go from 27% body fat to 19% in 4 months. (measured with a DEXA scan)
Some intro reading with Michael Pollan
Now is an important moment to say this, because nutrition is hopelessly bound up in our culture’s body image obsession. I don’t care what your body looks like, and neither should you… as long as you are healthy and fit.
This isn’t me letting you off the hook for your poor choices.
This is me saying you can’t control the shape of your body, but you can control the shape it is in. Put 99.9% of your focus on the things you can control.
We are people of action. But the action here is totally dependent on where you are. So this week your action item is to do SOMETHING. Write down what you think the next two steps are for you to tilt your nutrition in a positive direction and make a commitment to do those two things before the next email.
It isn’t the most fun thing in the world to eat carrots in a world of corner fast food restaurants, but it is super fun to be walking around under your own power in your 80’s while all the obese 60 year olds mope on their scooters.
Next week… Relationships
Spencer
Dad Joke O' The Week
What sounds like a sneeze and is made of leather?
A shoe!
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