Week #50, 2024
Week 50 of 2024 has arrived. We had a few inches of snow last weekend. My son and I built a 7-foot-tall snowman. All that's left is a bit of slush. Snow is amazing.
Time to walk over to your 4K Weeks poster and fill in another square. Done?
So, math...? This is week 50 of 52.1429 weeks. Today, the 8th, begins the 50th week of the year. On the 15th, the 51st week of the year begins. On the 22nd, the 52nd week of the year begins. And on the 29th.... the first week of 2025 begins? Is that true? Or does the 53rd week of the year begin on the 29th, and the first week of 2025 begin on Wednesday the 1st?
I'm confused. What do you think? 52 weeks, or 53? Let me know what you think.
You're here because you understand the value of marking time on a 4K Weeks poster.
In my experience, you all are MUCH more motivated, invested, inspired, disciplined, successful, present, and competent than the average population.
Our nascent community, members.4kweeks.com, is growing. Currently the only way to join is with the 33 Day foundation. If you want accountability for the New Year, sign up.
It's full of potential, and once we get a critical mass of people, the accountability will likely be the most valuable piece.
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Remarkable Weeks
Week 50 of 1906, Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was 2,510.86 weeks old (48.15 yrs).
Week 50 of 1964, Susan Sontag was called "one of Manhattan's brightest intellectuals" by Time Magazine for her essay "Notes on Camp", which described an aesthetic approach that values irony, exaggeration, and artifice. She was 1,664.57 weeks old (31.92 yrs).
Week 50 of 1968, Arthur Ashe became the first African American to be ranked number one in tennis, and is still considered as one of the greatest tennis players in US history. He was 1,326.71 weeks (25.44 4rs).
This Week's Quote
"Should we despise flowers because they're less efficient than grasses?" - Rory Sutherland
I have really been enjoying the book Alchemy by Rory Sutherland. He is a delightfully contrarian thinker, and every time I listen to fifteen minutes or so, I find my mind primed to look at problems differently... which is a SUPER valuable mode to be in.
This quote came while I was washing dishes and listening to the audiobook. It's in Part 3, a chapter about signaling and how many things that seem wasteful actually have a deeper purpose if we change the metric we are accounting for. Specifically how bees and flowers interact.
I just thought it was a lovely way of saying that sometimes the elegance of a solution ends up being as valued the solution itself.
All sorts of things are a waste of time if efficiency is the measure... but what is the goal? To get to the end of your life as quickly as possible with the least effort? Hardly.
What I am Consuming This Week
There is only one "life improving" link this week. I have spent a good portion of my content consumption time this week on continuing education... Learning about newsletter best practices for this business, and social media stuff for a few of our other businesses. If you all have any helpful thoughts or suggestions on the newsletter front, I would love to hear them. I am always interested in making this as worthwhile as possible.
David Foster Wallace's Commencement speech to Kenyon college
One of my mastermind buddies sent me this video. It leads with one of my favorite anecdotes, and is just a really well written piece about adulting.
Insta nuggets
What I am Thinking About This Week
Consequence.
You can do nearly anything that you can get away with.
I can choose to rob a bank.
I can choose to exercise.
I can choose to over eat.
I can choose to punch the guy who cut in front of me in line.
What we don't get to choose are the consequences of our actions. Once we set things in motion, we get what we get.
This works for good or for ill.
If I choose to eat quality food and exercise daily, I don't get to choose how my body responds... it just responds... by becoming stronger and more efficient at the task of keeping me alive, and so my health likely improves.
You can't choose to become more healthy. You can only choose to do the things that will likely lead to you becoming more healthy. If you eat healthy and exercise daily, you have likely limited your choice to also be obese.
I started with the positive example because it is easier to stomach. But this obviously works the other way, too... some choices limit your future choices.
If you punch the guy who cut in front of you in line, you have likely limited your choice to have a calm, relaxing morning, with no police interactions.
We have so much choice in this modern life that often we forget we don't get ALL the choices. We fool ourselves in to thinking we can choose to punch the guy AND also choose not go to jail.
Doesn't work that way.
Some consequences are immediate, and some take longer to show themselves, but like the grinding wheel of time, we are all chained to the consequences of our actions.
Choose the actions that seem likely to deliver the consequences you desire.
Next week…
Spencer
P.S. I'm serious about the 33 Day Foundation. It works, and in the nascent 4K Weeks Community, I am happy to help you define your goals and stay accountable.
P.P.S. If you read this whole email, here is your reward... a surprisingly funny barbershop quartet.
Dad Joke O' The Week
Where do you take a victim of a peek-a-boo accident?
The I-C-U!
Thanks to my father-in-law, Doc, for this one!!!
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