Guy E. Wood

Do Good. Do Well. Honor God.

Guy

How to defeat the loser mentality

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Alex Thompson holds the record for the second-fastest time for sailing solo around the world.

To achieve his two key goals of winning the soul-crushing solo sailing around-the-world race, the Vendeé Globe, and setting the mark for the fastest solo circumnavigation ever, Thompson has had to learn ways to overcome the physical and especially mental challenges associated with such an endeavor.

In this brief, 6-minute video, Mr. Thompson shares a few ideas that can help even landlubbers defeat the loser mentality.

But what about followership

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But What About Followership?

We talk a lot about leadership, don’t we?

We take courses in leadership.

We strive for leadership roles.

We brag about our leadership accomplishments.

We honor our leaders and give them special parking places. And big offices. And big staffs.

When we’re not honoring our leaders, we’re complaining about them.

Somehow, followers get lost in the shuffle.

In fact, the word followership is still not recognized as a legitimate word by any of my spelling checkers!

Look around you and you’ll see there are mountains of books about leadership.

Followership? Not so much.

Leaders are heroes while followers plug away in the shadows.

But, as Ira Chaleff — author of Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What You’re Told to Do Is Wrong — argues…

“…if leadership is important, so too is followership. You can’t have one without the other.”

Chaleff’s point is well-taken, and there’s a growing movement that recognizes the important role played by intelligent and courageous followers.

If you would like to dig a little deeper, check out Chaleff’s interview at NewYorkTimes.com, Creating the Followers of Tomorrow.

The piece is short and direct, and I am happy to recommend it and the book for your consideration.

We need a more simple and equitable tax system

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Indeed, what are we waiting for?

Nobody in the world can possibly understand or fully comply with our current federal tax code, which weighs in at a whopping 10 million words. Even tax experts — lawyers, accountants, legislators, etc. — don’t agree on how to interpret the tax code monstrosity.

Oh, and to answer the question as to why a flat tax or the FairTax hasn’t been adopted — it’s because the legislators who would have to draft and pass the new law are the very people who benefit most from the burdensome and easily corrupted system they’ve built to fee their own greed and pride.

Why don’t we have a more simple and equitable tax system?

Because of morally bankrupt law makers.

The love of money really is the root of all kinds of evil.

Writing for one

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Seth Godin is one of my heroes.

Marketing guru. Generous genius. Prolific writer. All-around nice guy.

That said, something he recently shared on his blog caught my attention this morning and I haven’t been able to shake the thought from my head all day, despite being busy with a lot of boat projects (remind me to explain why it’s important to tether your tools when you’re working over the water some day!).

According to Godin,

…the internet isn’t a mass medium.

It seems like one. It’s used by billions of people.

But it’s a micro medium. A direct marketing medium. There are 3 billion people online, but they’re busy looking at 3,000,000 web pages (that’s only a thousand a page).

As usual, he’s right!

When we write and publish on the internet, we aren’t writing for the multitudes. The masses are of little interest.

No, we’re writing for one person.

And that one person is you.

Thank you for reading!

I hope you’ll come back for more.

 

The Single Most Important Tool for Getting Things Done

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“The difference between a successful person & others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” ~Vince Lombardi

You know, we have access to a lot of tools to help us get things done.

Calendars, planners, techniques, lists, apps, accountability groups, etc.

But the single most important tool is self-discipline.

We can’t buy it.

And we can’t borrow it.

All we can do is develop it.

If you’re ready to develop your self-discipline:

  • Start small — set yourself up for success, not failure
  • Make daily goals — short-term goals, baby steps, if you will, will keep you headed in the right direction
  • Commit — whatever you do, do it for at least 30 days
  • Write it down — words on paper will help you stay focused
  • Don’t beat yourself up — if you mess up or miss a day, get over it and get moving again
  • Don’t forget a reward — once you’ve stuck with it for 30 days, do something special for yourself and a loved one
  • Don’t delay — start today