Rob Wood

Boredom is pressure with nowhere else to go, and pressure builds things. My new book traces that pattern across many fascinating breakthroughs, and argues we’ve engineered one of the primary conditions genius needs out of modern life. THE GENIUS OF BOREDOM, coming early 2027.

High achievers/high performers don’t merely set goals and hope to accomplish them one day. They *constantly* monitor their actions and performance to ensure they are living up to the standards that would all but ensure those goals were fulfilled. This is what gets them ahead.

Time isn’t our friend. It passes like a raging river. We put our noses to the grindstone and suddenly we look up and 10 years have passed. It’s sobering, isn’t it? It’s also what makes life so painfully beautiful.

Discipline looks boring from the outside. Somebody gets up early, trains, works hard, day after day. From a distance the results look like luck, but anyone with half a brain knows better. Pick one thing you’ll do today even if you don’t feel like it, and finish it before noon.

“Follow your passion” is often misguided advice. Most people have no clue what they are passionate about. Focus on building valuable skills instead. Passion has a funny way of finding you there.

“Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely.” —Charles Dickens

Benjamin Franklin thought everyone should cultivate these 13 virtues... 1. Temperance Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 2. Silence Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 3. Order Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing. 6. Industry Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. Sincerity Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. Justice Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 9. Moderation Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10. Cleanliness Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation. 11. Tranquility Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12. Chastity Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation. 13. Humility Imitate Jesus and Socrates. As for how to acquire these virtues, Franklin advised: “My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judg’d it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone thro’ the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arrang’d them with that view, as they stand above. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquir’d and establish’d, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improv’d in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtain’d rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the second place.”

Your character will shine in a world full of darkness (pending you have developed it properly). You can blunt the edge of those carnal desires by cultivating virtue in your life. To be sure, those desires never fully subside, but turning away from them becomes easier over time. Good character is your greatest asset. Spend ample time investing in it. Strong values will enable you (empower you) to overcome the relentless push of your carnal desires and the near overwhelming evil in the world. A heart rooted in wisdom and self-control is a powerful weapon to navigate life with. While the world goes one way your strong character will pull you another. Always remember: Having exceptional character and high integrity is a choice.

Potential means nothing without discipline. Dreams are useless without work. The man who fulfills his potential fights for it. He grinds for it. He bleeds for it. There’s no other way.

I want to help you build your own book of business in the merchant services industry. It’s the ultimate side hustle that has the potential of generating substantial monthly recurring residuals. I will train you. I will coach you. I will encourage you. I will challenge you more than you have ever been challenged. You never pay me a penny for any of this work. I make money when YOU make money. And you will win because I win. I win because I do right by my agents and I do right by my customers. We are old school in our approach to relationships and new school in our approach to technology. The best of both worlds. Reach out if you are tired of living paycheck to paycheck or if you are tired of worrying if you have enough. blkfinintel.com/agent-opport…

If you are a middle-aged man (or older) and you have an itch to serve and encourage and equip the next generation of young men (and I pray to God you do), the quickest way to earn their respect and get their attention is to be jacked. Simple as. THEY COME TO YOU. You don’t have to go to them. There is rarely a day that goes by that a young man doesn’t stop me to ask me what I do in the gym, which inevitably leads to questions about work and life and family and faith. Instant respect. Instant curiosity. Instant hunger to learn. Instant desire to follow in your footsteps. Your job in that moment? Don’t be a pompous asshole that is too busy to give them the time of day. Looking down on them. You have failed miserably in that moment if that is you. Absolute failure. Engage. Listen. Drop nuggets of wisdom and encouragement to stir the fire that is raging in their chests. Take them to lunch. Sit down and give them some of your time. Young men gravitate toward disciplined, strong, older men. This is common sense, isn’t it? Don’t you remember being a young man? Who did you want to be like? The fat, lazy slobs with no vision or zeal for life? C’mon.

In your 40s, you’ve got two choices: 1. Let the weight of life slow you down. 2. Pick it up and get stronger. I’ve chosen the latter. Turns out, life gets lighter when you get stronger.

Young men are starving for older male leadership, guidance, and mentorship. STARVING! Last week a young man (around 23), fresh out of college in his first real job, approached me in a coffee shop after a meeting I was having. He noticed I was in great shape and could tell I have had success in life by the way I carried myself. He asked if I would meet with him and share my journey. Absolutely, young man. We met. He grilled me with questions, taking notes, dialed in and hungry to learn. Such an impressive young man. At the end of the meeting he timidly asked me if I would hit a couple workouts with him to show him how I developed the physique I have at my age (45) and if I would give him insights professionally. I have a home gym, so I invited him out to the house. He’s coming out next week. He is going to see a 23 year marriage in action. He’s going to see my 3 kids in action. He’s going to see me in action leading my family. He’s going to be fed a home cooked meal and I am going to put him through some hell in the gym, equipping him in personal disciple, leadership, and entrepreneurship. This is the trenches. You can post into the ether all day long about how young men are struggling and need help, but it takes hands on work to actually lead the next generation into their potential. Pontificating is like a fart in the wind. Pungent for a second and then gone the next. It doesn’t help anybody. There are incredible young men out there eager to learn. Take them in. Love them. Coach them. Encourage them. LISTEN to them.

Relationships still matter in business. You’ll never convince me otherwise. We are still humans. You can’t get around that fact. And neither can artificial intelligence. We’re designed for this stuff. Master the art of relationship development and you will win and win big.

Why are you holding yourself back? I mean, I get it, life is busy and excruciatingly difficult at times, but that’s what makes it so beautiful, fulfilling, and rewarding. Anything worth having is hard. It’s much easier to do nothing and simply rot away. Don’t do it!

How you see the world, how you see others, and how you see yourself, has a profound impact on your ability to climb the mountain of your potential. Small tweaks to your perspective can have monumental effects.

Imagine giving your two weeks’ notice because your side income blew past your paycheck. That’s what a residual portfolio can do. You build it in your spare time, in your own town, with people you already know. Let’s talk! blkfinintel.com/agent-opport…

You and I both know the strange shame of standing up from the chair after losing an entire evening to absolute nothingness, like a farmer walking the fields at sunrise and finding the seed bag empty because he spent the entire night throwing grain to the damn crows. The harsh truth is that wasted time becomes the harvest you never planted, the seed stolen from the man you are supposed to become. So the next time your hand reaches for the little glowing door into the abyss of algorithmic nothingness, remember the seed bag, remember the crows, and ask yourself what kind of man you are starving to keep them fed.

You don’t know how much time you have. No one does. Stop saying “someday.” Someday is how men die with their potential still trapped inside of them. Move now. Launch now. Speak now. The graveyard is full of men who were going to start tomorrow.