The water was flat, and his sail was limp, drooping like an empty sack.
His ship — The Good Pirate — bobbed gently, like an empty bottle in a murky pond. He was going nowhere.
In one half-drunken moment, he adjusted his eyepatch and considered abandoning the ship altogether, trying to swim for land. Anything felt better than this soul-destroying stillness.
He was adrift in a world without wind.
He was a modern-day pirate. A solopreneur, running his own business. And the dead sea was a metaphor for an online world where motion had become harder and harder to find.
Without wind, he was going nowhere. Perhaps you can relate?
His mistake?
He was waiting for the wind. And slowly and subtly, it was rendering this pirate powerless.
Wanting the algorithms to change.
Praying that the chaos in the world settles down.
Watching the markets, hoping they finally tilt in your favor.
None of these are strategies.
They are distractions, and they all achieve the same thing: they keep you drifting further away from the life you actually want.
In 2026, the modern-day pirate is faced with a cold, hard truth.
The wind is an unreliable source of fuel.
It cannot be commanded. It cannot be negotiated with. And when you depend on it, you surrender control of your direction.
That’s why the pirate who survives doesn’t wait for the wind.
He builds an engine instead.
This engine isn’t mysterious. It isn’t complicated. And it isn’t reserved for the talented or the lucky.
It’s built deliberately, patiently, and internally.
In fact, there are only three things a modern-day pirate needs to focus on in 2026 if they want guaranteed progress, regardless of the weather.
3 Things That Will Guarantee Your Success in 2026
Build these 3 things into your life and business.
1. Create Your Own Motion Through Conversations
Every good thing in your life comes through a conversation doorway.
While so many are worried about algorithm changes and content creation, there is a huge shortcut to success.
Motion comes from initiating conversations.
Every real conversation you start, not broadcast, not performance, but genuine human contact, is propulsion.
Conversations create momentum. They create clients. They create clarity. They create allies.
In flat seas, your conversations are the engine you need to get moving
2. The Ship Matters (Integrity First)
A pirate with a leaking hull doesn’t make it very far.
Your ship is your health, your energy, your nervous system, your clarity. If the ship is compromised, no amount of ambition will save the mission.
Your health isn’t a side quest. It’s structural.
When the body collapses, the mission collapses with it.
3. The Real Question Is Commitment, Not Talent
The question isn’t whether you’re talented enough.
It’s whether you’re committed enough to your whole life, to your future freedom, and to leaving systems that drain you while promising safety.
You don’t need permission.
You need resolve.
That’s the myth about pirates, that they are drunken, carefree souls, with a woman in every port.
This is wrong.
If you are a Modern Day Pirate…
You carry with you a steely determination to build your own life, chase your own adventure, and escape the traditional structures that keep people chained to the docks.
You're not wrong to be out at sea chasing your own bounty. It’s in your blood.
Your own problems are motion and direction.
Conversations and clarity.
You need to move towards your goals, little by little, inch by inch, every single day.
You don’t move forward alone at sea. You move forward with crew. With allies. With people who add fuel instead of friction.
If you want the engine, not the wind, comment MAP and I’ll send you the planner I use to build motion, week by week.
Geoff