Cryptocurrencies are like stocks
Something that lots of new entrants to the cryptosphere don’t understand is that the coins and tokens we (sometimes blindly) invest into, are like stocks. We are directly investing into an idea, a solution to a problem, a product, or all of the above. It is vital to do your due diligence in researching what each individual coin represents. I wish someone would make a consolidated website with a little blurb for each coin so new people can at least get an idea of what they’re investing into, rather than blindly throwing money at coins like darts on a board.
If I cannot explain to a friend in less than 10 seconds what a coin represents, then I shouldn’t be investing in or recommending it. In order to be able to do that, you should read whitepapers, projected road maps, the team’s social media accounts, and get different opinions from other investors.
2018 thoughts on Cryptocurrency
There are about 25 “alt” coins that I want to get in on based off of information, speculation, and fear of missing out on “the next Bitcoin”.
I currently have money in 6 different cryptocurrencies, but want to diversify that to 20-25 by the end of the month. Some that I’m interested in aren’t easily acquired at the moment as they aren’t on a major exchange. I sold off all of my Bitcoin at a loss in order to invest into other coins/tokens that have more potential for 10-100x movements. It’s hard to imagine Bitcoin hitting 6 figures this year, and even if it did reach $100k per coin, that’d be a 5-6x return at most. Obviously, that’s an excellent return in hindsight, but I have the risk tolerance to try one of the budding alt coins and I believe in their use cases more than I do in Bitcoin.
I’m currently most hyped about Stellar Lumens and Request Network. I find their whitepapers and roadmaps easily digestible and they seem to have great project leadership. One of the, perhaps unfortunate things about Bitcoin is that it’s pseudo-anonymous leader “Satoshi Nakamoto” is probably no longer with us. What this means is that when somebody like Charlie Lee of Litecoin or Roger Ver of Bitcoin Cash goes on CNBC to promote their own coin or talk bad on Bitcoin, there’s nobody there to fight back and defend it.
I find the debate of Bitcoin to be quite interested. One topic that is often discussed on Reddit, forums, and various podcasts is the high and low prediction for Bitcoin during 2018. Some say a high of $50-100k per coin with a low of $10k. Others aren’t so high on it and predict a high of $20-25k with a low of $7-9k. It’s not hard to imagine one of the other top 5 coins overtaking Bitcoin. Bitcoin started 2017 with 86% market share and ended with 36%. All it will take is a dip in Bitcoin to $10k and Ripple or Litecoin mooning at the same time. I think once Bitcoin is overtaken, even for a split second, this could potentially be “the end” of it as a currency. People may just lose faith in it. At the moment, it seems like there are major problems – network congestion / delays and high fees. Bitcoin could cost 50x+ as much to transfer between exchanges versus something like Litecoin. Other coins are even cheaper and faster – some, like Raiblocks are even free. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a major dip in Bitcoin could cause a lot of people to buy back in and shoot it back to the top.
One thing that remains to be seen is just how much institutional money will enter this year. Crypto at $677B market cap is still in it’s infancy stage and that’s less than 1% of worldwide market cap. As more and more people, especially those who are older, learn about Crypto, I think they’ll enter the space by purchasing Bitcoin by default.
Don’t be jealous of somebody’s isolated success.
Life is all about balance. Seeing somebody’s isolated success, such as a sculpted / lean body (whether male or female) means that person has sacrificed many other aspects in their life in order to achieve that success in one area.
I recently spoke to one of my peers in the industry – owner of a well known motorsport / aerospace company and he told me that if you’re having to stay to work long hours in order to make good money (60-100 hours a week), then the business cannot be considered as successful. This is especially true if you have a wife and kids because time with them is more important. It’s not only until your business can continue to operate on it’s own while you take a long vacation, that it can finally be considered “successful”. I hadn’t really thought about it like that before – I always thought the best part of running a business was just not having to answer to anybody above you… however the biggest “perk” and ultimate goal should be to have a self-sustaining and profitable entity.
This brings me back to the title of the post. Ferrari owners are often lamented for not using their coveted cars that many people lust after. They say, “if I had a Ferrari, I would drive it every day!”. What they’re not realizing is that most people who can afford these cars don’t actually have much free time to do anything, much less drive a “Point A to Point A” car. These people are making active sacrifices in order to purchase certain material goods.
Success ≠ hard work or “working smart” but one’s ability to bear hardship
There’s a Chinese idiom “吃苦” which literally translates to “Eating Bitterness”. The true meaning of the idiom is to bear hardship and it’s a lesson that Chinese parents impart on their kids in regards to all things in life. In order to “taste sweetness”, one must sacrifice time and effort. It’s definitely a more complete answer than “just work hard” as successful people often say. Working hard is almost always a given… anybody can work hard for at least a short period of time. You can be the hardest working ditch digger, but at the end of a day you’re still a ditch digger and making ditch digging pay (as an example).
Being and working smart is usually the other half of the equation and people usually mention this because if you’re a smart person and not successful, then it obviously implies that you’re missing the hardworking part. I like to think that I was born smart, was well educated growing up, and very creative in finding ways to be more efficient (aka getting things done with as little effort as possible). I’m naturally lazy. The Chinese zodiac said that snakes (people born in 1989) are lazy. Perhaps it’s all been a self-fulfilling prophecy. Anyways, mostly through necessity, I’ve been able to suck it up, focus, and work ridiculously hard for spurts at a time. I’m talking 20+ hour work days, 90 hour work weeks, etc. Bursts of hard work and effort are not sustainable, however and when I get burnt out, the results (profits, in this case) are directly affected. By nature, the bursts of hard work and bouts of laziness balance each out and I make a decent living. I often think to myself, “If only I could suck it up and just work hard for a year. Imagine how much money I’d have!”. But then that leads into the topic of finding the perfect balance in life…
I’ve never quite seen the concept of “Eating Bitterness” presented quite so concisely and accurately as this presenter has done. It’s a Ted Talk from 2013, but I’ve just seen it for the first time.
It’s titled, “Grit: The power of passion and perseverance”. Looking back over the last 6 years of running my business, there hasn’t been a better way to describe this process.
Modern dating is quite odd
Think about it… going out with strangers you meet through an internet application with the hope of developing some sort of romance. This is a very unnatural concept because romance is not to be force fed. Taking such a business-like approach to the one thing in life that is not meant to be pragmatic… just doesn’t seem to make sense. It’s doomed for failure from the get-go.
I am imagining all the moments of cringeworthy awkward silence, expensive dinner interviews, and the formulaic nights (dinner, a familiar bar, and then the move). Hope to never experience that again.
Haircuts are for degenerates?
When the hell is a working man supposed to get his haircut? Most barbershops around me have Monday-Thursday hours of 10AM-4PM. The average working day schedule is from 9AM-6PM. These barbers will stay open until 8PM on Fridays, run a short shift on Saturdays, and shut down completely on Sundays. What type of clientele is this designed around?
I typically manage to get my haircut 3-4 weeks after the time I’m actually due for one. I walk around with hair in my eyes half the time because my pomade isn’t strong enough to hold it up anymore. All I can think about when I see these kids with a nice fade is that they don’t have jobs. They look fresh as fuck but they blew their entire allowance on it.