Three years ago in September 2014, I made an account on the then newly launched bitcoin exchange Circle.
As a reward for signing up, they offered me $10 credit in Bitcoins( Yay! Free Money)
At that time bitcoin(BTC) was trading at around $400 per bitcoin. At the time of writing this article it was hovering at $2600 per bitcoin(more than 6X growth) after falling from an all-time high of $3000+ per bitcoin.
If you look at it quantitatively, the amount is not much just $60 but if you look at the growth, the quality ROI, then it is phenomenal. I have heard and seen even 10X+ growth rates but you truly understand a thing when you actually experience it yourself.
After getting this small but intelligent gift from my past self and patting my own back for my past decision, I began thinking how can I replicate the success? Is there a logical way to decipher this little success or was it just sheer luck?
I think it’s both, had the cryptocurrency craze died or the governments of the world forcefully shut bitcoin trading, my 10 dollars in bitcoin would be worth zero dollars today. It is similar to other investments in the real world of stock markets, real estate, funds, etc. where luck play quite a role via the market sentiments, cultural beliefs, natural calamities, etc.
Off topic: Even though bitcoins are decentralised and difficult to control by the governments but in the real world, USD and other fiat currencies are used which are pretty much under government control via the banking system. So, if we are unable to covert the digital cryptocurrencies to fiat currencies then they are pretty much useless(as of now).
Need example? Do not look far.. the Indian government demonetised more than 80% of currency in circulation in the last two months of 2016… the Indian economy is worth more or less 2 trillion dollars.. so you can easily imagine the scale of power and control the governments of the world have.
Always remember the adage “You can never go against the market” and certainly never try to control it( just search Nick Leeson and the Barings Bank)
So, that was about the luck. Let’s talk about logic now. Yes! There was logic.
Patience! Patience! Patience!
Just calculate the months from September 2014 to June 2017 almost 3 years.. that’s a long time. But some extremely successful people spent decades worth of patience to get to where they are. Warren Buffet earned most of his billions after turning 60 and from the investments he made decades ago. Remember, the wise plant samplings of trees that give shade years after their sowing and may even outlast the sower’s lifetime.
Had I not waited(actually I forgot about the account, even cryptocurrency for that matter) and cashed out when the my bitcoins were worth $20 thinking that I made a great 2X ROI, then I would never have been able to see the 6X+ returns. So, patience pays! a lot!!!
Perseverance
Another important factor for such great success is to be persistent enough while you patiently wait. I am sharing a meaningful image below that many of you may have seen earlier on social media websites. But it is still worth sharing for it truly summarises the perseverance factor.
Most of the time we are so close to success and we lose our confidence just to see someone else who may have entered the arena later but had unfazed perseverance win!
I lost on this count! Had I been persistent and had enough hope on the fate of bitcoin( and ethereum and the whole cryptocurrency concept for that matter), I would have made a lot more(though currently cryptocurrencies, specially ethereum ICOs seem to be in a bubble phase as per my opinion)
Read! Learn! Implement! Repeat!
I lost on this point too. Had I read more about bitcoins, block chain and cryptocurrencies, I would have learned that I should implement the new found knowledge and be patient while being persistent!
Great investors never cease to learn. Elon Musk literally taught himself Rocket Science to take SpaceX to the level where it is today!
It is important to read and learn before you invest. And even more important is to implement what you learned. But the most important part is to repeat. Because in the long journey of perseverance and patience you will encounter new findings, you will read newer things about your investment and if you don’t implement them then again you lose. So, Remember:
Read -> Learn -> Implement -> Repeat
A lot of things can be learnt from this single incident but I feel the above points pretty much summarise all the things I learnt on my little not so happening adventure.
On an ending note, I just realised, my first two attempts at blogging failed because I missed one or the other points I mentioned above. I will try not to repeat the same mistakes!
Hope you liked the article! Please share your opinions in the comments section below.
Cool! You would have made more had you HODLed them