$2 million bought sobriety: a serial entrepreneur's journey to disenchantment with wealth

Author: TIGER Source: X, @tiger_web3

Nearly a month has passed, it's time to review and sort out the ideas.

The goal in the past few years has been clear: steady growth, strive to jump from A8 to A9 as soon as possible.

With this clear goal, the course of action is much simpler. My previous strategy can be summarized in two points:

• First, give up all the tossing that is not helpful for upgrading A8 to A9.For example, I found some small opportunities that might earn A7 after the build was completed, and I decisively gave up this trivial little profit.

• Secondly, take steady steps, constantly look for opportunities with positive EV (positive expected value), place bets multiple times, and dilute the influence of luck as much as possible. For example: Throughout 23 years, I have invested a lot of energy in "growing hair" (plucking various airdrops), even if I lost some gas fees, I still think it is worth it, because at that time, it seemed that this was a typical "limited loss, unlimited gain" opportunity.

 Everything was progressing step by step, and assets were accumulated steadily. Until January this year, I encountered a large drawdown in my account, and the original plan was disrupted in an instant. (The specific process has been recorded in my previous article.)

Reflection after the large drawdown

I went back to China and gave myself a vacation, so that I could wake up and reflect.

After returning to China, I found that all my friends were living a colorful life. Whether they worked in the system or started their own business, whether they were well-off or poorly-off, they were not as sad and pessimistic as I was. It turns out that it doesn't cost much to live happily. However, I was in a state of depression because of the book loss, and I lived a more painful life than anyone else.

They made me understand the sentence in the Tao Te Ching again: "Pride in wealth and honor brings one's own misfortune."

I gradually realized that the pain I had endured far exceeded the sense of achievement brought by making money and project success. This huge retracement actually had no substantial impact on my daily life - I lived my life as usual, ate and played as usual, and my quality of life did not decline. To put it bluntly, this kind of book loss is not worth torturing myself like this.

Maybe it's because I've had a smooth journey since I was a child: I was recommended to go to university after the Olympic Science Competition, and several entrepreneurial projects after graduation also received good responses. Suddenly I encountered this fierce blow, and for a while I began to doubt myself.

But fortunately, I took a month to get out of the shadow, and I realized a fact: Whether I'm doing a project or investing, the most important thing is to get a sense of accomplishment. For me, the numbers in the account are not important, and continuous positive feedback is an indispensable motivation.

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After understanding this, I have become much more indifferent to wealth. After all, when wealth reaches a certain level, the improvement of the quality of life is actually quite limited - at best, it's just a few more good cars and a few more luxury houses. And my life has long been worry-free, and I'm not keen on supercars and luxury houses, so what's there to worry about?

My biggest cognitive trap is to mistake the asset level for the progress bar of life.

Starting again: New plan

After adjusting my mindset, I decided to do a "dynamic planning" to re-plan the next step. According to the current funding situation and market environment, it is imperative to find a direction that is worth building continuously. Specifically, I set the following new plans for myself:

1. Adjust the goal:In the past few years, I have always wanted to impact A9. Now I am more pragmatic and change the goal to return to the asset level before the big retracement.

2. Due to the change in goals, those opportunities that I didn't do before because I thought they were not cost-effective can now be put on the table again. For example, the "small money-making" ways such as SEO and traffic arbitrage that I disdained before can now be tried.

3. Always pay attention to investment and look for the ultimate arbitrage opportunity. Only by staying at the poker table can you seize the opportunity as soon as it comes. In other words, only by never leaving the game can I wait for my next good hand.

4. Continue to pay attention to the AI ​​track. I am not referring to the "AI projects" that are hyped up in the Web3 world, but to truly delve into the AI ​​industry itself. The world is paying attention to the AI ​​revolution - whether I can get a share of this trend in the future, at least being at the forefront means that I can use the latest and most powerful AI tools as soon as possible, and the most advanced tools are often the most powerful productivity multipliers.

5. Continue to deepen the field of blockchain on-chain. The public chain world is like an open "dark forest". Although it is full of dangers, the rules are transparent. I want to hone my skills in this battlefield of real swords and guns and meet opportunities with real strength.

6. Try to increase your cash cows. To put it simply, it is to create more products that can continue to generate blood outside the main business, and lay a few more stable income channels for yourself.

7. Remember that "money does not come in a hurry". Looking back on the previous losses, the biggest enemy is being too impatient. When the heart is anxious, the action will be deformed. I have fallen twice on this, once and twice, and it must not happen again.

After this adjustment, I feel a lot more relaxed. The road to growth is inevitably ups and downs, but every setback is a precious nutrient that makes me more clear about what I really want. Put down the burden and go into battle lightly. I am ready to meet the challenges of the next stage - as long as I move forward steadily according to these plans, I believe that wealth and growth will come unexpectedly in the future.

"True financial freedom is not about the size of your assets, but the confidence to switch to survival mode at any time"