I was asked the other day what kinds of lessons I had learned from crypto and while my answer isn't satisfactory for some, it was not buying 200€ worth of Bitcoin which at the time would have been about 30 BTC and would have a current price of around 120,000 dollars or, 600,000 at the high a year or so back. But, it isn't the value of what it could have been that is the lesson here.
The actual lesson I learned was, failing to participate.
I participated in drinking instead as working out how to buy at the time, was just too much trouble for me.
It is ridiculous to actually think in the terms of holding for 8 years and selling at the high because at that point, that high was not known and most probably, even if I had bought those Bitcoin, I would have sold when my money doubled, tripled or quadrupled. Very few actually held all the way.
But... if I had participated back in 2011 or so, what would I have learned as one of the earliest in on cryptocurrencies? Even without holding, having doubled or tripled my investment, would I have quit while ahead or, would I have continued my participation in a burgeoning industry and economy, would I have found Steem in mid 2016 rather than early 2017?
This is the thing that people aren't able to factor while they focus on the price of this coin or that, the learning involved with taking part. Taking part in that Bitcoin buy meant having the disposable income to spare which I had at the time and not using it to buy a few drinks and likely pick up a girl or two along the way at a bar. Sure, they were good times but, I could have those experiences any weekend and many weekdays at that point.
How many times do opportunities to be an early adopter into an industry that will change the world come along? And when they do, how many times do people skip because it is too complicated or, it is going to cost them some immediate and short-lived pleasure?
I never even thought about Bitcoin again really until I came onto Steem in January 2017, started learning and then realized that, those 200€ for 30 bitcoin would have been worth 30,000 dollars at the time but, it had cost me much more than the opportunity for that amount. My failure to participate had cost my all of the associated learning I could have been doing into the tech, into the possibilities and of course, into building a Steem account as one of the first users, an original.
Once it dawned on me, I looked at all the other areas in my life I have failed to participate for various reasons whether it was out of not having the capital or, being too fear-filled to take part. I decided that my previous failures were not going to become my future failures as well, it just happened that I had already landed upon the Steem blockchain and, this was going to be my core point of participation. Here I am, participating to my fullest capacity considering all of the other things that draw on my time and energy.
I find it interesting that people are unwilling to participate here for various reasons but also unwilling to buy in a little. I wonder at what point someone will say, "I could have bought 500 Steem for 100 dollars and I went out drinking instead".
While some will regret the "loss" (it isn't a loss until you buy and then sell for less than you bought), how many will consider that in those years they had access to Steem, they failed to learn how crypto works, blockchain, dPOS and the communities that use them. How many will regret not building a personal network of friends and users, investors and consumers at a time when competition was low and, there was still a chance to shape the future?
They say, you gotta be in it to win it and people think that this refers to some lottery but, it need not. Participation and learning is really all it takes to create some kind of position on Steem and therefore in crypto as an industry as a whole. It is by far the easiest way and a hell of a lot simpler than it was back in 2011 or so and still people complain now while wishing they had bought that BTC back when they chose that it was too hard or, didn't have the disposable income available.
Geez, you don't even need to buy Steem to participate, just write and comment, read and have some fun and who knows, 2, 5, 10 years from now, you might have a fair bit if Steem worth a fair bit of value but, what would you have learned in that time? You might be part of a movement and right now, everyone here is still an early adopter, no matter what your feelings tell you, no matter what that bitter person's post says. Your participation on Steem is up to you.
People talk about learning from their past errors and misaligned ways yet, if they did they would be in better positions than they were but instead, they repeat the same processes over and over across different domains believing that, this time it will be different.
It doesn't even matter if Steem crashes and burns because crypto as a whole is not going to and what one can learn here is more valuable than what one may earn here. But, learning is an active process especially if one is looking to change habitual behavior. The habit that most people in this world have is one learned to consume low quality consumables that depreciate instead of investing into assets that may appreciate in value.
The rich get richer by selling them, they get richer again by investing into the infrastructure and materials that make them. So, at what point are we going to learn from our past and instead of consuming, start investing into possibility and in the case of Steem, investing into ourselves and, the chance to support ourselves?
Again, something that people tend to forget is that while many people are looking for Steem to skyrocket so they can sell, the investors are likely going to hold and use their value to create more value, to invest further into themselves and the community that they are participating in in the various ways that they can with their stake. While selling a bit in the short term might be a decent strategy, the long-term demands some portion to be held as after all, wealth attracts wealth.
But of course, you knew that from your past.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
