Keep it slow and steady. It's not a fucking race.
Whilst I know (as I’m sure you do too) that change doesn’t need to be implemented on the first day of a New Year, or your birthday, or the beginning of the week (ad infinitum), there is still something satisfying about beginning during what feels like a logical transition point.
The New Year is perfect for this, but so many people make resolutions and don’t keep to them.
One of the things I’ve found most useful over the years is learning to push myself while also being forgiving. This has been especially important for me as someone who deals with a cocktail of difficulties, including ADHD (where focus can come and then completely go), perfectionist tendencies, and an all-or-nothing mindset.
Remember, almost all of us have issues that we may see as an impediment to our progress. Some of us feel that not having enough capital holds us back. Some of us might have enough capital but have health-related issues that hold us back and make it harder to cope with day-to-day life as easily as others. Still others have none of these issues but perhaps have time constraints due to personal commitments (family and a 9–5 can be a big one). The issues we can face are endless.
But it’s also important to remember that whilst you may feel you have disadvantages compared to the next person, you almost always have advantages over them too, even if you’re not sure exactly what they are.
Maybe you have discipline where they lack it. Maybe you have a support network where they are isolated. Maybe you simply have more drive.
You won’t always know what your edge is over the next person because most people aren’t transparent about themselves and their lives, but I promise you this is true.
You’re never as behind as you think, and you’re never as alone as it feels.
So, to perform better in 2026, you need to think about working to your strengths and coming up with solutions to combat perceived weaknesses.
Brainstorm problems, decide on simple solutions, and go slowly. The adage of becoming 1% better every day is powerful.
You don’t need to do everything perfectly. You just need to do some things a little better than you are doing them already. But be forgiving with yourself. And remember that even when things are going well, refinement still matters.
I’ve often used blunt language as a form of tough love to try and motivate people. But the downside of that is that if you take this name-calling too seriously, you can end up being too judgmental of yourself and possibly hindering your progress.
Allow yourself to be human. We make emotional decisions. We make mistakes. This is fine. The aim is not to never make a mistake, the aim is to make mistakes and learn from them so you don’t end up repeating them over and over again.
So go into this year with intention, patience, and self-respect. Do a few things slightly better than last year, consistently.
I wish you all a healthy, happy, focused, and profitable 2026.
I own a small bakery. We aren’t famous, but we pay the bills. Last Tuesday, a woman came in. She was gripping her purse so tight her knuckles were white. She looked at the display case for a long time—too long. She pointed to the smallest plain vanilla cupcake we had. 'Just that one, please,' she whispered. 'Could you… could you put a tiny candle on it? It’s my daughter’s 6th birthday.' I looked at her shoes. They were wet. It was raining outside, and she had walked here. I looked at her eyes. Red-rimmed. I knew that look. It’s the look of a parent who has to choose between rent and a party. 'I’m sorry,' I said, putting on my best acting face. 'I actually have a huge problem. See this 8-inch chocolate cake with the unicorn frosting?' She looked at the expensive cake on the counter. 'My new decorator messed it up,' I lied. 'The icing is… uh… uneven. I can’t sell it. I was about to throw it in the trash. Would you do me a favor and take it off my hands? No charge. It saves me the guilt of wasting food.' She stared at me. She knew. The icing was perfect. She started to cry, right there in front of the croissant tray. 'Are you sure?' she asked. 'Please,' I insisted. 'You’re doing me a favor.' She walked out with a cake that would have cost $65, holding it like it was gold. Yesterday, I found a card slid under my door. It was a drawing from a 6-year-old girl. A unicorn with a big smile. And in wobbly crayon letters: 'Thank you for making my mommy happy.' Best profit I’ve made all year.
i have no desire to be rich so i can buy a lambo or birkins.
I want to be rich so I can control my time and go to the gym at 2 pm on a wednesday.
sit at a cafe and relax for an hour on a rainy afternoon.
so I can cook meals at home with fresh ingredients.
spend on my family and friends without worrying about a budget.
that’s my idea of a rich life, not the fake consumerist idea shoved down my throat.
Because when the market is depressed, there is no noise.
There is no euphoria, no FOMO, no constant feeling of 'I'm arriving late'.
There are only falling prices, people giving up and a lot of mistrust around. And that is precisely when the market becomes more readable.
At such times, most people sell out of exhaustion or fear, not because they really understand what they are doing. Prices fall more than they should, assets are treated as if they are worthless, and those who are overexposed are wiped out. At that point, only two types of people remain: those who are out and want nothing more to do with it... and those who are patient.
And it is patience that makes the difference.
When everything is depressed, you can enter without haste, build positions calmly, accept that the market may still fall without panicking. You are not forced to chase the price, you don't have to prove anything to anyone, you are not fighting against the crowd.
Big movements never start when the atmosphere is positive. They start when the market is quiet, boring, almost annoying to watch. When no one wants to talk about it anymore.
That's why the real money is made there.
Not when it's easy to buy...
but when it's uncomfortable to do so.
I debated posting this because it can make you feel hopeless.
But I think the truth is always best found out early.
Many financial gurus talk about investing $100/mo etc to get to a point with $1,000,00 when you retire.
The reality of the math is this - if inflation is 3% per year, that $1,000,000 isn’t worth $1,000,000 today.
Because compounding inflation is just as powerful as compounding returns.
Said differently $1,000,000 in 60 years is only worth $167,000 of today’s buying power with 3% inflation.
And typically w late stage capitalism, rate of inflation increases (not decreases).
So what does this mean in reality?
You have to 6x your goal.
Ex: if you wanted to retire with $1,000,000 and $40,000 per year passive, you actually want $6,000,000 and $240,000 per year passive.
If you wanted $4,000,000 and $200,000 in passive income. You really need your goal to be $24,000,000 and $1,2000,000 in passive income.
Now let’s say inflation is 2.3% rather than 3% (the historical average). Okay. You’ll have overshot your goal by 50% (money will only be 1/4 as valuable rather than 1/6th).
Great. Retire early.
But the alternative is certainly worse. Undershoot and be a burden to the people you care about hoping for social nets which may or may not exist then. Who knows.
Regardless, I’ve never seen anyone talk about this - and maybe it’s because it makes people feel hopeless.
But I figure math is math and you shouldn’t be afraid to do it for yourself.
Always better to overshoot and get there early than never arrive.
Probably one of the most severe flushes I’ve ever seen on alts, I didn’t even imagine alts had this much leverage in them. It feels like someone got hit very hard and will see a large body float to the surface soon, reminds me a little of summer 2021.
Good reminder to myself to own things that I am actually bullish on, and not things I am trying to shift on momentum. Some charts look like they’ll never recover, whereas some things look buyable for the first time in a while.
When everyone is making hilarious amounts of money I am always tempted to start using leverage again. It is almost impossible to fight the feeling that you’re not making enough, or everyone else is outpacing you. Good reminder that fighting that feeling and avoid the wipeouts is worth it in the end.
Check on your friends, likely a bad day for many.
Personally, am concentrating my bags into the things I am happy to own for the next few years, and shedding the fat. Realised I own some assets based on not wanting to miss out, rather than on some actual thesis. Days like today are much easier for me if I think my bags will bounce back, and much worse if I’m losing money owning things I don’t even believe in.
Don’t let a leverage blowup dictate your long-term views. The future is bright, good things to come, patience is rewarded.
嵐の後
i cant believe that i have to write this but the turnover on CT is so insane that people dont even know the lore behind https://t.co/dlH0OTDluu and why this launchpad and the $LLM token should be significant
10 months ago the ai16z DAO was created on this platform. it featured the blonde ai companion Eliza as their mascot (waifu for lack of a better word)
the project was picked up on by mark andressen in the wake of the initial GOAT frenzy and he interacted back and forth, giving lots of publicity to the account
the token eventually ran to $2.5B
Shaw (the developer of eliza) was erratic and egotistical and self sabotaged the project many times over, causing many early supports - myself included, to jeet bags for multiples that pitied in the end to what we could have made
this token is what eliza should have been. @baoskee at https://t.co/dlH0OTDluu is imo the only reason ai16z was allowed to exist and spark such a movement in the first place
now that he is behind the scenes, no shaw involved, i am extremely bullish on what he is going to build
with grok x ani prevalence as well as how much gooning there is on a day to day basis the mascot alone commands a lot of memetic power and when coupled with a potential real product $15m is way too low
Tariffs are taxes paid by American importers, not foreign govts, meaning the money “flowing in” is actually coming from US businesses and consumers, not China, India or anyone else.
It’s like robbing your own citizens and calling it foreign income. For someone who claims to be a business genius, not understanding this basic economic principle either points to a dangerously low IQ or deliberate deception, and neither is reassuring.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
If You Make It This Cycle… Don’t Lose What Actually Matters
If you get rich this cycle - and I hope you do - here’s something to keep in your back pocket.
I’ve been in crypto 9 years. I’ve seen the gains, the god complexes, the graveyard of burned-out millionaires who thought more commas would fill the hole inside.
At first, the high is unmatched.
You feel invincible.
Your calls are printing.
Your DMs are full.
Your self-worth? Through the roof.
You start upgrading everything - your apartment, your wardrobe, your circle.
And for a while, it works. You feel like you won the game.
But over time, the thrill fades.
And that loud, uncomfortable silence creeps in:
“Is this it?”
Here’s the truth no one tweets about:
Money solves money problems. That’s it.
It doesn’t fix your childhood wounds.
It doesn’t make you feel truly seen.
It won’t sit by your hospital bed.
It won’t fly across the country for your wedding.
People do that.
So while you’re climbing the mountain this cycle, don’t forget who’s hiking with you.
Answer the call from your mom.
Show up to your friend’s big day.
Celebrate other people’s wins as hard as you do your own.
Because at the end of the day, the real flex isn’t your watch collection.
It’s how many people are genuinely happy you made it.
And if your circle sucks?
Build a new one in the trenches.
This space is full of real ones-you just have to look past the noise.
Make your bag.
Take care of your people.
And never forget: the bull market isn’t just outside-it’s inside too.
RT if you read it till the end
God bless 🙏 🕊️
gotta BONK them all ❗️❗️❗️
starting today, 1% of BONKfun’s TOTAL revenue will be reassigned from our marketing fund into buying back the top pairs within the BONK eco