⭐⚔️ How to HODL like a Jedi

GM everyone. This is 2036, the newsletter that pays you.

A couple of years ago, I spent 10 days in silence for a meditation retreat.

Going into it, this is what I thought I'd be like:

Instead, this is more like what happened -

Sitting in a room for 10 hours per day just meditating is HARD.

But as Blaise Pascal - a really smart Frenchman - said 400 years ago - "all of humanity's troubles stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone"

Damn Blaise, spot on.

Okay - why am I telling you this?

Because your ability to keep your mind quiet and peaceful is a superpower in investing.

Mind you - I didn't say "to quiet your mind". I said to "keep it quiet."

Once you understand this subtle difference, you're going to become a much better investor. And once you've seen it, you can't unsee it.

Just like Colonel Sander's little body.

In Atomic Habits, James Clear describes how our habits are triggered by cues in our environment that encourage certain habits.

This applies to both good and bad habits.

You might eat a donut just because it's on your counter, not because you actually wanted it.

You might pick up your phone just because you can see it, not because you inherently desire to.

For me, if there's an open bottle of wine in the fridge, it ain't staying in the fridge very long.

Likewise, you can sabotage yourself financially with triggers you aren't consciously aware of. For most people, they are:

• Checking your investment portfolio

• Checking crypto prices

• Reading the news

Any of those 3 are emotional triggers.

Prices up 📈 - you're happy. Prices down 📉 - you panic.

Unfortunately for us, negative emotions are much stronger than positive ones.

After all, the human race survived by being the most paranoid motherfuckers on this planet.

And these emotions will cause actions that don't necessarily serve you.

For 99% of people, this translates into:

• prices down = get fearful = sell

• prices up = get greedy = buy

But this is the exact opposite of what we're supposed to do (i.e. buy low, sell high)

So how do we solve this?

Environment design.

✅ Task: earn $20 in BTC for a summary of Atomic Habits chapter 6

If you want to hold crypto for the long term (which you probably do if you're here), you need to avoid emotional triggers that lead you to sabotage your results.

This requires designing your environment to encourage behaviors that serve you and discourage behaviors that don't (i.e. checking prices, reading the news).

And that's what Atomic Habits is all about.

Atomic Habits has become a pretty damn popular book. It has like a trillion reviews on Amazon.

And frankly, it's 100% worth reading a few times. We won't ask you to read the whole thing at once. Today, we'll just cover one chapter - chapter 6.

So today's task is simple:

Step #1: If you don't already have it, get yourself a copy of Atomic Habits.

Step #2: Read Chapter 6 (or the whole thing if you wish!)

Step #3: Reply to this email with a summary in your own words of chapter 6. Include your BTC address so we can pay you.

We'll pick two submissions at random and give them each $20.

And that'll be it for today.

If you read just one book this year, let it be this one.

Like King Balaji says - if code is prompt for computers, habits are prompts for humans.

See you tomorrow,

Alex.