When you try to make money, 'comfort' is your greatest enemy.
Author: Carter Thomas
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
At a party hosted by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut told his friend Joseph Heller that the host — a hedge fund manager — made more money in a day than Heller made during the entire publication history of his popular novel (Catch-22). Heller smiled and replied, 'Yes, but I have something he will never have: contentment.'
Between the ages of 0 and 25, our brains complete most of their development. In particular, we gradually learn to rely more on the prefrontal cortex rather than the emotionally driven areas of the brain.
We learn to think rationally and make decisions based on 'what we think is right' rather than 'the emotions we feel.'
When we study mental health and addiction issues, it's clear that this period is crucial for our growth. Sometimes, we are forced to face unexpected trauma; sometimes, we are already addicted to substances like alcohol and Adderall before the age of 20.
Or perhaps our brains have been completely hijacked in the 'Dopamine Age' — a euphemism for how screen time and social media have severely disrupted our ability to detach from reality before our bodies are fully developed.
All these factors are quietly changing the way our brains operate, making it increasingly difficult to maintain clear thinking in a world where emotions are pulled daily.
Now, we are entering a stage of the crypto market cycle where rational thinking becomes increasingly difficult.
If you have already made a significant profit, you may feel that the market will rise another two or three times;
If you just happen to break even from the 2021 highs, you will convince yourself that this breakthrough is your long-awaited opportunity;
If your performance lags behind the market, you'll feel intense FOMO (fear of missing out) and frustration, even hesitating to exit.
Behind all of this, it's really the same — your prefrontal cortex struggles to resist the shock of emotional torrents.
The mind is a great servant but a terrible master.
The original title of this article is 'Enough,' because in the end, what the market truly tests is whether you know when to stop. That is the essence of the problem.
Can you make a wise decision and then decisively withdraw? Can you hold on to your earnings after making money? Conversely, can you cut your losses in time before they completely eliminate you?
The market, especially in volatile fields like crypto, is not a contest of who earns the most, but a contest of who can retain the most wealth five years later. After paying taxes and avoiding impulsive trades and irrational investments after the bull market peaks, how much will you have left?
The ultimate goal of this journey has never been to amass an astronomical wealth, but to earn 'enough' money and keep it.
Everyone has their own definition of 'enough.' Some feel that $10,000 could completely change their lives, while others believe that without $100 million, they cannot be satisfied.
But what really matters is whether they can truly choose to withdraw when they reach their goals.
The irony is that we could define what 'enough' is, but we are always immersed in X.com (Twitter), constantly surrounded by those bull market stories and profit-loss screenshots, stimulating our desire for more.
As someone who has experienced several rounds of crypto market cycles, I can confidently tell you that you will never feel you have had enough.
Even if you buy at the lowest point and sell at the highest point, you will still feel unsatisfied.
Even if you open your Phantom wallet and can't believe this huge sum now belongs to you, two weeks later you'll still find yourself trying out a few 'seemingly simple' trades.
People enter the crypto market because they are inherently hard to satisfy. They enjoy the thrill, while deeply fearing the passage of time. They fear that if they don’t seize the opportunity to create wealth that could change the fate of generations now, it will be too late.
This mindset is exactly what keeps you stuck. For the next four years, you may continue to chase that elusive 100x return, thinking that only then will it be 'enough.' In this mindset, you will ignore the fact that 'wealth accumulation takes time,' only thinking about how to quickly surpass others, fantasizing that just earning a little more money can fill that 'sense of satisfaction' that has been missing in your heart all these years.
However, the reality is that this sense of satisfaction will never truly come for most people.
No matter when the market peak arrives — maybe today, maybe in a few months, or maybe at the end of 2025 — you will always feel it's not enough.
Even when you see the most insane price surge in the market, all the top signals are flashing, and you sell all your coins for huge profits, a month later, when you see another Meme coin skyrocketing again, you'll still feel it's not enough.
Even if you timely take profits when the market starts to correct and protect your trades, you will still feel it's not enough.
In this market, no outcome will truly satisfy you. That is the core of the problem — making money at this speed will cause most people to lose their ability to think rationally, especially those who are easily swayed by emotions.
The only answer is to accept the truth of the crypto market and recognize that when you try to make money, 'comfort' is your greatest enemy. If you don't want to repeatedly experience the ups and downs of wealth, you must replace that excitement with a mundane but viable plan.
Accepting this may make you feel lost or even painful because you have to face the fact that you will not be remembered in crypto history like Cobie or Bonk Guy. You may never become the person you always longed to be — someone loved and respected, someone who can experience love and unconditional admiration.
You must break free from these self-driven illusions and accept the reality of the market. None of us are special; most of us are merely fortunate enough, or rational enough, to withstand this volatility.
This is not a prediction of prices — no one knows what will happen next. This is just a reminder: you'll never feel you've had 'enough.'
Even if Bitcoin rises to $300,000, you'll still feel it's not enough; even if SOL rises to $1,000, you'll still feel it's not enough.
You need to learn to make decisions outside of these emotions, just like you need to eat healthy food and stick to exercising, even when you don’t want to, but you know this is the right choice.
Unfortunately, very few people can make money in the crypto market after taxes. And even fewer can keep that wealth years after the bull market ends.
The only way to ensure your success is to stop relying on intuition and start thinking rationally. Intuition can be left for your emotional life, but the market only believes in logic.
This game should be full of fun, but it should never make you feel comfortable. It should be like sports training — full of challenges and hardships, but with rich rewards. True satisfaction comes from continual progress, not from the vanity of boasting.
When you truly realize that you have 'enough,' that moment you have already won. It is also at that moment that you truly begin to move towards real wealth.