Recently, I was chatting with a few friends who are involved in investments. I mentioned that one benefit of investing is the ability to do nothing, to endure the bottom cycle by resting. He said that the premise is having a judgment about the cycle; in a downward trend, doing anything is wrong. If you rest helplessly, fearing a trend reversal, you might end up completely resting. In fact, working in investment banking is also quite good; when the market is good, you can make money, and when the market is bad, pretending to be busy is also quite motivational.

I know some friends who are very successful in investing. Some started with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands and grew to millions or even billions. Almost all of them have experienced significant losses, and some have even faced bankruptcy. It's not just the successful investors around us who have gone through such major losses; if you look at many trading books, some masters have also experienced significant losses or faced extreme adversity. For example, Livermore went bankrupt several times in his life but made a comeback each time.

Why is this the case? You could say that experiencing significant losses is a rite of passage for all investors. Without going through major losses, one cannot gain deep insights and it becomes difficult to find a method that truly suits oneself. Then, due to psychological complacency, even if one has made money in the early stages, they will eventually lose it back. Therefore, if you want to succeed, facing this hurdle of significant losses is almost inevitable. However, the problem is that some people, after experiencing major losses, gain insights and find a method that suits them, while others lose money without learning anything, remaining confused and lacking their own system, making it very difficult to succeed in the end.

I'm not trying to give everyone a motivational speech; what I'm saying are facts. If you want to succeed, you must go through the hurdle of losses, but the issue is not to let yourself lose in vain. At the very least, learn a lesson and know what to do in the future. As long as you know what to do, you will eventually earn it back.