Getting two waffles instead of one, for the price of a fifteen minutes wait, was the grand test that most of the four-five years old kids failed to, during an experiment conducted by psychologists, which became quite famous on the internet, being one of the purest and most beautiful descriptions of how patience always pays, and instant gratification will just leave room for one more waffle and nothing more. Not too many kids waited for that second waffle for fifteen more minutes and not too many adults are far from such steel patience.

Patience is a virtue that I honestly don't master very good. I have patience when it comes to making a strong decision out of having patience for something but, usually I'm pretty much like the kids who ate that waffle in front of them, at any cost, not fighting the urge and getting another one by concurring that urge. I have quite many life situations in which I failed at the waffle test but instead of making this post a failings show off I'd rather mention one good example that became a role model for me when it comes to crypto holding during bull markets.

I don't remember when, but I do remember his story and why it has impacted me. He was an anonymous guest of Alessio Rastani during one of his podcasts and he told the trader how he got into crypto, how was his experience with mining crypto, what projects he liked the most and how he made millions from investing in crypto at the right time and not selling too soon.

Among others of his crypto holdings he mentioned ETH and his entry point for Vitalik's masterpiece was $4. Yes, that guy bought ETH at four bucks and he held and held and held until he sold at $400. How much did he owned he didn't confess but the idea was that at that time he chased out $1 million to buy himself a house, a car and a good life, and all of his holdings were worth about $7 million. Now, some of you might say that ETH reached almost $1400 at its ATH but, how many of us would have held from $4 to lets say $100...? Not too many I would say, and I'm a such an example of selling cheap.

I bought LTC in 2017 at $50 and sold at $55, one week later, because I wasn't convinced about this tech, about the concept behind it and definitely wasn't aware that we were at the end of a bull market and nothing could actually go wrong for at least one month. I might have inherited natively this kind of behavior, if that's even possible but, the society is not trying to create strong hands either, and that's quite obvious when you dissect it a bit.

Take a look around and see how much instant gratification is floating around us. Social media is the heaven of instant gratification where one pic on top of a dangerous mountain peak collects thousands of likes and for those meaningless likes people risk their lives. Free access to porn is another example of instant gratification, in this case though we can call it self gratification, where probably millions around the world are more inclined towards consuming porn and jerking rather than working for a real relationship, with a real woman, in real life. The whole idea of internet is of instant gratification because it offers instant access to it and it's damn fast.

This patience test goes way beyond the internet though, and one relevant example would be bank credits. If it was for the majority of us to save for that dream car, house, or even vacations in some cases, we would probably wait for a life time, but we would probably work our brains more to find better solutions to make more money... Tied to that dream car, means for most of the cases that I know, being tied to the bank, and automatically being tied to work, work that in most cases doesn't fulfill the workers, and can even steal precious time from them that could be used in creating businesses or other sources of income that would at some point manifest that dream car while creating joy at the same time.

Hence the quote:we work jobs we don't like, to pay for the money we don't have, and buy things we don't really need. Banks are not stupid, the media doesn't tell the truth and the society doesn't want us free or smart, is my own quote but, all of this is possible due to human psychology that the above mentioned are masters of. That's probably why most of the wold is in debt, and most of the crypto enthusiasts din't make money during the 2017 bull market. We simply don't have the understanding and the patience to wait for that second cookie.

My guess is that the ones having the best ROI in this space are the ones that are having a good understanding of what they invested in, have a vision which is essential for any project, and DO NOT LACK PATIENCE. Most of us, including myself haven't mastered that, being scared to buy low and sell high and quite often doing the opposite. How many bought HIVE at 9 cents and how many are wondering now if it wouldn't be a good idea to buy now just in case it goes to $10 in the near future... By all means I'm not thinking that $1 is the top for HIVE but the psychology proves to always be in the favor of the few and not the majority.

Now some of you might think that I'm trying to look lime some smart guy offering free advice on a dirty plate on this blog but, I'm not actually trying any of this sort. This post is actually born out of frustration and the need for understanding and building patience, because I simply can't afford to slip another bull market through my fingers. I guess no flower dreamed of getting out of winter's snow to be eaten by pigs... right. Thus I plan, next time I'll look with hungry eyes at the waffle in front of me to remember that guy who bought at $4 and sold at $400, and swear to never again set shitty stop limits for any crypto.

Images courtesy of pixabay and free to use

Thanks for attention,
Adrian