These past few days, and I guess months in general, have been a true test of patience on my part, and I suspect I am not alone in this. The effects of the current pandemic and how it wreaks havoc on markets in general would've definitely caused younger me to make very irrational decisions. Younger me would've sold my (admittedly meager) crypto holdings at the first sign of red in the charts. Same with the few shares of stock I hold. I'd reason out that, hey, cash is cash, and I'll just hold on to that then treat myself to nice steak dinners for a couple of nights with the cash I got.

I guess with age comes patience alongside experience. Absolutely thankful that I managed to rework my personality to at least be more mindful of finances that I'm now able to set aside some savings and diversify investing it, all the while remaining calm even when I see so much red in my holdings. I'm still not a rich man, but at least I'm more prepared to handle financial adversities that come like with what's happening now.

What changed? I'd like to think it's partially thanks to competitive online gaming. Is it a weird place to learn patience? I guess, but you have to realize that people who play games with randos on the internet are forced to build patience within themselves, otherwise they'll just end up angry most times. Between toxic players and the general feeling of losing (and all players are bound to have losing streaks, even pros who casually play online to keep their skills sharp), you either deal or you go nuts. Thankfully, most deal. LOL.

Yep, gamers learn to deal with this on a daily basis, LOL (Credit: Forbes)

There's this phrase that's used a lot by people who play online and eventually lose: "GG, go next". GG in gamer circles means "good game", and "go next" essentially means to just focus on the next game ahead and get the just completed game behind you. It's a good phrase, and gets your mind ready and focused for what's ahead, because really, other than learning from what you did wrong in the loss you just had, there's no real benefit to thinking too much about it or at least getting frustrated. It's a done deal already, so just put it behind you. Pro athletes are amazing in adopting this mentality. It's how they can get embarrassed by a 40-point loss then come back two nights later and put up amazing performances again.

The 2015 Spurs pretty much had a full "GG, go next" season after a crushing Finals loss the year before. :D (Credit: News4SA)

You can see how this mentality can also be applied to trading in general. Picked stocks wrong? Yeah, sure, it happens. No need to get all emotional and worked over about it. GG, go next - you'll pick a winner eventually, or the one you picked will eventually turn into one. Bought BTC at $10.6k then it dropped $600? GG, go next - it'll come around in the future.

I'll be the first to admit that it's sometimes trying to keep positive with the pandemic wreaking havoc and we have no idea when it's gonna end, but as long as we keep our cool, we can get through this. GG, go next.

P.S. Thumbnail credit here.