Little Failures can make you a bigger failure
I was recently talking to someone about a business opportunity and we started working towards it, but unfortunately this fellow had some financial commitments that was initially unexpected.
We tried raising business capital from some other side gigs, but the person that was supposed to help us finalize the deal, decided to pull out, and said they didn't want to help us anymore. It was an unexpected pull out, we though we already sealed it, and we were certain we'd get the money, but life happened and all that goal about becoming an entrepreneur basically vanish.
I was also talking to someone who wanted to build a business too, but the money he expected didn't come through and he's not able to build it.
If I look at my experience, it's similar to some of the people in my circle who are currently struggling. I've basically done a lot of things in 2026 already and at the beginning of the year I have was certain that these investment choices would yield great dividends, but it's the 7th month of the year and they've all failed completely.
All the initial investments are now lost, the capital is gone, the money disappeared and I'm back to trying to figure it out. Looking back, I think I didn't learn a lot of positive lessons. They say that when people fail there's always some level of positives to take from the failure, but sometimes all you have left is fear, regret, pain and no lessons at all.
Also, money and business failures takes away the confidence of people, and sometimes it gives you this feeling of uncertainty about whatever you're planning and it's almost like you're trying, but you're not expecting it to work out whatsoever.
While this is really healthy, it just makes you believe that no matter how hard you try, you're always going to fail.
The mind is our biggest source of strength and weakness at the same time and sometimes the failures we have isn't setting us up to do better, it's setting us up to be less confident in our abilities, and that's how failure works.. there's a negative snowball effect that comes with failing.
However no one can afford to dwell in their mistakes, you just cannot move forward if you continue to reflect or see your past failures in newer opportunities. The past has to go, for the present to become your new reality.
Crypto
Take a look at the crypto market, at the moment a lot of people do not have hope anymore that any other asset except BTC would do well in the long-term. This is because of the past failures of the market.
The market has been failing for 5 years and most people don't even know what it feels like to have a win or take profit, and these past failures are the current new reality of every project or coin that isn't BTC.
Now, there's no proof that this is how crypto will continue to be, but people will continue to project the current failures of the market to whatever it's future reality might be. This is a behavioral tendency.
People don't expect things to get better even if there's a possibility that it might, even though they're working hard to ensure it happens, they'll probably still not expect it to happen because of their past fears.
This is how we're built: the present must be responsible for what the future should look like. While this happens a lot, it's actually not always the case. If you've failed a lot in life, you'll probably understand this a lot. It happens to anyone that has failed. People aren't motivated from a place of failure, it's always difficult.
Psychology of money
I know the crypto comparison might be a bit too vague, but I think crypto is 20% tech and 80% human psychology. So basically please do crypto with 80% of those hearts and not really based on whatever the tech, and that's why I think it's a legitimate comparison.
If you're out there and struggling for motivation because you've lost a lot and don't even expect any wins out of life anymore, then my heart goes out to you. I think your fears and concerns are legitimate, and don't let anyone call you "excessively negative".
You're just a realist, someone who has gone through a rough patch in life. Keep your head high and just putting in your best. I think no one is unlucky forever, even if you're unlucky for 99 times, I think the one time will always come, even if there's still a possibility that, that one time might be a mess. (This is a topic for another day) Keep hustling and keep showing up
Brother, thanks for speaking so openly. Sometimes failures just hurt and there's no need to sugarcoat them.
Failures can teach us quite a bit, just that we need to be able to learn from them and avoid such mistakes in the future. If any of your future endeavors are in the digital space, who knows, maybe we can collaborate on one thing or another.
like seriously nothing breaks a man down than seeing his hard effort washed down the drain like it's nothing or that he didn't put in his best. at that point motivation sounds pointless cause in the end it boils down to: i did it well planned prepared and hoped yet didn't work.
to me the year has been eventful, literally the first quarter has failed however I'm restrategising , restarting this second half different approach, let see how it goes hopefully God will smile on me, still keeping my head up for the best
Reading the title of this post immediately made me reflect on how difficult it is to stay optimistic in the crypto market right now.
Just a few days ago, I was seeing my HIVE holdings near an 800 value, and now it’s touching a lower point, showing around 700 USD. It is so discouraging to want to remain active when the market pulls the rug like that, but a part of me is still telling me to keep pushing.
Thank you so much for sharing these raw feelings—it is incredibly validating to know I am not alone in this headspace.
Your story about the business deal falling through really resonated with me. I realize now that maybe I haven't taken enough chances on different projects since the last cycle, which gave me such an unbelievable return (I bought a house that I don't see yet to take real property on, I invested in a Pizza business, almost 40% of investment and the chef kicked me out, I invested in an indian start up and the CEO cheated me...). That past success almost made me complacent, and now, facing these setbacks, the sting is much sharper.
Your point about the 'negative snowball effect' of failure hits home. Losing capital and seeing plans vanish doesn't always teach a 'positive lesson' right away; sometimes it just leaves fear, regret, and a massive hit to our confidence. And you are absolutely right about crypto being 80% human psychology. When the market has been grinding and failing for years, it is so hard not to project past trauma onto future possibilities, making us realists rather than pessimists.
Thank you for the powerful reminder that we can't afford to dwell in past mistakes.
**The past has to go so the present can become our new reality. **
Keep hustling, keep showing up, and here’s to that 'one time' when things finally turn around for both of us, and hopefully for everyone who is waiting for a better moment.
We’ve got this.
It sucks to see someone pull out at the last minute. All that initial investment and time went down the drain. However, life goes on, and there isn't much you can do about it. Most of the poeple entering crypto were just following the trend, but the trend seems to be AI right now. I don't know how the alts will fair now with AI around.