What could the two possibly have to do with each other? On one end, you have thousands of complex programming infrastructures which could succeed or fail as an investment depending on various factors seemingly outside of your influence. And on the other, you have complex biological organisms that could feed you depending on various factors seemingly outside of your influence.
Hmm. Maybe they have more in common than I thought.
In fact, I believe that gardening has made me a better investor. One thing many paper hands lack is patience. And if you're a daytrader in crypto, often the details of each project is irrelevant to your tentative choice of stock. In other words: grocery shoppers. Now, there is nothing wrong with grocery shopping. You can feed yourself that way, but don't expect any of it to be healthy or have much nutrition.
Many people say they can't garden because they don't have a green thumb—as if there were magic involved in growing vegetables. What those people really mean is that they don't feel they have the time to study and practice the art of gardening. They aren't willing to risk failing. The truth is that there is no quick way to success, and anyone tries to sell you that is lying.
Now, I'm no gardening wizard. I've learned most everything I know from Kevin Espiritu. However, I do know that if you want to grow vegetables; you have to put in time, money, and research. It's not enough to know that soil + water + sunlight = food. Those are the basic elements for any plant to grow, but it's much more than that. Plop a seedling into a pot and it will do well for a time, but after a while its needs are going to change.
You'll notice yellowing in the leaves. Bumps on the leaves or stem. Blossoms dropping for no reason. Bugs infesting the grow space. Without research, you will never know what to do to make your vegetables flourish. You'll never know that yellowing can occur because of lack of nutrients which can come from either watering the plant too much, not enough, or you haven't given it the nutrients that its species requires.
Paper hands will throw them up in the air, give up, and let it die because the plant didn't grow quick enough for their liking and have convinced themselves it's about to die. They never consider why exactly they grew it in the first place. They lack confidence in the plant and their ability to nurture it.
On the other hand we have daytraders. Short and sweet: the tomato plant took less than five seconds to grow, so off to the store we go! Why grow plants?
Truth is that gardening takes a long time. There will be setbacks. There will be elements outside of your control. There will be storms that blow over your plants. Too much rain causing root rot. Bugs you've never seen before until you started a garden will pop up to chew on your precious vegetables. Sometimes you have to sacrifice one plant to the bugs and wildlife so the others can flourish. Sometimes you might feel like giving up.
That's what it means to HODL. To have a strategy. An entrance and exit plan. To not invest more than is comfortable for your lifestyle. Always assume you will lose it all, and be okay with that. But, ALWAYS learn from the experience. Even if it appears that you've lost, if you gleaned even a shimmer of wisdom from it, you really haven't lost at all.
That's how I approach gardening and that's how I approach my investments.
Gardening has given me the patience to understand that just because something looks like its dying doesn't mean that it is or that there isn't a way to turn it around. I was determined to have a decent crop this year, which gave me the resolve to see it to the end. I studied permiculture, composting, soil types, nutrient needs, watering schedules, and so on. In other words, I was invested in gardening.
And like gardening, if there is a project you believe in—you research it. You get involved with it. You discover ways to help it grow. You get involved with the community or become a leader in one. You invest time and money into growing your investment. Sure, there are dips, but if you really believe in cryptocurrency and how it will change our world, those won't matter so much. The trend is ever upward.
Growing ain't easy and there's no easy money.
That being said, this article is not to be construed to be financial advice. Finance isn't my area of expertise. Remember Stranger Danger? You shouldn't accept financial advice from random people on the internet, either. Think of this article as a pep-talk.
If you liked what you've read, please consider leaving a tip. It will help put vegetables in my garden, and DOGEs in my backyard. Thank you for reading!
