After a bad loss, a trader said to me,“I just need one good trade to get back.” I said, “That’s how gamblers talk right before the second disaster.” Lesson: The market doesn’t owe you recovery. You earn it slowly.

I watched a guy check his account every three minutes. I asked him why. He said, “I’m monitoring risk.” I said, “No — risk is monitoring you.” Lesson: If you can’t leave your position alone, it’s already too big.

The first time I made money in the market, I thought I was brilliant. The second time, I thought I was gifted. The third time, I thought I was unstoppable. The fourth trade erased all three. Lesson: Early wins don’t teach skill. They teach arrogance.

I knew a guy who missed every big rally. Tech boom. Missed it. Housing run. Missed it. Crypto surge. Missed it. But somehow, he never lost big money either. When asked why, he said, “I’d rather miss a party than attend a funeral.” Twenty years later, he wasn’t famous — but he was free. No debts. No regrets. No blown accounts. Lesson: You don’t need to catch every upside. You only need to survive the downside. Longevity is the real edge.

During my darkest stretch inside, there was an inmate who made one phone call every Sunday — always the same time, always to the same person. It wasn’t family. It wasn’t friends. It was his wife. She was making tiny investments on his behalf, $25 at a time, based on the notes he slipped her during visits. I asked him why he bothered. He said, “Because walls can hold your body, not your future.” When he got out, he had more saved than most people I knew on the outside. Lesson: You’re not defined by where you are — but by what you keep building despite it. Forward motion is wealth.