There were few losses I incurred in 2024: spend money, hoping to make more, only to lose the initial investment. Then I continued to spend more, hoping to recoup all of my losses from the previous venture, only to incur additional losses. Then I went ahead and came back stronger.
Spend more, hoping that this one will compensate for the previous losses, only to end up with an even greater loss of not only money, but also time and effort. It was painful to some extent, but the price of knowledge and experience can include real-world losses in cash or kind.
After careful consideration, I realized I had wasted time, which was even more disappointing because I could have spent that time on a more productive venture that could have paid dividends.
The time was lost, the prospect gain I could have obtained by investing that time in other ventures was also lost, and the knowledge I gained by wasting that time was useless at this time.
Perhaps the knowledge is primarily useful to someone else, but it is useless to me, even though knowledge and uselessness are two diametrically opposed statements. It implies that knowledge can never be useless; however, in practice, when knowledge is useless, it is simply present and serves no purpose.
Of course, I can teach people knowledge that is useless to me
Why not?
When people learn from painful experiences, it leaves a sour taste. A former wasteful billionaire can remind a current billionaire of the dangers of constant waste. While the former finds the knowledge painful, the latter finds it useful.
Sure, I can monetize my experience and teach others from my pain, failures, and woes, which is something the internet has enabled, but without a channel to teach and earn, knowledge gained from failure is mostly useless to you. It is a frightening experience.
However, progressive knowledge and experience are examples of real-world endowments that cost more than money. You could lose both money and time.
The former is valuable, but the latter is priceless because time cannot be recovered. Sure, every day is a new opportunity to try again, but we can not get back the years, seconds, minutes, and hours. When people feel strong and agile, they do not realize how much time they are wasting until they are old, with aching bones, arthritis, nerve damage, and failing vision.
That is when they realize, "Oh, I should have used web3 instead of being active on tiktok where I only built an unmonetizable audience", among other financial regrets. Or things like "I could have prioritized family over money or vice versa." The regret of losing time lasts forever, whereas the regret of losing money is acute: it hurts a lot but only lasts a short time.
We cannot say the same about time.
The regret is long-lasting, especially when you are old and can not afford to change anything.
We say "time wastage" because time is limited and valuable. You can spend time trying to gain something only to lose both what you were trying to gain and time.
Most of the time, we feel the loss of "money" more than time because we can literally afford to sacrifice more time, whereas the currency value that money represents is lost.
You need effort to make money; time is priceless and cannot be purchased; thus, because we literally do not need to work to obtain time (a free gift), we frequently feel the loss of effort (money) more than the loss of time that has been freely given to us.
Learn
I have learned those important lessons, and while that does not mean I will not continue chasing, it does mean I will be cautious. Instead of giving them freely, I can do so cautiously.
Total dedication of time and attention can be detrimental, especially when the venture fails. For example, imagine raising a child for 20 years only to discover that it was not your own. You feel the agony of losing your undivided time, money, and attention, and how it can never be recovered.
So I believe I chose to view the losses as lessons rather than the fact that I lost time and money. In reality, I lost both, but I believe that living in denial allows me to focus and leave it all behind.
Perhaps in a few months (God willing), I can get bigger wins that will compensate for the other losses. This is all we have—hope.
Interested in some more of my works
Is it Easy To Make Money?
Nigeria: A Unique Business Market & Industry
Virtual Bank Apps In Nigeria: An Experience Of Gamification
How To Find The Next "BIG" Meme Coin
Personal Finance: Achieving Intentional "Saving" Goals
Playing The Survival Game: Human Nature In Introspection
"Un-PAYING" The Debt You Owe
Interested in some more of my works