A little detachment from work brings greater clarity for the year ahead

About a month ago, as last year was coming to a conclusion, I decided that it was time for me to unplug, to disconnect from work altogether.

The crypto industry has brought us much excitement over the years. I needed clarity. I had to let my mind rest, my soul breath and my wounds heal. I needed a break from all the excitement.

An abundance of excitement was the theme for the industry in the last two years.

We observed an explosion in the global adoption of Bitcoin, witnessed a meteoric rise and fall of altcoins (non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies). We expanded the crypto community’s reach through the worldwide network. We built that network!

Attention

We were also awed to see governments compete for our attention. We even witnessed the birth of the first-ever blockchain national regulatory framework. We participated in many historical events.

We were able to combine tenuous traditional fundraising stages into one fundraising event for tech start-ups. It was revolutionary in a way that companies finally had access to a global network of investors. It was marvellous. We believed that we were changing the world by democratising and globalising access to funds, redistributing wealth and allowing entrepreneurship to reach new heights.

However… we also watched greed, stupidity, and decay consume many. As if in a nightmare we saw project after project fall into a destructive pattern of the dark vortex of unwise decision-making that would inevitably lead to their demise.

In disgust, we watched bottom feeders, scammers and scum thrive. They dominated the industry. They were everywhere and most distressingly, a lot of them shined in the eye of the public.

Opposite direction

We hopelessly watched the crypto industry move away further from decentralisation than ever before. Under the flag of decentralisation we sailed into the opposite direction.

We watched massive amounts of funds be flushed down the toilet through false priorities.

Overall, it was quite a roller-coaster. We experienced some severe ups and downs. I suggest we leave all that in the past and move forward.

Let’s talk about now, let’s talk about the future.

This is not just a philosophical statement encouraging you to leave in the present moment. It is also, technically, an exciting time at the beginning of the new life cycle for this industry. As we close the first ten-year cycle – let’s call it ‘proof of concept’ – we step into the new era of implementation and adoption. Moreover, blockchain can proudly now be considered as a proper industry.

Preparation

This new life cycle brings us many opportunities. So as Seneca wisely states: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Best way to prepare that I know of is to ask questions.

What is the shape of new objectives we must pay attention to? What kind of challenges are hidden from our perspectives? How do we prepare infrastructure to maximise opportunities?

How do we parse through all data we were able to gather during the proof of concept stage? How do we separate noise from accurate indicators?

This and many other questions have been predominantly occupying my mind prior to my work decompression/unplug decision a month ago.

Fresh eyes

So, with winter holidays under my wing, I pulled the plug. It took a couple of days of mental reprogramming (I am into bio-hacking and psych-hacking) to free my mind from 90% of thoughts related to anything crypto. I realised that to find answers to my questions I must look at the whole picture with a fresh eye and for that I needed distance.

As suspected this cleansing journey blessed me with many answers. You shall expect to hear more about my findings in my upcoming articles.

But for today, as we celebrate the beginning of the new year according to Gregorian calendar. I want to share with you my excitement. The challenges we will leave for later.

I am grateful to step forward into the new year with confidence that we are on the right path. The correction we are observing and will experience for a while proves that best practices are in fact best to follow. Scammers and bottom feeders are moving to other industries. Those who followed unwise practices are failing. Fraudsters are starting to get what they deserve.

Research and development

I am hopeful to see the deployment of some exciting technology solutions. Truly decentralised platforms are showing up. Enterprises are deploying more than ever into research and development.

We are finally ready for new capital markets formation. The tools, teams, and technology are ready to be deployed to unlock and facilitate access to global wealth, allowing trillions of dollars to be able to transfer faster, cheaper and more efficiently. This will unlock an enormous amount of capital and opportunities.

On a personal level, I am happy to share with you that unplugging was a challenging and enriching journey. It allowed me to find a balance. I re-centred, re-prioritised and reconstructed many aspects of my life.

I am anticipating the journey into this new cycle, and I am ready to meet all that it brings. With persistence and perseverance, we will thrive, we will do it together. Our dreams and hopes have strong legs to stand on. We will democratise wealth and build a better future for the world.

It is evolution, not necessarily revolution that leads us to globalisation. Let’s evolve together.