Author: rektdiomedes

Compiled by: TechFlow

Over the past two years, I've become obsessed with combat sports.

This has mostly involved a lot of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Muay Thai, and integrated striking and wrestling sessions for MMA.

While two years isn't very long—and I'm still a complete beginner—it's been enough time to train with hundreds of different partners and observe how they respond to various training scenarios.

In addition, I’ve been an avid strength trainer since I was 15, so I’ve also seen countless people navigating their journeys in strength training.

On the flip side, in investing, I've been active on Crypto Twitter (CT) for four years now, though I’d already spent years lurking on CT and macro-financial Twitter (FinTwit) before that.

During this time, I’ve noticed a distinct pattern—one that applies across both worlds. There’s a striking parallel between certain participants in fitness and those in the investing space.

Combat Sports + Strength Training

When training BJJ or Muay Thai, you encounter all kinds of participants:

Some are genuinely skilled (more on that later).

Some try it out, realize it’s not for them, and move on.

Others love it deeply but can’t sustain consistency due to scheduling conflicts—either quitting altogether or only showing up occasionally.

Then there are those who dabble casually—relatively disciplined, but without strong motivation to make it a core part of life.

But there’s another group I want to focus on in this piece—what I call the "ego-driven" individuals.

These people are usually highly motivated.

They come in full throttle, giving 110% from day one—completely in “beast mode,” dead serious.

They don’t lack strength, energy, drive, or courage. Yet, inevitably, they end up tripping over their own ego.

Sometimes they push too hard and injure themselves.

Sometimes they go overboard during sparring, becoming overly aggressive or even unruly, which rubs regulars the wrong way.

Or they push themselves to the brink only to be beaten by someone calmer, more experienced, and smaller—leading to frustration or anger.

Often, this pattern leads them to quit entirely within a month—or fall into a cycle: show up once a month, go all-out, then disappear again for weeks.

Either way, their motivation and discipline keep getting defeated by their ego.

You see the same phenomenon in strength training.

I often notice middle-aged men—usually in their 40s—who were once very strong and athletic, but whose physical condition has declined over time.

They’re obsessed with returning to their 22-year-old peak.

They walk into the gym, spend 45 minutes warming up just to get mobile, then attempt max-effort lifts in squat, deadlift, or bench press.

Almost every time, they either get injured or completely burn out.

Many of them are fully aware they're stuck in this loop. They know they should probably do higher-rep hypertrophy work—or at least combine it with powerlifting cycles. But they can't let go of their ego; they remain fixated on reclaiming old personal records (PRs), ultimately harming themselves.

Whether in combat sports or strength training, these individuals possess high skill and motivation—but end up defeating themselves through ego.

The Investment Parallel

This exact pattern shows up in investing too. Over the past four years on Crypto Twitter (CT) and FinTwit, I’ve repeatedly observed it.

There’s a type of person who treats “investing” or “trading” as a core component of identity and self-worth.

Some are active individual traders… others are professional fund managers handling other people’s money… some write macro newsletters… and others are just retail investors.

But they share one thing: extreme seriousness about trading/investing and deep pride in their investment skills. Yet this mindset sometimes manifests in self-defeating ways.

Essentially, these individuals—like the ones described earlier in combat or strength training—end up being defeated by their own ego.

I’ve seen several recurring patterns:

1. They self-destruct through revenge trading.
2. They argue endlessly with anyone who criticizes them, sparking petty online feuds (often over absurd things like which meme coin is better or whether the long end of the yield curve will spike), eventually imploding publicly.
3. They become overly attached to a specific investment or idea, then—in an effort to prove it right—begin constructing an entirely new, ever-evolving worldview around it.

The third one—the obsession with an idea—is perhaps the most dangerous, because any of us could fall into it.

I especially notice this happening with very intelligent people.

An idea about a particular asset, asset class, or investment takes root in their mind. When challenges arise, their brain—driven by ego—starts defending the original thesis at all costs, building elaborate justification systems.

They shift perspectives… experiment with new ideas and methods… and before long, they’ve constructed a complex, sprawling belief system centered on one narrow investment or concept.

It’s hard to precisely describe this behavior and its underlying self-hypnosis.

Though I usually avoid crude metaphors, I can’t think of a better one than “getting high off your own farts.” They become intoxicated by their intellectual exploration, lose themselves in it, and suffer massive financial losses.

In the end, it all stems from ego—even when buried beneath layers of intellectual reasoning. It’s almost a form of self-hypnosis.

Of course, this doesn’t mean these people are bad—actually, I think we all do this to some extent. But it’s an easy trap to fall into, and a very dangerous one…

The Key to Success

So what traits do long-term successful people in combat sports share?

What separates those who persist, improve steadily, excel in amateur or even professional competitions—or those who make real progress in strength training, maintaining impressive physiques well into older age?

In my view, the answer lies in combining strong drive, desire, and motivation with conscious ego management.

They have egos just like everyone else—we all do—but they possess enough perspective and self-awareness to know they must control their ego, rather than be controlled by it.

So they simply show up and do the work—day after day.

They don’t treat every sparring session like a championship fight and end up injured…

They don’t nitpick or get dragged into petty arguments and conflicts…

They don’t get discouraged or angry when beaten and then quit…

They just keep showing up, repeating the process daily.

I believe the same applies to investing—and particularly to Crypto Twitter (CT).

Having a strong ego isn’t bad—it can even be helpful. But you need to keep it in check, maintain restraint…

You need to transform ego into discipline…

And use it to fuel consistent learning and improvement, day after day.

No investor or trader is always right—it’s all about probabilities.

As the cliché goes, even the world’s best traders might only be right 55% of the time…

The real enemy isn’t a single losing trade, or being wrong on a tweet…

The true enemy is irreversible, permanent failure—blowing up your account entirely, collapsing mentally to the point of deleting your profile, shutting down your fund, or worse.

Therefore, in my view, the key is to cultivate your ego—a strong sense of confidence and hunger for success—while simultaneously elevating it into wisdom.

Direct it intentionally…

Turn it into fuel…

And use it to drive massive, consistent action every single day.

Note: This is my first-ever "article" posted on Twitter/X… If you have thoughts, feel free to comment below; if you enjoyed this, please retweet—I’d greatly appreciate it! :)