My Crazy Night With Cryptocurrency
Earlier this fall, I had one of the wildest nights of my life. It started when I opened up my cryptocurrency wallet. For the last few years, I’ve invested a few dollars here and there in cryptocurrency. It’s more of a hobby than a serious pursuit, and I rarely have more than a few hundred bucks in my wallet. But that night when I opened the app, it told a different story: I had more than $26 million in crypto! I couldn’t believe it. For the longest time, I just stared at my phone screen. Then, my mind went into overdrive. How could I get this money out of crypto and into my bank? Was it even real?
Truth vs. Fiction
The coins I’d invested were “alternative” ones, so authenticating the money and cashing out was a complicated process. I wasn’t sure how to do it. Worse, I was terrified of losing my insane earnings! So, at 7 p.m. on a weeknight, I called up one of my employees who knew a bit about cryptocurrency. I was hoping he could give me some advice.
Amazingly, not only did he answer the phone, but he also came over! Within 20 minutes, we were both huddled around my computer trying to figure out if my windfall was legitimate. The first indicators showed the massive growth was real. That’s when I started really freaking out. I was rich!
Then we dug deeper. As you probably suspect by now… the money wasn’t actually there. It was just a glitch.
60 Minutes on Cloud Nine
That night was a wild roller coaster ride of emotions. But looking back, I’ve realized I accidentally put myself through an interesting simulation. Most people have wondered, “What would I do if I were suddenly a millionaire?” but for 60 minutes, I got to live it! I found out what my first instincts were — and some of them surprised me. Here are a few things that “Millionaire Randy” considered during those 60 beautiful minutes.
- Calling my parents to let them know they were set for life (and that if someone murdered me, they did it for the money!)
- Calling my wife, Halie, to let her and the kids know they’d never have to work again
- Giving the employee who came over to help me $1 million for this trouble
- Retiring tomorrow and passing ownership of Sklar Technology Partners to my team
The Truth Behind the Hype
Honestly, I’m pretty happy with those instincts. But what I’m the happiest about in retrospect is that when I crashed back down to earth, I was only a little disappointed to lose my “millions.”
Why? Well, it turns out I’m already living what I consider an extraordinary life. I have my freedom, and I have an amazing family, a successful company, and the best team anyone could ask for. (They even come over for crypto emergencies at 7 p.m. — what more do you need?) Getting millions of dollars wouldn’t change those things. Sure, it would make me happy, but I’m happy already.
This Thanksgiving, I’m actually thankful I had that wild crypto experience. It may not have gotten me millions of dollars, but it did help me appreciate what I have. My challenge to you this month is to put yourself in my shoes. If the universe handed you $26 million, what would you do with it? If any of the things that come to mind are totally different from your current life, make a plan for how to achieve them in 2022.
-Randy Sklar
