If you’re scared of getting thrown off a cliff, try investing in bear markets

Fox’s new show, “Special Forces: The Ultimate Test,” is a reality show about people who have no business trying to go through real-life military training… going through real-life military training.

Another episode aired last night, which means that all of America got to watch me get thoroughly clobbered on national television another time.

Long before Special Forces, or even my illustrious 11-day career as White House press secretary, I’ve been taking my lumps. I’ve been working in finance since I started at Goldman Sachs in 1989 and have been through eight bear markets over the past three decades.

We’re in one again now. We’re coming out of one of the worst years in recent memory for the markets, both public and private. Crypto companies and cryptocurrencies—which my asset management firm, SkyBridge Capital, has made large investments in over the past two years, especially on behalf of retail investors—have been no exception.

I wanted to share five lessons with you that I’ve had to learn—often by trial and error—that have carried me through years of investing and, more recently, days of televised military bootcamp.

1. Most of life is just showing up.

I bet I know what everyone on that Special Forces production team was thinking when I arrived. “A 58-year-old guy from Wall Street? I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.”

I also bet they were a little surprised at how I turned out. I’ve always been insanely competitive. I’ve never backed down. Every challenge gets my best shot.

In times like these, it’s hard to keep bringing your best to your family, friends, coworkers, clients, teachers, professors and classmates.

But if you focus on showing up, not giving up, then when we’re done riding this one out, trust me: you’ll be on higher ground.

2. Compete with only yourself.

You know who else I’m with on Special Forces? Hall of Fame MLB catcher Mike Piazza. Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion Carli Lloyd. NFL veteran and Super Bowl champion Danny Amendola. Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin. NBA champion and All-Star Dwight Howard.

Come on. I’m about twice as old and half as tall as most of these people. How am I supposed to compete with them?

But I couldn’t be worried about competing with them. I’m worried about competing with myself.

“That investor is getting a bigger slice of the pie.” “That manager has better-looking numbers.” “That person is getting the job, promotion, recognition that I deserve.” ?

All that thinking just breeds envy. Don’t think about them. Think about yourself. Work on yourself, little by little, every single day, and you’ll push yourself further than you ever thought possible.

3. Get along with people.

Negative performance often brings out negative people. When things get tough, it can be easy to point the finger, gossip, and bring other people down in an attempt to lift ourselves up.

But when we’re at our best, we don’t judge others even when they’re at their worst. We don’t judge human frailty.

That’s a lesson I learned again in the White House. You can’t burn bridges. That’s turned out to be true in politics, in finance, and in military training exercises.

4. Be accountable.

SkyBridge has been in a lot of headlines recently because we worked closely with Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX. I got it wrong. I can’t blame it on anyone else but myself.

I’ve been humbled by life and by the markets. I know I’m not always right. Anyone who tells you they know what’s going to happen, or pretends to have known all along, is talking out of their you-know-what.

We all make mistakes. But we don’t all own up to them. And if you do, then you’re worthy of people’s trust and investment.

5. It’s over when you say it’s over.

There’s a popular phrase among crypto investors: HODL. “Hold on for dear life.” I like it a lot as a statement about unemotional investing and high-pain tolerance. But I don’t like it as an investing approach that ignores fundamentals and blindly hopes for the best.

You have to be self-aware enough to quit when you need to quit. You have to know when to exit a position because the long-term growth isn’t there anymore or cancel a conference like Crypto Bahamas because your co-sponsor wasn’t the “good actor” he said he was.

I respect my fellow contestants for pushing themselves all the way to their very limits. Not stopping short. But knowing when to stop.

I’m not telling you what ends up happening in Special Forces, of course. You’ll have to watch the show to find out.

But I can tell you that you’ve see me learning and living out these five principles during my time on the show, just as I’ve been learning and living them out for my whole life.

I can also tell you that, after going through Special Forces, I sleep better at night knowing what kind of people our servicemembers are and the unimaginable sacrifices they make on our behalf.

For now, though, I’ll stick with investing.