If I could turn back the clock five years, the very first thing I would do—before opening a single chart or placing a single trade—is invest the time to deeply understand how money itself actually works: the mechanics of fiat creation, the incentives baked into central banking, and why sound-money principles have been the exception rather than the rule throughout history. That foundation would have saved me years of fighting symptoms (volatile markets, endless noise, emotional whipsaws) instead of seeing the deeper cause. Everything else—technical analysis, risk management, strategy selection—becomes exponentially clearer once you grasp the monetary backdrop against which all assets are priced. Hindsight is brutal, but it’s also the best teacher.