If there is only 3 tips I could give you to prepare yourself for the next cycle in the markets, it would be these:
1. Have a main occupation in life that brings you long term purpose, all year long - crypto hunting, as you now see is not always fun. Actually, most of the time of the year it's depressive, and will lead you to do the wrong moves, just because it is all you can think about. Remember what Maslow said: "it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."
Having a main irl occupation that i love helps me to zoom out, always have something to do daily, and never over commit in crypto. Balancing these 2 things has been very fruitful to me in all aspects: self-esteem, risk management, mental health and discipline!
2. The markets will go up, and they will crash again and again. The next time when they crash (like now), make sure that you are the guy who has stacked a lot of stables to actually be able to print heavy!
Let's be honest - the most money ever is made when buying absolute ridiculous supports that we see now all across the markets, not when things start pumping. I know many now would ape but don't have stables on the side, so make sure you never find yourself in this situation again.
What you need for this, is just a clear risk management strategy. In simple ways, how I explain it to people is like this: Whenever you think about selling a coin or many coins, and you fear that its too early, ask yourself the following question: "Would i be OKAY with the profits I did if the markets started crashing from tomorrow?"
If not, its a huge signal that you NEED TO SCALE out! You need to take profits!
Keep this question in mind, really simple, really effective!
3. Surround yourself with good, skilled, smart and genuine chads. They need to have all these criteria. A very smart group of guys doesn't serve you any good if they dont give a shit about you and are not honest to you about how they play the game.
I've seen many cases of "friends" lying to each other about realistic expectations on coins, which ultimately resulted on "friends" using each other as exit liquidity. Fuck that!
Surround yourself with good people, pick good KOLs and hunters to follow, learn from them and dont blindly follow them. NEVER EVER blindly follow KOLs. If you are not getting value that is improving your onchain skills, that KOL is not worth a blind follow.
Again, maybe some will say i'm too harsh. But I am just sharing with you what has worked for me, and what I wish I knew as soon as I started with this game.
It's very simple: you either learn, improve and beat the game or you will always remain the guy who gives his salary to someone who did learn and improve!