Confront the Brutal Facts
(Yet Never Lose Faith)
“This is a very bad situation.
We may not survive this.
But we will prevail in the end.
And I will never give up.”
Macfeigh Atunga
CEO & Chief Investment Strategist – The MarketWorth Group
November 23, 2025
I have looked at a $1.8 billion mark-to-market loss and said those exact words out loud to partners.
I have sat in silence as investors screamed, threatened lawsuits, and pulled redemptions.
And every single time, we came out the other side bigger, stronger, and richer than before.
This is not theory.
This is the Stockdale Paradox in live combat.
If you want to survive the next real crash — and make a fortune from it — burn this into your DNA right now.
The Day I First Met Admiral Stockdale’s Truth
March 2020.
Markets were in freefall.
Our book was down 68% in 18 trading days.
Phones were melting.
I gathered the entire firm on Zoom and said:
“We are in the worst drawdown of our lives.
Some of our risk models failed.
Liquidity is disappearing.
But make no mistake — we WILL be one of the greatest wealth compounds of the next decade.
I do not know how long this will last, but I know how it ends.”
That was not motivation.
That was the Stockdale Paradox in its purest form.
We confronted every brutal fact.
We never lost faith.
By December 2021, that same book was up over 1,100% from the bottom.
The Two Types Who Die in Every Crisis
Jim Collins asked Admiral Jim Stockdale:
“Who didn’t make it out of the Vietnam POW camps?”
Stockdale’s answer:
“The optimists.
They were the ones who said ‘We’ll be out by Christmas.’
Christmas would come and go.
Then Easter. Then Thanksgiving.
And their hearts would break.
And they died of broken hearts.”
In markets, the two killers are identical:
1. The Delusional Optimists
“It’s just a dip.”
“The Fed will save us.”
They deny reality until margin calls wipe them out.
2. The Faithless Realists
They see the brutal facts and conclude, “It’s over.”
They capitulate at the exact bottom.
The survivors do both:
Face every ugly truth.
And refuse to accept any outcome except victory.
How I Run the Stockdale Paradox Every Single Day
Every Monday at 6:00 a.m. we have the “Red Folder Meeting.”
Only one rule: nothing is off-limits.
Every position, every mistake, every risk is laid bare.
No sugarcoating. No politics.
Then we end every meeting with the same sentence:
“We are going to win bigger than ever.”
That combination is lethal.
Real Examples From My Own War Journal
2022 — The Crypto Winter Massacre
We were down 81% at one point.
I told the team: “Some of our DeFi bets were reckless. Liquidity is gone. We may face more forced selling. But crypto will be the greatest wealth transfer of our lifetime — and we will own the other side.”
We raised fresh capital at the bottom, bought the dip, and turned that 81% drawdown into a 14x return in 28 months.
2018 — The Quant Meltdown
Volmageddon. Our systematic book bled for 11 straight days.
I told investors: “Our models broke. We got arrogant. But risk premia will return — and we will be ready.”
We rebuilt the entire system from scratch.
The new version has been the core engine of our best years ever.
Investment vs Speculation Through the Stockdale Lens
Speculators either deny the brutal facts or lose faith.
Investors confront reality and double down with conviction.
I wrote the definitive breakdown here:
Investment vs Speculation: Why Most Will Capitulate and Die Broke
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you know when faith becomes delusion?
When you stop confronting new brutal facts. Faith without constant reality-checking turns into religion — and religions go broke in bear markets.
What if the brutal facts say the thesis is dead?
Kill it instantly. The Paradox applies to the ultimate mission (building legendary wealth), not to any single position.
Can you teach this mindset?
You can’t teach it. You can only survive enough pain while applying it — and it becomes permanent.
Your Assignment Right Now
Open your portfolio.
Find the position that’s hurting.
Write down every brutal fact about it.
Then write one sentence:
“This pain is temporary. My eventual victory is inevitable.”
Tape it to your monitor.
If this just rewired your nervous system, lock in:
1. Follow The MarketWorth Group on Facebook
2. Follow Macfeigh Atunga – daily fire from the trenches
3. Subscribe The MarketWorth Group YouTube – weekly uncensored truth
To your unbreakable future,
Macfeigh Atunga
CEO – The MarketWorth Group
Still standing. Always prevailing.
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