To invest well, you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Owning shares in real companies means that you'll have to endure times when they do badly, and you feel anxious and unsettled.

In my time as an investor in direct equities, I've had to endure a few wipeouts. I was dimly aware of Black Monday in 1987. Soon after I entered the industry, I was shocked by the Asian debt crisis of 1997. The dot-com meltdown in 2001 was a calamity for my online share-trading startup. The subprime crisis of 2008-09 was truly horrible and seemed to last forever. The sharp sell-off at the onset of the Covid crisis was a gut punch.

More recently, we lived through the market slump that accompanied a spike in global inflation in 2022. The share prices of Nvidia, Google, Microsoft and Meta all halved that year, or worse. Our model portfolio lost 35.8% in 2022.

We did not sell out then, despite lots of advice that things were only going to get worse. We came into the office every day, gritting our teeth. We held the line. We don't get scared. This is how we win.

More and more reports suggest that getting a good night's sleep is crucial for your health. Discovery Health just announced a venture to dig into their own data to see the correlations between good sleeping behaviour, health, wealth and positive life decisions.

According to Hylton Kallner, the Discovery Bank CEO, they have already found a direct correlation between good sleep and a lower likelihood of diabetes, hospitalisation, mortality rates and car accidents. Discovery already has sleep tracking data from over 100 000 members who wear smartwatches at night, covering 47 million nights.

Now they plan to incentivise their members to get good rest, with rewards. I wonder if they will give parents of young children some leeway? Because babies and a good night's sleep do not go hand in hand.

Having a big corporate know your sleeping patterns does feel a little bit creepy. Or is that just me?

There was a period where young Joburgers saw sleeping more than 6 hours a night as weakness. If you wanted to get ahead in life, you needed to work hard, play hard and sleep 6 hours (or less) a night. I tried that for about 2 months and quickly learnt that to be effective, I need between 7 and 8 hours of sleep a night.

As Byron mentioned above, a lack of sleep doesn't only negatively impact your efficiency at work, but also comes with some serious health risks. Here are the numbers from Discovery's first-ever Sleep Summit. People who sleep less than six hours a night, compared to those getting seven to eight hours:

- 65% higher likelihood of diabetes
- 33% higher likelihood of heart disease
- 20% higher likelihood of moderate to severe depression symptoms
- 22% higher mortality risk

According to Discovery, "If you have one night of poor sleep it affects your risk of having a car accident the following day. If you have bad sleep for a week, it increases your hunger hormones - that means your risk of gaining weight (increases). After a month, it increases your blood glucose levels, your blood pressure, anxiety and depression. After six months, you have impaired immunity, memory, focus and increased hypertension, and after two years, you have an increased risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease."

I personally hate sleeping with my smartwatch because it catches on my face and pillow during the night. The good news is that Discovery has partnered with Oura, a provider of smart rings. I'm looking forward to tracking my sleep data.

Tesla unveiled lower-cost versions of its Model Y and Model 3 yesterday, priced at $39 990 and $36 990 in North America, aiming to offset the loss of the $7 500 US electric vehicle tax credit and fend off intensifying global competition.

These new Tesla models come without luxury features but still offer over 515 kilometres of range, making them Tesla's most affordable EVs yet.

While Elon Musk continues to promote Tesla's future in AI, self-driving tech, and robotics, the company still remains heavily reliant on its car business - one that's been under pressure from falling sales, fading subsidies, and a consumer backlash against Musk's politics.

Tesla shares fell 4.5% after the announcement, as investors weighed the short-term hit of slimmer margins against long-term potential in automation.

I think Tesla still wants to recapture more market share in EVs by offering a wide variety of models, from affordable to high-end luxury. If executed successfully, the EV King will reign supreme once again.

Ben Giles is a human stain remover. He's an extreme cleaner, from murder scenes to whale blubber - 25 years in an interesting line of work.

Deloitte will refund the Australian government for AI hallucination-filled report. High-priced slop is unacceptable - Consultants, take heed.

Asian markets traded mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan edging higher and New Zealand in the green, while Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Indonesia slipped. James Hardie Industries, an American-Irish building materials company that is cross-listed on the Australian and New York Stock Exchanges, jumped over 9% after second-quarter sales beat estimates.

In local company news, Afrimat expects earnings to rise up to 95% on stronger iron ore sales, improved quarry operations, and record fly ash volumes.

US equity futures are narrowly in the green pre-market. The Rand is trading at R17.24 to the US Dollar.

Have a happy Wednesday. Keep moving.