On... "I Just Kept Kicking!"
When asked how he managed to survive and swim all the way to shore, he replied "I just kept kicking!".
Many years back (circa 2001), I was involved in a near death experience. We were having a dragon boat training session in the sea, when the weather picked up unexpectedly. The waves started getting stronger and we quickly headed for shore. Unfortunately not fast enough, as a strong wave capsized our boat. Fortunately, we were not too far from shore and I was a relatively good swimmer. However, there was friend in the team who could not swim but with a life jacket and a lot of luck, he survived!
How did he managed to do it? He just held on tight and kept kicking. Of course, he was lucky that he was moving in the right direction (he could have moved further out to sea instead). What has this got to do with investing? Basically, it is about trusting and following your process.
Investing/trading is a difficult task because you very seldom or almost never get a feedback on your process. You see your results many months or years down the road. Even Warren Buffet had many years where he under performed the market. But he continued to follow his process (case in point is during the dotcom bubble in 2000, where he was considered obsolete for not chasing tech stocks).
I continue to believe that being disciplined and to follow my strategy consistently to be one of the key ingredients to be a successful investor. Just like my friend who braved the storm and survived, I have to just keep kicking regardless of short term results.
Of course, the process has to be right (and how do we know the process is right when /if the results show otherwise?), but no one ever said investing was easy. "It's not supposed to be easy. Anyone who finds it easy is stupid" - Charlie Munger.
Many years back (circa 2001), I was involved in a near death experience. We were having a dragon boat training session in the sea, when the weather picked up unexpectedly. The waves started getting stronger and we quickly headed for shore. Unfortunately not fast enough, as a strong wave capsized our boat. Fortunately, we were not too far from shore and I was a relatively good swimmer. However, there was friend in the team who could not swim but with a life jacket and a lot of luck, he survived!
How did he managed to do it? He just held on tight and kept kicking. Of course, he was lucky that he was moving in the right direction (he could have moved further out to sea instead). What has this got to do with investing? Basically, it is about trusting and following your process.
Investing/trading is a difficult task because you very seldom or almost never get a feedback on your process. You see your results many months or years down the road. Even Warren Buffet had many years where he under performed the market. But he continued to follow his process (case in point is during the dotcom bubble in 2000, where he was considered obsolete for not chasing tech stocks).
I continue to believe that being disciplined and to follow my strategy consistently to be one of the key ingredients to be a successful investor. Just like my friend who braved the storm and survived, I have to just keep kicking regardless of short term results.
Of course, the process has to be right (and how do we know the process is right when /if the results show otherwise?), but no one ever said investing was easy. "It's not supposed to be easy. Anyone who finds it easy is stupid" - Charlie Munger.
"Investing is not easy, unless you are Dave Portnoy" - Buddha
ReplyDeleteStocks only go up. 😂
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