If investing were a sport, it’d be a competitive, endurance sport like cycling for miles or running a marathon. I realize this sounds trite, but my point is to emphasize the “conditioning” and long duration of time required for successful investing.
A runner conditions herself for a marathon by gradually running longer distances before running the painstaking 26.2 miles marathon event. A marathon runner must be intensely committed to the marathon. Understandably, few are willing and able to do this.
A successful investor conditions herself for long-term investing with the willpower and patience of a marathon runner. She gradually approaches working her way up, committing time and energy to learning and due diligence and investing her hard earned cash. Willpower suggests having the discipline to set aside money regularly for investing. Some have to take on a second job to accumulate cash to invest, Otherwise, they must budget all income for daily necessities, living paycheck to paycheck.
What is the mental process to discipline yourself to consistently set cash aside for investing? I think my high school track coach knew the answer. He would have us run around the track. For how long, no runner knew. After several laps we’d pass by the coach to ask, “How many more laps?” He’d always give the same reply, “One more.” If we really knew how many more laps we had to run we’d probably get discouraged. It didn’t take us long before we quit asking this. Instead, when someone ran by the coach you’d hear him say, “One more!”
Tell yourself, “ONE MORE” each time you set cash aside and not worry about how much further you need to go. One more and the next time one more….
March 18, 2009 at 5:56 am |
[...] Allow compound annual growth rate to work in your favor. Ignore the fast track to riches. For more on financial endurance review A sport of endurance. [...]