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Sunday, November 26, 2017

Two things that seem to hurt me



Two things that seem to hurt me

Two things that seem to hurt me in my investing are impatience and getting so wrapped up in a certain investing idea that I fail to consider other alternative courses of action. I recently ran across a good definition of patience…

‘Patience is a highly sought virtue. To be patient is to wait, to be able to mentally insert a wedge between a linked stimulus and response and so place a stop on repetitive, habitual, often destructive behaviour. Patience gives you a moment to access, step back from the brink, and bring yourself back into balance.

The idea is that we restrain our will to stop an impulsive or destructive action (often based on short term relief from tension or instant gratification) and in doing so, turn our energy in a constructive or creative direction – to use our will in a directly beneficial way. Patience, then, is the mental reflection of the restraint of will.’


Dr. Gerald Epstein

That one line... ‘The idea is that we restrain our will to stop an impulsive or destructive action (often based on short term relief from tension or instant gratification)’, really resonates with my own experience of investing and probably my life as well.