If you are defeated once and tell yourself you will overcome, but carry on as before, know in the end you’ll be so ill and weakened that eventually you won’t even notice your mistake and will begin to rationalize your behavior.” —EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.18.31
It’s been said that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. Yet that’s exactly what most people do. They tell themselves: Today, I won’t watch the news. Today, I won’t freak out about the stock market. Now, I will stay off social media. Today, I won’t invest with my emotions. But they don’t actually do anything differently. They try the same routine and hope it will work this time.
It’s like saying, I just know the next spin of the wheel will land on black, let it ride….
Unfortunately, hope is not a real strategy. It’s the opposite of a strategy. A strategy is something we do. It’s an action we take. Hope is the act of actually DOING nothing and thinking something will happen. Cause & effect…
That’s not to say that sometimes things actually do work out from no action. That’s called LUCK. We all need some luck in life but you can’t plan for luck…I believe you have to take enough actions in life to eventually get lucky.
You don’t win the lottery without buying the ticket. You don’t get the promotion without doing good work. Your investments don’t go up in value, if you don’t work hard, save money, then invest. All require some action by us.
The opposite of all this is failure.. Failure is a part of life we have little choice over. Learning from failure, on the other hand, is optional. We have to choose to learn. We must consciously opt to do things differently—to tweak and change until we actually get the result we’re after. But that’s hard. Sticking with the same unsuccessful pattern is easy. It doesn’t take any thought or any additional effort, which is probably why most people do it.
This connects to investing and financial planning directly. I speak to many people who say “next month I will start saving.” Or, I know I should not chase returns but….. how did we do?
My job as a financial planner is to help change their behavior. It’s not an easy task because I am human too. So, that’s why use planning. We don’t invest with our emotions, we don’t let our goals slip away. We let the plan guide us and keep us in line.
So let me ask you, are you insane? If so, then you need to talk to me today and we need to show you another way. Contact me here!
-Jared
inspired by the Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
