Despair

Every great businessman has one phase in common with his peers during his ascent to immortality. That is the phase of complete and utter despair during the beginning of his venture. Most first-time investors will experience this feeling early in their carreers and will not have any idea as to what effect this will have on them. Watching the price of a stock spiral downwards, a stock that you had to purchase with money you earned through washing cars or mowing lawns for months will throw you into such a fit of depression that the magnitude would not even be believed if it could be explained to one who has not experienced it. Imagine a cocktail composed of that knot-like weight suspended in your stomach feeling you get when you suspect that your first love is cheating on you, mixed with that dark place you go after getting rejected from your dream school, and topped off with your disillusionment the day you discovered there was no Santa Clause. Once you reach this place, you will begin to question every business and personal decision you have ever made. You will want to sell not only your shares, but every personality trait and value that put you on the road to the financial world. It is easy to say that one should buy for the long-term when one has never owned a stock or seen a 60 percent loss in their portfolio. Investing, like every other important endeavor, has no place for sunshine patriots and summer soldiers. Your ability to cope with despair is directly proportional to your financial success. History has repeatedly shown that epic success comes directly after seemingly-cataclysmic failure. The truly brilliant investors are those that are not only able to handle despair without panic, but also completely embrace it. If you can train yourself to love despair, to be happy and clear in your purpose when every man around you is looking for the nearest razor, then the world is yours for the taking. Not only is this mentality more rare than rubies and diamonds, it is also worth more.

You may now be saying that "this is all lovely rhetoric, but how do I go about building such a stoic and rational mentality?" Napoleon Hill put it best: "Fear can be conquered through forced repetition of courageous acts." How you invest is a direct result of the sum of your values and personality. Cautious men do not invest without heavy research. Careless men do not spend hours analyzing every footnote in a company's annual report. In order to develop courage in the investing world, you must develop it in every other sphere of your life. It is a simple affair. Every person can see potential for courageous acts that better the human experience on a daily basis. This ranges from answering the question posed by the hostile professor to introducing yourself to that romantic interest who always seems a little outside of your league. It does not matter what the act is, provided it requires courage and benefits you without hurting others. Courage and conviction reinforce eachother. You will need both to carry you through the dark times.