Many things that stock market teaches us is useful in life in general and one of them is becoming fearless.
My moment of victory over fear
As a kid, like any other I was afraid of the dark and ghosts. I still have memories of a huge brick wall from an old warehouse that was covered with creeper plants and it used to scare the hell out of me in dark, especially on windy days with the swinging creepers. It was right on my way to the entrance of my building from the community gate and hence unavoidable. I used to just close my eyes and run as fast as possible to get past that f****** wall and it was a constant source of tension in my life.
Then one day one of my friends invited me for a horror movie outing Child's Play (1988) I feared the worse but as kids you are also insanely curious about these things. I remember from the very first scene of the movie where a convict escaping from police transfers his soul into a doll, I was so fascinated by the whole thing that I became a lifelong fan of horror movies and have enjoyed almost every movie in the horror category that was ever made .. till date I have a childish fascination with horror movies and my fear of anything has just vanished :)
So you see sometimes getting past your fears can lead to great things in life.
What do you fear in stock markets?
The most dominant fear in stock market is losing money. While I believe we should not be too attached to money in general, having phobias like these will never let us be successful in stock market. We tend to take irrational decisions to avoid losing money like not committing large sums of money even if we have found a great investment idea. If an investment idea is great and has a reasonable chance of giving Rs 20 return for Rs 100 invested, it will surely give you Rs 20,000 return for Rs 100,000 invested but fear comes in the way of allowing us to commit a large amount to our conviction and we end up losing the opportunity that is rare or we make a meager profit out of something that could have given us a spectacular return. So all the hard work in identifying a great investment idea is practically wasted.
Well I faced it first hand in 2008 when Satyam scandal hit the stock markets. I was heavily invested in Satyam because the stock was available dirt cheap and there was constant assurance from the management and political circles that nothing is wrong with the company. But finally Raju confessed with his famous quote on riding the tiger and not knowing how to get off it. Well he got off but left my neck in the grip of the bloody tiger. I lost a great deal, I lost my money, I lost some money entrusted to me by some relatives and I lost some money borrowed on loan. I spent next two years of my life just paying of these debts using every rupee of my monthly salary and obviously developed an acute fear of committing large sums of money to anything be it real estate or investments or equity.
I don't remember well what exactly brought me back to the stock market but I think it was the shame and insult of loss that I suffered during that time. My only hope of redemption was to get it back from the same place I lost it all. I am happy to say that I deal with large amounts of money today with an ice-cold attitude, without fear and it is today one of my greatest strengths in stock market. I have recently bought an apartment for myself in Bangalore too committing to one of my largest investments and it makes me very happy.
What do you fear in life?
Well a life without fear is a free life. It gives you a different kind of happiness and pride about yourself. If you fear anything in life, you will always be restricted and you will never realize your full potential. Risks are constant in life, they will never go away. It is upto us and only upto us to learn how to tackle and win over it. Don't go down frozen with fear, give it a try, give it a fight. If you fear unwanted attention and physical harm get physically strong, practice combat till you are confident of winning your battles. If you are afraid of exams and interviews just prepare and go for the toughest one's till you have conquered one. If you are afraid of work spend as much time as possible in your workplace, do your things slowly but win over the faster one's by spending more time on it. If you are afraid of your boss, just catch him and keep talking to him until he starts running in the opposite direction from you. If you are afraid of traveling alone then book a ticket to a far off place and just get out. I guess you get the point. Face your fears head on and you will be amazed at yourself!
Happy fearless life to all of you !
My moment of victory over fear
As a kid, like any other I was afraid of the dark and ghosts. I still have memories of a huge brick wall from an old warehouse that was covered with creeper plants and it used to scare the hell out of me in dark, especially on windy days with the swinging creepers. It was right on my way to the entrance of my building from the community gate and hence unavoidable. I used to just close my eyes and run as fast as possible to get past that f****** wall and it was a constant source of tension in my life.
Then one day one of my friends invited me for a horror movie outing Child's Play (1988) I feared the worse but as kids you are also insanely curious about these things. I remember from the very first scene of the movie where a convict escaping from police transfers his soul into a doll, I was so fascinated by the whole thing that I became a lifelong fan of horror movies and have enjoyed almost every movie in the horror category that was ever made .. till date I have a childish fascination with horror movies and my fear of anything has just vanished :)
What do you fear in stock markets?
The most dominant fear in stock market is losing money. While I believe we should not be too attached to money in general, having phobias like these will never let us be successful in stock market. We tend to take irrational decisions to avoid losing money like not committing large sums of money even if we have found a great investment idea. If an investment idea is great and has a reasonable chance of giving Rs 20 return for Rs 100 invested, it will surely give you Rs 20,000 return for Rs 100,000 invested but fear comes in the way of allowing us to commit a large amount to our conviction and we end up losing the opportunity that is rare or we make a meager profit out of something that could have given us a spectacular return. So all the hard work in identifying a great investment idea is practically wasted.
Well I faced it first hand in 2008 when Satyam scandal hit the stock markets. I was heavily invested in Satyam because the stock was available dirt cheap and there was constant assurance from the management and political circles that nothing is wrong with the company. But finally Raju confessed with his famous quote on riding the tiger and not knowing how to get off it. Well he got off but left my neck in the grip of the bloody tiger. I lost a great deal, I lost my money, I lost some money entrusted to me by some relatives and I lost some money borrowed on loan. I spent next two years of my life just paying of these debts using every rupee of my monthly salary and obviously developed an acute fear of committing large sums of money to anything be it real estate or investments or equity.
I don't remember well what exactly brought me back to the stock market but I think it was the shame and insult of loss that I suffered during that time. My only hope of redemption was to get it back from the same place I lost it all. I am happy to say that I deal with large amounts of money today with an ice-cold attitude, without fear and it is today one of my greatest strengths in stock market. I have recently bought an apartment for myself in Bangalore too committing to one of my largest investments and it makes me very happy.
What do you fear in life?
Well a life without fear is a free life. It gives you a different kind of happiness and pride about yourself. If you fear anything in life, you will always be restricted and you will never realize your full potential. Risks are constant in life, they will never go away. It is upto us and only upto us to learn how to tackle and win over it. Don't go down frozen with fear, give it a try, give it a fight. If you fear unwanted attention and physical harm get physically strong, practice combat till you are confident of winning your battles. If you are afraid of exams and interviews just prepare and go for the toughest one's till you have conquered one. If you are afraid of work spend as much time as possible in your workplace, do your things slowly but win over the faster one's by spending more time on it. If you are afraid of your boss, just catch him and keep talking to him until he starts running in the opposite direction from you. If you are afraid of traveling alone then book a ticket to a far off place and just get out. I guess you get the point. Face your fears head on and you will be amazed at yourself!
Happy fearless life to all of you !
No like button! But I like :).
ReplyDeleteThanks Usha !
DeleteNicely Written
ReplyDelete