🧠 3 Simple Ways To Combat Pessimism
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Friends,
Inflation. War. Supply chain. Interest rates. Bear market. Hurricanes. COVID.
With so many macro concerns, it’s not hard to understand why pessimism is running rampant today.
Dealing with a constant drumbeat of pessimism isn’t easy. How can investors keep their heads on straight when the world appears to be crumbling?
Here are 3 suggestions that really help us:
1) Community: A supportive community is an invaluable resource worth its weight in gold. Nothing lifts my mood more than communication with a tribe of like-minded optimists. The internet makes this easier than ever. Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, The Motley Fool, Meetup — all are wonderful resources for connecting with people that can lift your mood when things look bleak.
2) Quit the news: I haven’t voluntarily watched the news in over a decade. This has done wonders for my mental health. Quitting the news isn’t easy, but voluntarily watching the news is like inviting Debbie Downer into your home and asking her to talk non-stop. If the news is truly important, it will find you.
3) Study history: Do you think we are living in “the worst time ever?” It’s not even close! Study history to see what life was like during the U.S. civil war, WWI, the Cuban Missile crisis, WWII, the Great Depression, the Bubonic Plague, or the Spanish flu. We’ve had it much worse in the past. And yet, we’ve always found a way through.
2022 has been a tough year on so many fronts. Our portfolios have been walloped. Inflation is at a 40 year high. War tensions are escalating. The headlines have been terrible. Things might get worse — perhaps even much worse — before they start to get better, too.
Yet, the truth is that there are always reasons to be pessimistic. We’re just more aware of them today than ever before. History shows that human ingenuity always triumphs in the long-term, even when the short-term looks precarious.
Staying optimistic isn’t easy. Investing in the face of mass pessimism isn’t easy. Handling negative news headlines day after day for months on end isn’t easy.
We choose to do remain optimistic and invest anyway. We hope that you will, too.
– Brian Feroldi, Brian Stoffel, & Brian Withers
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One Simple Graphic:
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One Piece of Timeless Content:
Morgan Housel has written a tremendous amount of high-quality content over the last 15 years. He recently stated that an article from 2020 called The Three Sides Of Risk is one of the best things he’s ever written. We agree.
One Twitter Thread:
Your career doesn’t come with an instruction manual. That’s why I found this thread by Romeen Sheth to be so useful. It comes with 20 pieces of advice for building a successful career. I wish I could have read this 20 years ago.
February 7th 2022
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One Resource:
Bad news is easy to find, but what about good news? Yes, it exists. You just have to search for it. One website that can help is reasons to be cheerful. This site finds and shares uplifting news stories from around the world. If you need a mental pick me up, read a random story. You’ll probably smile.
One Quote:
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More From Us:
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