It’s 90% Mental
What baseball, golf and investing have in common
Two legends in their respective sports, yet two identical mindsets towards the games they’ve mastered.
“Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical” Yogi Berra
“The game of golf is 90% mental and 10% physical” Jack Nicklaus
The approach to investing is no different. Investing is about an individual behavior and their mental approach to it. 90% of investing is mental. 10% is what you buy.
90% of the challenge is getting yourself to consistently invest. 90% of the challenge is to remain investing through the market crashes and bear markets. 90% of the challenge is to continue buying during both the good times and the bad. The remaining 10% is about what you invest in.
We spend most of our time searching and deciding what to invest in. Too often we don’t buy anything because we’re going to wait until the coast is clear. Until it feels good. We’re going to wait until the pit in our stomach is gone. We’re going to wait until I no longer have the anxiety and fear that the market is going to crash to zero and I’ll lose all my money.
Fear multiplies off of our initial fear. Don’t let fear guide you. This too shall pass, just like every other time in the history of the market. But this time is different, we continue to hear. No it’s not! History tells us it’s not different this time. Don’t believe me?
Every selloff in the history of the stock market has turned out to have been a buying opportunity, as new highs eventually followed. This chart makes this evident. $1,000 invested in 1926 would have grown to now be worth over $14 million at the end of 2021.
Lower prices are actually what you want, unless you need all your money withdrawn out of the market tomorrow. You want to be able to buy at lower prices. This is what everyone “says” they’re waiting for. But when it happens, they don’t buy anything. Fear sets in and it overwhelms their thinking. This company is going to go bankrupt. This company is now worthless. Our mind continues to one up the worst case scenarios we can think of. Fear changes people’s entire mindset.
Looking back at 2022 many years from now you won’t even remember the reason that the market was down. You won’t recall how many percentage points it was down at the low. What you will say to yourself is I wish I had bought more at that time. It’s the same reaction people have when they look back at March of 2020. I know this because I hear it all the time.
Buy and continue to buy. Each month or each pay period. On market selloffs or crashes, buy more if you’re able. Buy stocks. Buy ETFs or mutual funds. Buy bonds. Buy real estate. Just buy assets and keep putting your money to work.
Mastering sports, careers, and challenges in life comes down to your mentality. 90% of what you do to become great at, is mental.
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed Spilled Coffee, please subscribe and/or give a gift subscription for others.
Spilled Coffee grows through word of mouth. Please consider sharing this post with someone who might appreciate it.