What is an investing mindset? I don't really know since I have not deep experience from my past in this area, but I am trying to develop the mental and emotional skillset required to be prepared for any eventuality. Like anything in life, the largest hurdle to overcome is fear and in investing, the core of this is the fer of loss of what is invested. But, I would say that this is driven by a cluster of other fears, including self-esteem and ego. No one likes to lose and we dislike it twice as much as we like winning - loss is not the opposite of gain, there is a psychological asymmetry in it.
Fear is healthy, it keeps us safe in many ways, but we have to be able to distinguish where it is helpful and where it is a hindrance. Overcoming fear doesn't mean being fearless, it just means being able to perform well under the conditions of fear, think clearly, make good decisions, act with clarity and intention.
One of the games that I play and have mentioned before is Psychological Pyromania where I vividly imagine terrible scenarios and slowly trap myself in them. I find it therapeutic to get to a point where there is nowhere left to go, nowhere to run, no more avoidance - just acceptance.
I have been doing this for a while and I believe that it has helped my investment strategy and tempered my emotional response to loss. It has helped overcome the fears that have held me back in the past while giving me the tools to think and act well under pressure. While not for everyone and especially those who might have psychological issues already, I do recommend the less feint of heart to give the process a go, especially those who invest their time, effort and money into uncertainty.
The uncertainty of Steem and crypto is what gives it the immense upside potential and as soon as that uncertainty fades, the early adopter phase moves into the foundation building stage, the cementing of the industry. Then the masses arrive for real as the average person is risk averse and is uncomfortable in uncertainty - but once they have a foundation to build upon, they will by land and make their home.
Steem is a massive digital landscape of prime real estate designed for the average person to call home. You may not see it yet as for the untrained eye, there is just a lot of bare earth, but that is what a land developer is looking for - open space.
Dealing with investing into uncertainty means facing the fear of potential loss and what I have found through my little game is that the best way to mitigate the emotional reactions of loss - is to accept that it already happened. Yes, I imagine that I have already lost everything I own countless times and in multiple ways. I have imagined that keys fail, exchanges crash and the entire Steem network breaks beyond repair.
I have accepted that I have lost everything I own. And I am okay.
The "I am okay" part is vital in the acceptance, no matter the damage that may have been done. I am okay means that it is possible to move on from whatever loss incurred and move again, try again, invest again. As you might imagine, this potentially covers more than the loss of money and so it should, as the systems used to process loss and create fear aren't topic unique, it is the same network, the same brain.
Pre-acceptance doesn't mean that I would be happy to lose it all, it just means that if it did happen, I am prepared to process and move on faster than if I hadn't thought about it prior. The speed of recovery is a skill in itself and why some will outperform others in times of stress as they have the resources available to act instead of sitting on the back foot. There is the investment quote about buying when there is blood in the streets, even if it is your own and this speaks of resource availability.
To buy, you need resources, and I see that beyond the economic, our personal mindset is a resource that we have employed and trained to work for us, or ignored with a high potential it will work against us by succumbing to fear, freezing when we need to move.
We are all prepared for the good times as we have played them out 1000 times in our head. Where the largest amount of potential lays however is in the negatives, the down periods, the bear markets. This is where the grind happens, this is where a developer takes that space and lays the infrastructure for a city - even if it is not yet in the awareness of the future residents.
Are you ready to lose it all?
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
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