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If there’s one thing I have had to learn to deal with as an investor it is frustration.  In fact as part of training others I generally have to introduce opportunities for them to get frustrated so they can learn to overcome it.

It seems there is never a shortage of things that can either go wrong or just not go right.

You find a top shelf deal and nobody wants it.

You’re doing a “simple” subdivide project and some council genius decides to make a project out of you and you spend the next 2 years watching every cent of profit go down the drain.

Or you pour your heart into helping your friends/kids/clients (fill in your blank), only to see them make choices that they will spend may years recovering from.

So 2 thoughts for today:

1. Understand that frustration comes with investing. Until you conquer it, it WILL conquer you. Frustration will make you buy bad deals, agree to things you shouldn’t and worst of all, give up entirely
2. Frustration can be overcome,  or at the very least managed well.

When I was direct selling in my early twenties I knew that every door I knocked on was worth around $500 to me. The fact was that on average I sold to 1 in 20 people I met and the average sale was 10 grand.  But I had to knock on the 19 doors to get the twenty.

I dealt with my frustration by reframing the slamming door as a cheque for $500!

And the second thing I realised was that the only thing I could really influence, the only thing I had real control over, was about a 3 foot square starting at the centre of my body.  I couldn’t control someone reaction to me or my product or my advice.  What I could do, and continue to do today is to be involved with products/ideas that I genuinely believe in and I believe are good value.  I also make sure my own principles are not violated because if I don’t believe in something I don’t want to be associated with it.

This helps me not take it personally when people ignore my advice reject my product or whatever.

I am keeping the power of choice with them and whether they work with me or not is not a reflection of myself worth or value, simply another person I do not control making a choice for them.

I don’t mean this to sound overly esoteric or impractically philosophical, however if we can view our investing businesses through a more reflective world view, we will find the frustrations of life easier put into perspective and easier to overcome.

I feel I need to sign off by saying:

“So glasshopper, when Dove of peace fly away, chicken of confusion velly close at hand”

Stay Inspired and Stay safe ~ Dean Letfus

The Ethical Investor

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