It's Easy To Focus on the Losses
Yesterday was a strange day.
I could not shake the anxiety I was feeling. My heart was racing the entire day. I was full of fear and focusing on things I couldnāt control.
Looking back on it, most of my fears were finance related. My investments are getting crushed (as are everyoneās right now) and for some reason, I couldnāt stop thinking about all the failures and mistakes Iāve made over the last couple years.
Money plays tricks on people, because no matter what, there is always a different perspective you can have. You can look at the same scenario and draw many different conclusions from it.
One of the most helpful books Iāve ever read on the subject is The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. In the book, the author talks about some of his experiences in finance and gives lessons on how we can all train our minds to better be able to moderate our thoughts and bad decisions around money.
One of the chapters is about āthe fee to play the game.ā Housel argues (or rather suggests) to look at your losses in business or investing as fees. In order to play the game, youāre going to need to pay a service fee. Thereās no way around it. Whatās important is that you focus on the big picture and not get hung up on the losses. The losses are inevitable. They are simply the ācost of entry.ā
Well yesterday, I was very hung up on the losses.
My mind kept spinning in circles about mistakes Iāve made and uncertainties in my life. For instance ā¦
I spent $25,000 building up Agency Clarity. I was so certain this was going to work and maybe if I kept going, it would have. But I only sold about $3300 worth of my course and so I pulled the plug on it. I hope to be able to give this more attention one day.
I still havenāt been able to get YourBoulder growing in the way I know it can. This makes me feel stupid because my friend Nathan launched a local newsletter called FromBoise and heās already doing great with it. I know better than to compare myself to other people.
I donāt know why I am rambling about these insecurities today. I feel much better this morning and I never want my blog to be a place for me to complain and whine.
I feel guilty anytime I am feeling bad because my life is so full of love and joy. Who am I to complain or feel bad about anything?
Because on the flip side, letās look at the reality.
Stodzy is going better than ever. Our clients are seeing such amazing results and our team is to the point where we are working ahead of schedule. That never happens.
Copyblogger is hitting a beautiful stride. We are closing deals for Digital Commerce and the Digital Copywriter Academy is growing nicely. The podcast is growing and itās amazing. What an accomplishment!
My personal brand is exploding. Iām having so much fun writing my weekly article and my newsletter. Iām finally doing the work that Iāve always wanted to do.
Objectively, I know that my life is amazing and that I am incredibly blessed. Iām healthy, my family is healthy, and Iām having a great time. But our minds are hard wired for loss aversion.
I need to continue to focus on where I want to go and continue training my brain not to focus on the losses.
Itās easier said than done, isnāt it?
