Our Mindset – The Secret of Successful Investing!

IMPORTANT: Please read the disclaimer before continuing.

Financial knowledge is abundant.

Go to the library and borrow some books.

Identify the best investors and request them for a mentorship.

Open a brokerage account. In Singapore, the cheapest is FSMOne.

Gain some experience and improve over time.

It’s all there. Free.

If you wish to learn faster and be in an investing community, there are paid investment classes.

Is it that simple? 

I wish it was.

Many people give up very quickly. I sought to discover why certain people succeed faster or they feel more determined?

Then… I watched this Youtube video. Who does the elephant represent?

The elephant in the video could break the chains because of his conditioning since young, he did not even try! He chose to let the chains take control over his movements.

Our Mindset

Growing up, I did not have much confidence in my ability to lead teams or speak in front of audiences. But why?

I had bad experiences leading my group members. I had let them down.

I spoke in front of audiences and the responses were extremely cold.

Did you have any memories or experiences where you embarrassed yourself and that took a serious hit in your confidence?

Then… you took this experience into many areas of your life.

I was not good in recognising chinese words but I projected that weakness into speaking mandarin. I told myself a lie that I was bad at speaking mandarin.

We used to believe in ourselves until we tried so many times that we gave up in ourselves and we stopped trying. It was a decision we made, subconsciously.

Just like the baby elephant, a negative experience caused us to stay within our comfort zone.

We would not learn anything new which requires us looking “stupid” and we rather stay in our comfort zone.

Speaking to many people around me, many of us behaved in the same way. In our social lives and in our careers.

What we suck at, we avoid.

What is scary, we avoid.

As new investors, it is inevitable that we may suffer some losses in the stock market. But given proper guidance, it is possible to succeed. Unfortunately, before succeeding, most investors would have given up on the first try.

We need to change that.

Fixed Mindset versus Growth Mindset

Book author, Carol Dweck, famously explored this comparison between growth mindset versus fixed mindset.

source: Carol Dweck

Fixed Mindset:

“Believing that your qualities are carved in stone — the fixed mindset — creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you only have a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character — well, then you’d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn’t do to look deficient in these most basic characteristics.”

Growth mindset:

“In this mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way — in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments — everyone can change and grow through application and exercise.”

Sharing my story:

I once hated speaking in front of audiences.

I once feared investing.

I once feared learning unfamiliar concepts.

I could either choose to accept that as my life or change how I feel about my fears. I chose to embrace it and it was extremely familiar but it led me to know I was feeding a lot of negative thoughts in my mind.

I visualised many bad things which did not happen at all! I became a victim of my own thoughts. It was extremely demoralising.

After reading Carol Dweck’s book, I promised to be kind to myself.

My thoughts form the person I am today and in the future.

I gave myself the permission to try new things and even if I fail, I’d learn how to become better.

If you don’t try, you never even give yourself a chance to succeed.

If you try, you learn so you can become better.

Joining an investing community creates a supportive environment for you to succeed faster.

F.E.A.R

Fear means False Evidence Appearing Real.

Forbes

I was confused but I was equally hopeful too! This made me embarked my journey of investing. It was not smooth sailing but I have grown a lot.

I realised that people who lost a lot of money in the stock market… it was because they have invested too much when they may not know what they are doing!

They suffer from something called…. KNOWLEDGE GAP!

Realistically, I would not put more than what I can afford to LOSE. As a young polytechnic student, I poured <$2,000 into my first company called HupSteel. I was prepared to lose that amount.

Thankfully, it worked out for my first investment. Subsequently, I also had some successes then I started investing more of my own money.

(RELATED: HOW I MADE MONEY ON AURIC PACIFIC)

What was my key takeaway? Be very careful who you listen to, are you listening to people who are successful or people who are not?

Don’t let other people’s experience become your story.

You can create your own story by discovering the truth for yourself.

Conclusion

Investing is more behavioral than anything else.

To make money, you do not need to be extremely intelligent.

Buffett has said that “investing is simple, but not easy.” He has also said that “the most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect.” By that he meant the ability to stay disciplined, ignore recent events and returns, and adhere to your well-thought-out plan. He explained: “Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.”

Believe in yourself and give yourself enough chances to learn. It is like walking, you would fall a few times before you can walk.

What do you do when you fall down? Stay down or get up?

Your Mindset + Proven Mentor + Learning Environment = Accelerated Wealth Building