WELLNESS & WELL-BEING
Invest in Today
By Donald Broughton
S
ome of the biggest mistakes many of us make in planning
for the future is allowing ourselves to be burdened by the
mistakes we’ve made in the past, or frozen by our concerns
about the future.
Mistakes we’ve made in the past. Sure, you should
learn from the mistakes you’ve made in the past. I’m not saying
you shouldn’t. The most successful investors all have one thing in
common: They have lost billions of dollars investing. Yes, billions. Most
billionaires can tell you stories about how they lost $4 billion in the
process of making $6 billion, on the way to becoming worth $2 billion.
Show me someone worth $50 million, and I’ll show you someone who
has lost at least $30 million in the process of making $80 million.
Let me be clear: I’m not talking about gambling; I’m talking about
investing. Good investors look at those losses and vow not to repeat
those mistakes. Great investors also look at the risks not taken, the
investments that they should have made - but didn’t - and make sure
they don’t repeat those, as well.
This extends to all parts of your life. Friends who always reward the
investment you make in them by needing you to contribute more to
the friendship, without ever supporting you or your dreams, are bad
investments. That doesn’t mean that the value you derive from them
isn’t great. It’s just not direct. Learn to value more highly those friends
who do support you and your dreams, and more important, are willing
to be honest with you when you are making mistakes. Expect the same
from your monetary investments and investment manager. Show me
an investment manager who can’t tell you about the mistakes they’ve
made, and I’ll show you someone who is about to lose your money.
Stop worrying about the future, and start building a better
one right now. The age of technology offers the chance to improve
our productivity. It also offers the easiest ways to become distracted.
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More often than not, those distractions are full of all the things that are
coming that might harm you. Don’t be di stracted or concerned about
those predictions. They aren’t trying to protect you from the calamity;
they are trying to sell you something you don’t need to protect you
from the calamity that they invented, which will never occur.
Instead, focus on one thing. Multi-tasking is a myth. You cannot think
of two things at the same time. You cannot do two things at the same
time, and if you do juggle for a couple of minutes, you will always end up
looking like a circus act. Trust me, I have tried. We can really only do one
thing at a time. Focus on doing one thing that will improve the quality of
your life.
When you focus on spiritual values, it is impossible for you to have
lower thoughts such as greed or anger. When you are in the gym gasping
for breath, and sweat is pouring from every pore, it is impossible to find
a greasy cheeseburger appetizing; just as it is impossible to learn algebra,
while drinking martinis in a noisy bar. Trust me, I have tried. The inverse
of this is also true. When you are worrying about what horrible thing
might happen to you in the future, it is impossible to work on building a
better future for yourself right now.
It has been repeated so often that it is trite to repeat, but the current
moment is called the present because that is what it is - a present. You
can’t change the past, so quit replaying it in your head. You can only
alter the future by investing fully in one thing; in the moment - the
present. Only then can you give yourself the gift of wealth in the future.
As founder and managing partner of Broughton Capital,
Broughton is a frequent guest on CNBC, “Nightly Business
Report”and Fox. He is regularly quoted in The Wall Street
Journal, where he is also recognized as a top stock picker, as
he is by Fortune, Zacks and StarMine.