This is also known as self-handicapping. We all have the
propensity to create self-limiting obstacles. This allows us to fail without
feeling any great remorse or guilt. By setting a limitation that gives us an
excuse we protect ourselves from full accountability.
It is always less painful to say I wasn’t at my best
today, or I had this particular handicap which was directly causative for this
perceived failure.
Think back, have you ever said you’re not feeling to
well before an important presentation but you were going to suck it up and make
the presentation anyway? Of course the self-fulfilling prophesy is that you
didn’t make the sale. Or maybe you suddenly had some back pain prior to
stepping out on the golf course for that minor tournament opportunity. These
are examples of self-handicapping, basically it your sub-conscious effort to
create a convenient excuse for lack of success. It is a protection behavior
trait.
For the investor this behavior is the corollary to
over-confidence. Most damaging however, this is a psychological trigger to move
directly towards what we are attempting to avoid which is failure or a poor
result. The creation of the comfortable
excuse protects us from experiencing the pain of a poor result. It allows us to
avoid accountability and clears us from the potential guilt that accompanies a
poor result.
Unfortunately the protective mechanism simply reinforces
and assures the poor result. We have created a self-fulfilling prophesy and
have no chance for success.
By recognizing this psychological trigger or behavior
trait we can make the necessary adjustment needed to control the decision
making process. Once freed of the need to avoid pain we can comfortably complete the
due diligence and work through a proper decision making process. Only then can
we clearly make good decisions about money. It also allows us to make proper
adjustments when we get poor results.
www.karlschilling.net
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