I Really Goofed Last Week!

I have a confession to make. I didn’t take my own advice.

I’ve been telling you not to listen to all of the doom and gloom in the economic news.

Usually I’m really good about not listening. Except for last week.

You see, during that historic market loss last week, I started thinking about my daughter’s college fund. We’ve been stashing money away for years in a conservative fund and, soon, she’ll be ready to use it. But as the market started it’s free fall, my mind kept returning to the idea that we wouldn’t have enough money. I started checking the market on-line. Then I read every headline. Next I began to google. I read every report and article I could find. I was obsessed!

“Wait til you hear this . . . “ I said to John when he came in my office. “Do you know what the market is doing now?” My voice rose and my palms sweated as I digested and regurgitated tidbits of economic data.

I couldn’t concentrate. I didn’t get much work done. And I was annoyingly single-minded in my conversations. Not to mention I felt physically ill from the stress hormones coursing through my body.

You see, I fell into the trap. I was totally caught up in my own panic and that of the world markets. My world was out of control.

Well, OK, not really. But you can see how easy it is to be overtaken by events that really are beyond our control. I could not stop the spiraling markets. But I could stop my mind from focusing on these events and the overwhelming news reporting.

I shored up my losses, moved the monies to a safer place, and chalked that up to a learning experience. If I couldn’t stomach losing any of the money, it shouldn’t have been in the stock market in the first place, even in a conservative fund.

And I went back to the business of running a business. Because that is where the true wealth lies.