Jun 24 2009
Recognizing psychological pitfalls
1. Last week I visisited the Great Smoky Mountains. Over the course of the week, I visited quite a few gift shops. Since the Great Smoky Mountains has the densest black bear population east of the Mississippi river, these gift shops quite natually sell stuff related to bears. Stuffed bears, bear mugs, bear posters, children’s books about bears, bear keychains, bear bumper stickers, that sort of stuff. Well, as a market bear, I really wanted to buy either a stuffed bear or a bear mug. However, I ended up not buying anything at all. Why not? Because I realized that if I had a stuffed bear or a bear mug sitting on my desk while I am trying to trade, I will definitely lose money.
2. Yesterday I blogged about getting a new computer. That itch to buy a new computer is now dead. Last month I tried to get the market to pay for my suit and that was a big mistake. To avoid the same pitfall, I just simply won’t buy a new computer.