How many Days in a Week?

We’ve avoided this for most of our lives. It started in school when marks were given or posted for subjects. You got 65% on a paper, and your parents asked you why you didn’t do better. You make a mistake in class, and the teacher and children laugh.

I remember in early elementary school, a teacher asked us how many days a week were. I shot up my hand and yelled out, “Eight.” The teacher laughed; the other students laughed. But at a different level, I was right. Can you explain why?

Well, here is the answer. At that time, the Beatles were the rage, and if you remember the song “Eight Days a Week,” my sister played it on the record player all day. It was on my mind when the teacher asked the question. I was right, and so was the teacher. But the teacher and most of the class were too stupid to understand how I was also correct.

But here is the crucial lesson. We all learn at an early age that mistakes are something to avoid. People laugh, ridicule, embarrass and shame you if you make a mistake. As you grow older, you have it firmly wired into your brain. Avoid mistakes at all costs. Defend your position regardless of what the evidence may be trying to tell you. Surround yourself with only those that always agree with you. 

But what they don’t tell you in school, and idiot teachers such as I had that day don’t understand, is that you want to make many mistakes in life. It is the only way you will be able to continue to grow to achieve your potential.

Success means you are open to making many mistakes. They are calculated so as not to bankrupt you, but they are all part of being an investor.

To be successful with investing, you need to be open to making mistakes.

I discussed this most recently in the newsletter, discussing why I was selling all my Reliq Healthcare stock. I was invested and highlighted it in our book as one of my 3 top holdings. My Ego was locked in, but just like the Beatles song, I started to believe in a different reality for that company. I was fortunate that not long after that, the company was halted in trading, dropped another 50% or so in value and still hasn’t filed its financial statements.

Horrible management and incompetence are now prominent. I made a mistake with Reliq and learned much from it.

The key to welcoming mistakes into your life is understanding that they will still sting. Over time, however, as we get more used to it and leave the EGO at the door, you will start to see the flexibility in your thinking that is a key component of successful investing. Making mistakes pushes your brain to be more flexible, open-minded, and only mildly upset when you are wrong.

So again, will your brain let you accept that there are eight days in a week? Ringo said so. What do you say?

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