Does the Path to Your Goals Really Matter?
Why the Journey Is Actually the Point
📌 The Quick Hit
Investors obsess over the “best” way to reach their financial goals - strategy tweaks, timing, market forecasts, shortcuts. However,
The path itself isn’t what determines success. Discipline does.
What feels like chaos - bear markets, corrections, unwanted volatility - plays a vital role in shaping the habits that get you to the finish line.
When discomfort triggers emotional decision-making, investors are tempted to abandon a sound path for a “better one.”
The journey may be rocky, but it’s the practice of discipline through those rocks - not around them - that creates wealth.
👊🏼 The 2008 Gut Punch and the Lesson Hidden Beneath It
I remember the 2008 bear market vividly: momentum, confidence, then a sudden crash that erased years of progress. The instinctive reaction? Regret, self-blame, and a backward-looking search for signs I should have spotted.
But when the market began to recover - and as I coached clients through their own fear and losses - I learned something foundational:
The path to your goal isn’t as important as your ability to remain disciplined while walking it.
If anything, the painful path is the feature, not the flaw.
🏹 The Myth of the Straight Line
We all want the same thing:
A smooth ride. Straight line up. No detours.
But markets do not reward our preferences. They reward our patience.
Volatility - the stomach-churning ups and downs - is actually what makes long-term returns possible. Without it, everyone would pile in, returns would collapse, and markets would stop functioning as engines of wealth creation.
🛠️ Stress as a Training Tool
Ironically, market turbulence does something beneficial: it strengthens discipline.
Thanks to
writers like and , we know that controlled stress exposure - like cold plunges, targeted high-intensity training - can improve resilience.The same holds true in investing. Moderate, repeated discomfort builds emotional strength.
Throughout my career, I wasn’t shifting portfolios every month or offering magic tactics. My real job was counseling people through uncertainty. Helping them stay calm, rational, and consistent.
Those who accepted counsel - and stayed disciplined - almost always reached their targets.
🫃🏻When the Market Tests You, It Awakens the Child
When the path gets rocky, emotions rush in. And those emotions often take on a “child-like” mode - fear, impatience, self-protection.
That emotional state whispers unhelpful stories:
“This strategy isn’t working anymore.”
“You’re going to lose everything.”
“You should try something different - now.”
Then impulsive decisions follow.
Recognizing that emotional shift is the first step toward correcting it.
🛟 How to Counsel Yourself Back to Clarity
The simplest way to realign with reality is to check your beliefs against facts. Ask yourself appropriate questions, such as:
Do markets rise more often than they fall over time?
Yes.
Do markets generally return about 8–10% per year over long periods?
Yes.
Do those long-term returns already include corrections and bear markets?
Yes.
Those reminders pull you out of emotional fog and into rational clarity. Once you re-anchor yourself in truth, you can make thoughtful decisions again.
And when emotions flare back up (as they always do) you repeat the process.
This isn’t naive optimism. It’s realistic pattern recognition.
⚠️ Ego Cuts Corners. Wisdom Wants the Discipline.
We all prefer the easy path because it protects our ego:
“If I’m smart enough, I’ll avoid the pain.”
But avoiding discomfort steals the very thing you need: the discipline to stick with a long-term strategy.
Discipline is what gets you to your goal - not luck, not perfect timing, not a volatility-free journey.
I often remind myself of past portfolio highs not as fantasy, but as evidence. Markets revisit highs. They always have. The only question is whether you stay invested long enough for your portfolio to experience them again.
So, I refuse to allow ego any say in the matter. (See below 👇 to learn more)
✨ Closing Thoughts
In the end, the path to your goal matters far less than your ability to stay on it. The dips, setbacks, and gut-churning moments are not obstacles - they’re the training ground.
You don’t need to engineer the perfect route.
You need to cultivate the discipline to stay on the imperfect one.
Because the path will never be easy.
And thankfully, it doesn’t have to be.
🚀 Up Next:
Thursday - “The Truth About US Deficits”
Sunday - “How to Filter Noise From News”
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