A few months ago I wrote about bitcoin and the way in which its astronomic rise had made many people regret missing out. But this feeling is not only unique to bitcoin, it is also present in many spheres of life. There’s regret about not buying some piece of land before its price rocketed; there’s regret about not doing a particular programme in university which is now in high demand; there’s regret about buying shares in a company which then took a turn down and lost you money; and so on.

Most rookie traders (forex, stock or commodities) have a tendency of trying to avenge their losses immediately they make them. I should know, I used to do the same thing. In the early days I used to be so frustrated by a loss that I would try to recover the lost money with another trade without any planning. A lot of the time I just ended up losing more money. It took me time to control my impulses and accept that the market does not care if I’m angry. It does not care if I feel treated unfairly. It reinforced my belief in capital preservation and valuing what I have over the possibility of gaining more.

I am increasingly seeing the importance of translating this way of thinking from trading and investing into my general resource management. Every single day is a chance to improve myself. There is always something new to learn or to achieve. But every day is also a day to appreciate how far I have come. It is important for me to recognize the value of my work, family, friendships and this blog. This will not in anyway stop me from doing better or trying to accomplish new things.

It took me some time but now I realize that the price of not appreciating what I have is complacency. It is possible to seek better things while doing the necessary things to ensure that what I have built is not lost. That is what I’m going to try to do from this moment on.