Be Physically Exhausted for Your Best Investing Moves

Minimize overthinking

Image generated using KREA | Flux

Do the hard stuff early in the morning to win your day.

I’m writing this at 9:32 am, and I’ve been up for five hours. I woke up, had oatmeal with Greek yogurt for breakfast, and went to do bodyweight exercises in a park nearby.

I spent seventy minutes on

• 99 pull-ups

• 50 push-ups

• 2 muscle-ups

• 156 dips on two bars

Totally worth it. I’m exhausted but I’ve had a sense of accomplishment since 6:15 am when I was done.

The physical and mental benefits of physical activity are well-known. What’s often neglected is how they affect your decision-making.

I’ll tell you straight away: The more tired you are, the better your decisions. Exhaustion makes you go into an energy-saving mode.

It minimizes your potential to overthink. The energy you could spend on imagining all the uncertain scenarios that never come true is not there.

The human brain consumes 20% of the body's energy. That’s a hefty chunk of fuel.

You just make decisions without that inner debate taking over. Remember this next time you feel uncertain about investing.

After a workout, I’m too tired to second-guess my investing decisions. I just act.

People overthink investing especially in times of uncertainty. Yet the biggest profits come from investing when the economy is shaking. It’s counter-intuitive, which is why so few people make fortunes when bear markets end.

Most investors dump their stocks and regret it years later. The Covid crash made that exceptionally clear. You just had to survive that three-month bear market to see new all-time highs.

Long bull markets and short bear markets are the new normal. I’ve been hearing of a 1929-type event approaching for six years. That’s overthinking too.

I don’t pay attention to doom and gloom anymore regardless of who declares it - an angry commenter or JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon. I’m following my long-term strategy.

There are three ways to prevent overthinking from killing your profits.

1. Get clear on the process

Focus beats doubt.

I’d never go to my pull-up bar if I was worried about how hard the workout would be. I focus on the process. One pull-up at a time.

A trader I know told me that focus is your edge in the game when you move cash between your trading account and the stock market.

In trading there’s zero time for indecisiveness. Your entries and exits must be precise to make profits consistently.

That requires focus, and focus makes you consider a limited number of reasons the market could go against you.

You go through them one by one and make a decision immediately to enter a trade or not. There are no maybes, regrets of missed trades, or second-guessing.

That’s the difference between analyzing and overthinking.

Take that focus to long-term investing. Clarity comes from knowing your long-term goals like retirement planning or extra monthly income.

Invest consistently with a clear plan.

2. Outlast the urge to sell early

Your fitness level will blow your mind if you work out for years.

I could barely do four pull-ups in 2017. The next day I’d feel muscle pain in parts of my body where I didn’t know I had muscles. Now I can do twenty in one go, pause, and do another fifteen.

I’m not saying this to brag. The point is I didn’t stop exercising in the park when it was raining or my boss pissed me off.

You don’t interrupt compound interest without a strong reason.

The three acceptable reasons to dump a stock are

• A financial emergency

• Offsetting gains and reducing your tax bill (if the stock is falling)

• The company has reached market saturation and is about to contract

Everything else means creating a tax event and breaking the growth of your portfolio.

It’s easy to start overthinking when you’re invested. Your money is already at risk. You’re anxious due to the hypothetical situation of you losing your profits.

Write down why you’ll sell a stock before you buy it. When emotions hit, look at what you wrote when you were calm.

You’ll stay invested longer.

3. Avoid excuses that don’t make you money

The first 50 push-ups are the hardest. I do them anyway. The workout gets easier then.

You just have to make that first step.

Having cash to invest and doing nothing with it is a frivolous way of planning your financial future. You’re stewing in your own hesitation. That’s overthinking a perfect entry that never comes.

Here are the classic excuses to postpone investing:

• “The economy is uncertain.” (it never is)

• “Investing is complicated.” (it is if you stay sidelined)

• “What if I lose it all?” (uncertainty is part of the game)

• “The market will crash next year.” (you can’t know that)

• “I’m waiting for the perfect stock to show up.” (start with index fund ETFs)

So you never begin, then look back five years, and realize you’ve missed on 100% returns from the simplest index fund ETF.

The answer to “When should I start?” is “now.” You may not have a lump sum of $500k to invest today.

Pick an ETF and dollar cost average into it over the next decade. Ignore the news and follow through on your plan.

My plan for today: To add to my dividend ETFs without analyzing their current price or the economy.

I’ve been doing this every month for a year so it’s easy now. And frankly, I have no energy to waste on what might happen.

If you know you should invest but feel uncomfortable doing so, make it easier for your brain.

Do sports to exhaustion. Then open your investing app, make a deposit, and buy a stock or an ETF.

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This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.

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