Stock Doc: Markets and Mood Swings

Last week I wrote a column called "The Pursuit of Happiness" as a wakeup call for all of the workaholics out there who believe that happiness is elusive despite their financial successes and achievements.

Most Type A personalities find it very difficult to leave assignments, projects or trades up in the air without closure. They like certainty and predictability. The lack of it renders them paralyzed, obsessive and unable to focus on their internal feelings or thoughts. The focus shifts only to external dilemmas or tasks and detracts from self-reflection and happiness.

One reader who identified with the complexity of balancing work stress with appreciation of the simpler things in life wrote to me about it.

Dear Dr. Cass,
Your piece really resonated with me. I've been trying to do exactly as you suggest, with some success, but I find my feelings for the day are too market-dependent. If my total portfolio is up, I feel up; and conversely, when it goes down, I feel down.

Aside from not looking [at portfolio returns], which is too much of a temptation to avoid, how can one focus on what is truly important?
-- Marvin

I know how difficult it is to appreciate what you have in your life when you have to deal with uncontrollable aspects of investing, such as the prospect of global inflation looming, along with its potentially negative impact on stock prices. There are many aspects of life or work that we can never control, for instance illness or a terrorist attack.

With many of my clients, I ask them to cap off their workday by spending the last 20 minutes of work listing the goals that they have yet to accomplish, tasks or trades that are still waiting to be completed, and mistakes that were made. Once they complete this chore, they can walk away from their office, knowing that they have a purpose or objective the following morning. The key is to leave work at your desk and let your life begin once you walk outside and your feet hit the pavement.