Open Book: Think Like a Bull, Avoid Disaster

Recently, thousands of financial service workers and investors experienced shell shock at the news that the pristine institution known as Bear Stearns (BSC Quote - Cramer on BSC - Stock Picks) had crumbled. I will not soon forget the frantic calls that I received from clients who had money invested in the markets and from the financial advisers who worked for this historic staple in the financial services industry.

It was truly a tragic time that spotlighted the likes of both JP Morgan Chase (JPM Quote - Cramer on JPM - Stock Picks) and Lehman Brothers (LEH Quote - Cramer on LEH - Stock Picks), two other banks with a great deal of clout on Wall Street. My patients' emotions ran high and ranged from shock to despair, anger, sadness and panic.

This event reminded me of the downfall of Enron and WorldCom a few years ago and how violated we felt by corporate America. Investors developed a sense of mistrust of CEOs, and their risk appetite for investing appeared to decrease substantially.

As a psychologist, I typically refer to this as a matter of "trust or commitment issues." Consequently, our markets tend to accelerate and decelerate depending on how much "trust" investors have in financial advisers, banks and companies.

Post-Crisis

Fortune 500 companies' accounting books have become more open to public and governmental scrutiny because we became aware of an underlying problem. Maybe banks will grow from the current subprime mortgage crisis. The average investor, trader and broker can learn something from this as well.

It is human nature to avoid problems until they become blaringly obvious for others to see. It's unfortunate that many executives and professionals must hit rock bottom before they will ask for help or clean themselves up. Our financial institutions seem to follow the same pattern of behavior. Action and change usually doesn't occur until huge financial disasters become evident, or thousands of jobs are lost.

As humans, we like our comfort and consistency. We are driven toward distraction, and this often is manifested as obsessive work habits and addictive behavior. It's a shame that we can't nip these problems in the bud before they rise to crisis proportion.

In the book Bullish Thinking, this message is underscored and emphasized. Brian Shaw, Sydney LeBlanc and I use realistic case studies derived from our private practice to help harried and high-performing traders, advisers, lawyers, doctors and athletes manage daily stressors before they become personal disasters.

Bullish thinking is a mind-set developed for the purpose of achieving emotional discipline and control over uncertain and negative events. Rooted in the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy, it allows people to manipulate their moods and the outcomes of their day by simply examining the reality of their situation.

In the book, we aid the reader in uncovering faulty "bearish" thinking patterns that can sabotage their performance on any complex task. The risk of not uncovering irrational or black-and-white thought patterns soon enough is that individuals may allow their mood and day to be determined by these invalid and inaccurate perceptions of their environments.

The costs of believing in bearish thoughts tend to involve the loss of money, avoidant behavior and work apathy. Our strategy forces individuals to obtain an awareness of bearish thoughts that underlie a performance decline. It then teaches them how to challenge these maladaptive thoughts with tangible evidence that they can provide regarding their positive performance trends in the past during similarly difficult times.

Drilling down into your thoughts is half the battle. Refocusing your mind on successes during tough times is the hard part. Perfectionists and Type A executives tend to sit with their losses way longer than they allow themselves to appreciate their triumphs. It is the fear of failure and a sense of underlying anxiety that drives these individuals to keep working -- sometimes until the point of burnout.

It is a shame that so many individuals get so easily rattled by the downturns inherent in the markets and in normal life. The purpose of this book is to enlighten readers on how to take control over their lives. We want to help others become resilient in the face of the knockdowns and disappointments dealt to us all by the markets and our jobs.

Turning to drugs and abusing alcohol is too often the "quick fix" chosen by fast-moving, high-energy professionals. Our book offers up solutions, other than drugs and alcohol, for taking life and business to the next level.

It is our intention to guide high-octane professionals through a journey of introspection and self-examination, which can often be painful and sometimes scary.