Force for thought — 14.02.25
To Have and To Hold
How do you hold onto a good thing and not let it go before it has time to work its magic? By mobilising a method that works. No one is insulated from the challenges of sticking with something promising — not a diet, nor an exercise regimen, or even a first date — the moment it becomes uncomfortable and hard. Why should investing be any different?
We’ve collected more than four million data points that demonstrate how a particular methodological communication enables investors to hold on for the ride. The proof stretches beyond investing: our ability to hold on when we least want to — in order to withstand things that can cause our undoing — has application everywhere. Each week, we’ll show how and why a mechanism for holding on, in investing and in life, is so powerful.
Zooming in
Think of a number — it starts with five and ends with six. The answer? 5,126. This is the number of failed prototypes James Dyson developed when he set out to design his now-famous bagless vacuum. Today, he is a multibillionaire and Dyson is a multi-product empire. However, the Dyson vacuum as we know it took more than 5,000 attempts and 15 years before it was realised — lest we digress into the countless rejections the founder encountered when it came to actually selling his product. In this period, Dyson had limited proof of his sunny future. Without sugarcoating it, all that Dyson had for certain was this: a mountain of debt and unshakeable mental conviction. So, we’ve ruled out any riches that may have given the inventor a head start. He also had no precedent for his invention; who could know if it would really work? It’s possible he was always a genius — but so what? It didn’t accelerate his success. What did? Dyson embodied the prototypical qualities of successful long-term investors: he had an indefatigable mindset and an ear to the magic of compounding. Every failure inched him closer to success…
So what can we, as investors, learn from Dyson? It should be obvious that time is not the enemy of invention nor investing but a virtue — so long as it is channelled productively. Moreover, it is clear from Dyson’s story that even in the face of counting pennies with his wife as his iterative process numbered in the thousands, the inventor had an uncanny ability to remain focused on his ideas and steadfast in his belief that they would materialise. Undoubtedly he would have encountered ridicule and pity from outsiders but he didn’t allow any external factors to cause him to swerve. Of course, the playing fields between him and you are not level: whereas Dyson set out to do what had never been done before, a few patient investors have witnessed the magic of compounding — effectively setting the stage for others to master their mindsets and nurture their abilities to hold on too.
To Have on Hand
“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson