Buy On The Dip
Coach Tommy wrote a great piece on growth during difficult times.
Buy on the Dip
When reading Ray Dalio’s “Principles” one of the better sections was talking about turning adversity into an opportunity. It’s the idea of going against the grain in terms of traditional thought. In stock market terms, it’s called buying on the dip. This isn’t meant to be any sort of economical lesson and I’m in no way shape or form qualified to give money advice. What I do like is the metaphor that we can take from buying on the dip. A way we can learn to make more progress from seeing what successful people do. When other people are panicking and selling off their stock because the cost per share is plummeting there are people that see it as an opportunity to buy more shares when it’s low. When other people are putting money into a stock that went up 20% yesterday there are people that are selling some of those shares today and putting them into another stock. Not buying into FOMO(fear of missing out) and sticking to the principles they set out to do with how they would manage their money in the stock market.
What’s the lesson here? We sometimes think the most growth comes from when we’re doing really well. That last month of training you had before the swim meet you were swimming so fast and in your head you believe that’s what made do so well at the meet. This is part of your growth but the majority of growth comes from the struggle. Days like when you do 10x300s when after 3 you had no idea how you were going to be able to finish all 10. When you go the same time or add at a swim meet and get frustrated enough to make the necessary changes to drop time for your next race/meet. It’s buying into the idea of when you don’t think you can do it, then this is the time you need to do it. Buying into the idea that the struggle is the thing you need to propel yourself to the next step of greatness. Those days when you’re sore, tired, discouraged, etc. and all you want to do is go home. This is the dip, this is the struggle, and this is when you can make the most progress. Most of the population when they feel this way, they just goes home. This is your opportunity to make your move and learn how to get better when others are calling it a day. You can call it a competitive advantage. On your good days when everything is going right this isn’t the time to settle in and think it will always be this way. Stay humble and keep finding ways to improve. The human body wants to stay comfortable, but it’s also extremely adaptable. Make sure you have the right perspective to get the most out of your potential.
