The power of visualisation

Each time markets correct, we see investors get into a review, questioning and introspection mode. This is accompanied by common refrains and questions expressed in multiple ways, but the underlying essence doesn't change. Am I in the right funds? Should I get out of what I hold? Retrace back to the fork in the road where there were other choices I didn't take? Should I buy gold? Will the market fall further? Where is the bottom? Should I sell everything and buy it back when it is lower? Should I stop my SIPs while the market is on the way down and invest at the bottom? I will grit my teeth and stay put, but I am out of here when this gets back to par. OMG, my Rs 100 has become Rs 60. That's 40 per cent on the way down, but for me to get whole, I need 66 per cent on the way up! There is no chance that that will happen! Humans make most decisions based on emotions and then figure out the data to back those decisions to convince themselves more than anyone else that they are rational and logical. We are emotional and psychological, but we like to see and present ourselves as cold, calculative, left-brained, intelligent, objective and practical, worldly wise 'econs'. These are mind games we play with ourselves. I have another way that might help invoke the right response, which will almost always be better served if contrarian. The 'Others' in Be Greedy When Others Are Fearful a