Minimise your behaviour gap

Summary: We all think we invest with our minds, but markets have a way of exposing how much our emotions really run the show. Corrections, hype cycles, comparisons and FOMO trigger reactions we later regret. This piece digs into why the biggest drag on returns isn’t the market, it’s us. And how simple behavioural shifts can boost long-term compounding. “Don’t get emotional, yaar.” We’ve all heard that line. I heard it often while growing up – usually at the precise moment I was emotional. And being told not to feel something only made me feel it more. So I hope this note – my own version of “don’t get emotional”, doesn’t catch you at such a moment, especially when it comes to your stocks. Given where the markets stand, emotions may not be at their extremes. At best, there’s a mild annoyance that equities refuse to rise in a neat, predictable line. No one explained to me when I was younger why I shouldn’t get emotional. The stock market eventually did that job far better than any teacher. Markets are the world’s longest continuous experiment on human behaviour. Every trading day, they show how fear and greed can override rational thought. Being human means being emotional. If everyone were perfectly logical, stock prices would simply reflect mathematical truth. Instead, envy, optimism, anxiety, greed and fear create all the flavour, and all the chaos. The trick isn’t to eliminate emotion; it’s to manage it better than most: to stay calm when others panic, and realistic when others chase the impossible. Recognising emotions, not suppressing them, is the first step. The goal isn’t to bec