Fear Less: The Secret to Hunting for Treasure (and Happiness)

Stock markets, and the humans they’re comprised of, hate uncertainty. Embracing it is your secret weapon for success in investing and in life.

Going back a hundred thousand years or so, our ancestors’ early homo sapiens brains evolved to fear the unknown. On the savannas of prehistoric Africa, if there were an unknown rustling in the bushes, those of our predecessors who explored it eventually got eaten by a lion. Therefore, all of us are the descendants of those who ran first and asked questions later. Our brains are quite literally the evolutionary product of fear.

What if there’s nothing to fear but fear itself (as President Franklin Roosevelt advised us nearly a century ago)? What might be possible if we relegated fear to history and moved forward undaunted?

In the investment world, people will do almost anything to avoid risk. But volatility is not risk. Over the very long run, stock markets go up. The S&P 500 has increased an average of about 10% a year over the past century, which means you can expect to double your money every seven years or so. Of course, the market can drop precipitously in any given day, week, month, or year. However, if you close your eyes and wait a decade or two, you will almost certainly have made money. In fact, had you put $100,000 in the S&P 500 in 2004, it would be worth over $733,000 today!?

If it’s so easy then, why doesn’t everyone do it? The answer: anxiety. We fear uncertainty, and we will literally pay money?—?in the form of lower returns and forgone opportunity?—?to not feel so afraid. Every time there’s a crisis?—?from the Great Recession of 2008 to the Covid pandemic of 2020?—?most of us panic and take our money out or move it into something “safer.” If we could find a way to tame our fear, it could literally be worth a fortune.

So how do we do it?

Many philosophical traditions?—?including Taoism, Buddhism, Stoicism, and others?—?advise replacing anxiety with curiosity, openness, and patience. Instead of imagining what could go wrong in the future and feeling badly about it now, we imagine what could go right, open ourselves to the possibility, and give it time to come to fruition.

Buddhist nun, Pema Ch?dr?n, relays the advice of a group of Hopi elders around the turn of the century:

“There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. [Instead, we should] push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. Once there, we’ll be able to see our companions in the river and celebrate. This could be a good time!”

Or as Ch?dr?n puts it herself, “If we’re willing to give up hope that insecurity and pain can be eliminated, then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness of our situation.”

In my own work in venture capital, the very nature of what I do is to embrace the unknown future and accept that the path will inevitably twist and turn before it reaches its destination. Many people look at it as high risk. I look at it as high opportunity. The more I accept and even relish the unknown, the easier it is and the better the returns.

What’s more, replacing anxiety with openness and curiosity makes life easier to live in general.

When I’ve experienced groundlessness in my own life, it has sometimes felt debilitating at first. I vividly remember one evening when I skipped dinner entirely, got into bed, and pulled the covers over my head to avoid having to face it. The next morning my wise mother-in-law reminded me of my own words: the antidote to this affliction is openness and curiosity. (It’s always nice when somebody quotes you back to yourself when you most need to hear it!).?

To pull off this substitution of positive for negative, I like to ask myself a series of questions:

• What if every downturn were followed by an even bigger upturn??
• What if the future brings unexpectedly pleasant surprises you can’t even imagine right now??
• How might this new path end up being even better than the alternative or status quo??
• What if you knew, for certain, that you could not fail??
• Could you then approach things with a sense of adventure??

Suddenly, the uncertain journey becomes a quest full of magic and growth rather than risk and danger.

This recipe for seeking treasure is also a recipe for happiness and equanimity. Groundlessness is not falling, it’s flying.