One of the challenges that many experienced and successful investors constantly face is that they have a great deal more to lose. It is one thing to be a beginner who knows very little and winds up losing KES 500,000 of money playing the market but it is an entirely different matter when you have millions of shillings which took you nearly two decades of long and stressful 80 hour work weeks to acquire. The risk of losing it all is far too great.

What tends to happen is that those who make money off the market have become much more risk adverse. As most people age, it is natural to become less risk tolerant. Great return comes with great risk. The fear of this risk is what cripples most investors.

As you probably know, fear can be a fierce and unconquerable enemy unless put into perspective and used to our advantage. Fear can make the best of us abandon our strategies at the worst of times. Fear can make us doubt ourselves, our skills and perspectives and positions. Fear can make us play situations far more conservatively or even not all. Most investors are fearful, not necessarily fear of a bear market or default on bonds but simply fear of failure.

Investing or trading is an occupation based on fleeting moments of opportunity. They're here one second, gone the next and entirely out of anyone's control. The best investors love this, and even crave it. When the action is on, they're prepared and trained to strike hard, as they have no idea when the next great investment will appear. An investor needs to overcome his fear of failure otherwise he will be unable to see great opportunities.

It's similar to fishing: You can be out on the water all day and not get a bite, but when you hit a school of fish, you better have your rods ready and baited to maximize the opportunity. All that matters, ultimately, is how many pounds of fish you caught, not how long it took to reel them in.

The key to investing or trading to win is getting out of your comfort zones. Bonds may be secure securities but if you seek to make millions from the market, you will have to get out of the comfort of bonds and try your hand at other investments; stocks, real estate etc. One would also have to increase his position or portfolio size as this would increase the amount of any gain one stands to make.

Once you start investing to make a profit rather than to avoid making a loss you will have began trading to win.

(Adapted from the Kirk Report)