Some battles are fought with such intensity that distinguishing the superiority of the winner becomes difficult to justify. It is challenging to decisively say that one is better than the other.
Two recent battles tell us that even better players have their odd days. One was the cricket game where the score hardly tells us the story of the fight back. The other was the Wimbledon men’s semifinal when Roger Federer defeated Rafa Nadal. In both contests, the score doesn’t tell the real story. The intensity with which a pitched battle is fought may not be reflected in the final scores.
When we battle Mr.Market in a highly polarised market too, the same anomaly sets in. The near term investment performance can be at variance with the true potential. And, often, near term performance can vary with long term performance. Somebody who plays consistently better than peers can also have a brief phase of underperformance. This only brings into question the validity of investment judgments based on brief outperformance.
We can’t really afford to rush into judgments where the score doesn’t tell the real story. So, stay focused on your goals and let scores not come in the way between investment success and you.