Written by Ian Cassel, MicroCapClub

If I’d had the slightest idea of what lay ahead of me when I joined up with Chrysler, I wouldn’t have gone over there for all the money in the world. It’s a good thing God doesn’t let you look at a year or two into the future, or you might be sorely tempted to shoot yourself. But He’s a charitable Lord: He only lets you see one day at a time. When times get tough, there’s no choice except to take a deep breath, carry on, and do the best you can. – Lee Iacocca

Wouldn’t it be great to have the ability to see into the future? This ability would most certainly provide instant success. It sure would save us a lot of pain and frustration. You would never have to face any of life’s challenges. You would always choose the least restrictive path to success. But would escaping life’s obstacles really be living? No, it probably wouldn’t. Like Iacocca said above, it’s good we have a charitable Lord, that doesn’t let us see the future. It forces us to work our hardest today, in hopes that tomorrow will be better.

If you’ve read other articles I’ve written you know I like to ask thought provoking questions. Sometimes the questions are meant to test the quality of a business, and sometimes it’s just meant for preparation. Let me ask you another question. It’s a question that is a great one to ask at some nerdy stock value investing dinner or cocktail reception.

If you knew a stock you owned today wasn’t going to go up for the next 12 months, would you still own it today?

For many investors or traders this might seem like a completely asinine question. Why would anyone choose to hold something they knew wouldn’t go up for 12-months? The answer is because the long-term reward is worth the short-term pain and frustration.

In, The Art of Holding, I mentioned that great long-term investors can disconnect emotion from investment decisions and can differentiate business performance from stock performance. The ability to differentiate or disconnect business performance from stock performance is extremely difficult because it’s our human nature to focus on the thing that is moving. We anchor ourselves to stock prices instead of the business.