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By:

Asha Tripathi

14 April 2025 at 1:35:28 pm

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along...

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along with growth has come another silent challenge — the tendency to constantly observe, compare, and sometimes even compete with the journeys of others. But a crucial question arises: Is it necessary to track the growth of others in order to grow ourselves? From my personal experience of more than two decades as an entrepreneur, I have realised something very powerful — true growth begins the moment we stop looking sideways and start looking within. A Small Beginning I had a flourishing career of teaching abroad, but when I restarted my career after moving back to India, my beginning was extremely small. My very first assignment was a simple home tuition for a single student, and the amount I earned was meagre. There was nothing glamorous about it. No recognition, no large batches, no big earnings. Just one student and one opportunity. But instead of worrying about how others were doing, how many students they had, or how much they were earning, I made a conscious decision—my only focus would be on improving myself. I focused on teaching better, preparing better, and becoming more disciplined and consistent. And slowly, without even realising it, things began to grow. One student became two, two became a small group, and gradually, over the years, the work expanded beyond what I had initially imagined. Looking back today, I can confidently say that the growth did not happen because I competed with others. It happened because I competed with myself yesterday. Comparison Creates Noise When we keep watching others' journeys too closely, we unknowingly divert our own energy. Comparison creates unnecessary noise in our minds. It brings doubts, insecurities, and sometimes even negativity. Instead of walking our own path with clarity, we start questioning our speed, our direction, and our worth. True success grows through focus, not comparison. Every woman has her own story, her own pace, and her own struggles that others may never see. The path of one person can never be identical to another's. So comparing journeys is like comparing two different rivers flowing towards the same ocean — each with its own route, its own curves, and its own rhythm. As women, we already carry many responsibilities. We balance emotions, relationships, work, and society's expectations. In such a life, the last thing we need is the burden of comparison with one another. Instead, what we truly need is support for each other. When women encourage women, something extraordinary happens. Confidence grows. Opportunities multiply. Strength becomes collective rather than individual. There is enough space in the world for every woman to create her own identity. Each of us can build our own niche without stepping on someone else's path. Choose Encouragement Envy weakens us, but encouragement empowers us. Rather than questioning how someone else is progressing, we can ask a more meaningful question: "How can I grow a little better than I was yesterday?" Lift As You Rise Today, after twenty years of experience, the most valuable lesson I have learned is simple yet profound — focus on your own work with honesty and dedication, and success will quietly follow you. We, women, are capable, resilient, and creative. We do not need to pull each other down or compete in unhealthy ways. Instead, we can lift each other up while building our own dreams. Because when one woman rises, she does not rise alone. She inspires many others to believe that they can rise, too. And perhaps that is the most beautiful form of success. (The writer is a tutor based in Thane. Views personal.)

Who Should Manage Our Investments?

Easy access to markets has encouraged confidence, but sustained investing success still depends on discipline, process and emotional control.

Every market cycle revives a familiar question: should individuals manage their own investments, or should they entrust the task to professionals? The debate appears straightforward. Markets are open, information is widely available, and technology has put trading platforms into every pocket. If professional fund managers work with largely public data, why should investors not attempt to replicate the process themselves? The answer lies not in intelligence, but in temperament, process, and consistency.


Indian retail investors today are more engaged than ever. Demat accounts have crossed 19 crore. SIP inflows regularly exceed Rs.25,000 crore a month, and financial conversations have moved from boardrooms to tea stalls and smartphones. Confidence is high, participation is broad, and curiosity is genuine. Some enjoy early success, which reinforces confidence and creates the impression that professional management is optional. History, however, shows that markets eventually test conviction, often when confidence peaks.


Temperament Matters

A common misunderstanding is equating professional investing with stock picking or market timing. In reality, professional management focuses on risk control, capital preservation during downturns, and the ability to deliver steady, risk-adjusted returns across market cycles. Outperformance is a consequence of process, not prediction.


Professionals operate within structured frameworks. Investment ideas are researched, debated, documented, and reviewed. Portfolios are diversified deliberately, not defensively, because concentration can undo years of gains in a single adverse phase. Mistakes are analysed, not rationalised. Individual investors, by contrast, often invest alone, guided by instinct, headlines, and selective memory. Their decisions are shaped less by repeatable method than by recent experience, which markets are adept at distorting.


Consider the weekend cricketer who believes he could survive a full Test series. He may have talent and may even score a few runs, but consistency against international bowling demands training, systems, and stamina. Markets operate the same way. A handful of successful trades feel like skill; losses are blamed on timing or bad luck. This selective recall flatters confidence but weakens judgement.


Behavioural pressures compound the problem. Fear and greed affect all participants, but individual investors face them without institutional safeguards. Sharp corrections provoke panic selling, while prolonged rallies encourage overexposure. Professional investors experience the same emotions, but predefined processes impose discipline. For individuals, emotion often becomes an unrecognised cost.


Hidden Frictions

Time is another underestimated factor. Effective investing requires continuous research, earnings analysis, macro assessment, and portfolio review. This demands sustained attention. For salaried professionals and entrepreneurs, the opportunity cost of such engagement is substantial, though rarely acknowledged. A lawyer or doctor spending weekends tracking stock movements may be diverting time from the very skill that generates primary income. 


Then come the silent drags on performance. Transaction costs, taxes, and frequent portfolio churn quietly erode returns. Many investors remember headline gains but overlook the cumulative impact of small, repeated mistakes. Professional fund performance in India is reported after expenses, disclosures are regulated by SEBI, and portfolio changes are monitored. Individual investors often measure success before frictional costs intervene.


None of this implies that individual investing is misguided. A minority of investors possess the discipline, analytical skill, and emotional control to outperform consistently. However, the benchmark is long-term, risk-adjusted performance, not isolated wins. One successful stock does not constitute an investment strategy.


The more relevant question, therefore, is not whether one can invest independently, but whether one can do so better than trained professionals over many years. If the answer is demonstrably yes, self-management is justified. If the answer is uncertain, delegation is not a failure of competence but an exercise in judgement.


In most areas of life, professional expertise is accepted without hesitation. We trust pilots, doctors, and engineers because the cost of error is high. Financial decisions carry similar consequences. The objective of investing is not activity or excitement, but steady progress towards long-term financial goals.


Markets reward discipline more reliably than brilliance, and punish overconfidence more severely than ignorance. In that context, the most effective investors may not be those who act the most, but those who recognise the limits of their advantage.  Often, the smartest financial decision is recognising who is better equipped to make it.


(The writer is a retired banker and author of ‘Money Does Matter.’ Views personal.)

 


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