A young monk and an empty boat -external factors that impact the markets

Don't Believe Everything You Think - By Joseph Nguyen

There’s an old story about a young monk that perfectly explains why external noise shouldn’t affect your investing.”

A young monk was struggling to meditate.

In his classes, he kept getting distracted — people moving, coughing, making noise. Each time, he got angry.

His mentor asked: ‘What’s really making you angry — them, or your own reaction?’

So the monk left the monastery and went to a quiet lake to meditate. At first, it was peaceful. But then birds splashed the water & again, his anger grew

To escape all distractions, he climbed into a boat and paddled to the middle of the lake. Finally, he thought, “Here, no one can disturb me.”

For a while, it worked. Until one day, another boat floated towards him.

The monk shouted: “Steer away! You’ll hit me!”

But the boat kept coming… and crashed into him.

Furious, he stood up and shouted. But when he looked inside the boat… it was empty.

And that’s when he realised: it wasn’t people, birds, or boats disturbing him. It was his own reaction to them that caused him to be angry. From then on, whenever he meditated, he thought of all disturbances as “empty boats.”

Investing is the same

We want perfect conditions: no inflation, no wars, no elections, no recessions. But the truth is — there’s always noise. The market is full of “empty boats.”

Ecclesiastes 11:4 Says, "Whoever watches the wind will not plant, and whoever looks at the clouds will not reap." We delay because we try to wait for the best conditions or resources.

The distractions don’t really control our outcome — it’s how we react to them that matters.

👉 External factors will always shake the market

👉 But your discipline, patience, and mindset will determine whether you succeed

Don’t believe everything you think — and don’t let every bump rock your boat.