Any investment that you make has essentially two outcomes.
Either it will succeed or it will fail. Of course whether it will succeed or fail depends upon the kind of effort one puts in to know the business and fundamentals of the company. The price at which one buys is also equally important. Despite being cautious and following a long term approach to investing there could be some rotten apples in your basket. In other words, companies that fail to deliver as per your expectations.
However, investing is not just all about fundamentals, valuations and businesses. It is also about emotions. This is because we as human beings take the buy and sell decisions. And our decisions are governed by our emotions. Thus, apart from having a strong knack to understand businesses having a strong emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) is equally important to be successful in investing. One who can block out his emotional side and take rational decisions based on the facts presented will more often than not end up on the right side of the coin. How many times have you exited the stock after registering a minor gain and later see the stock rally further? While it is fundamentals that decide what businesses to buy and sell it are our emotions that decide when to buy and sell. One who can balance both is on the right path.