If the market doesn’t hit you in the mouth, then the economy will. You may think Mike Tyson is an idiot, but he did say something very smart.
Everyone has a plan ’til they get punched in the mouth.
Here’s the list of recessions I’ve experienced since I began working:

* November 1973 to March 1975 (the oil crisis and stock market crash)
* January 1980 to July 1980 (Federal Reserve raised interest rates dramatically to stave off inflation)
* July 1981 to November 1982 (inconsistent exported oil and tight money supply)
* July 1990 to March 1991 (increased inflation, rising interest rates, and lower consumer confidence)
* March 2001 to November 2001 (the bursting of the dot-com bubble)
* December 2007 to June 2009 (dubbed “The Great Recession” prompted by the subprime mortgage crisis)

Yes, I remember high-interest rates. I’ve experienced the double-digit mortgage (in the mid-80’s it wasn’t uncommon for people to sell a home, and write a check to the BUYER). Rates soared north of 13%, something anybody under the age of 40 can’t fathom. 
Experience matters. Learning from it matters more!
Being skilled in critical thinking is the ability to take one’s thinking apart systematically, to analyze each piece, assess it for quality (accuracy, validity, etc.) and then improve it. It’s the basis of our decision-making ability. Cognitive science has established certain elements of reasoning: purpose, question, information, inference, assumption, point of view, concepts, and implications. 
Sounds sterile and ideally logical, but there’s emotion sprinkled all over the place. Emotion like feeling stunned…when we get smacked in the mouth. Emotion like feeling disheartened when that punch puts us on our back. Emotion like not wanting to get up when we’re knocked down. Or the emotion of wanting to get back up as quickly as we can to keep on fighting. 
“If you have bananas on a pole, you’ll lose your bananas.”  -Dr. Claud Bramblett, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas in Austin
For more than a decade I’ve heard the story repeated. I didn’t know where it originated until I decided to find out. Here’s an infographic of the story.

Here’s the summary as evidenced by the infographic:

* A group of scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on the top.
* Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientists soaked the rest of the monkeys with cold water.
* After a while, every time a monkey went up the ladder, the others beat up the one on the ladder.
* After some time, no monkey dared to go up the ladder regardless of the temptation.
* Scientists then decided to substitute one of the monkeys. The 1st thing this new monkey did was to go up the ladder. Immediately the other monkeys beat him up.
* After several beatings, the new member learned not to climb the ladder even though he never knew why.
* A 2nd monkey was substituted and the same occurred. The 1st monkey participated in the beating of the 2nd monkey. A 3rd monkey was changed and the same was repeated (beating). The 4th was substituted and the beating was repeated and finally, the 5th monkey was replaced.
* What was left was a group of 5 monkeys that even though never received a cold shower, continued to beat up any monkey who attempted to climb the ladder.
* If it was possible to ask the monkeys why they would beat up all those who attempted to go up the ladder … I bet you the answer would be … “I don’t know — that’s how things are done around here” Does it sound familiar?
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