Shiny Objects and Fantasy Football [Post 30]

In fantasy football, you draft the best and brightest players during the preseason, and their collective performances will determine your team’s success throughout the season (and probably your mood).

Unfortunately for you, when your best wide receiver is on Injured Reserve (IR), your running back is holding out for a contract extension, your quarterback tears their Achilles tendon, the guy who had 3 touchdowns in week 1 struggles the rest of the year, and the one time you don’t start your “sleeper” they have that 60 yard reception you’ve been waiting for… your whole season is in shambles and you become the laughingstock of the league. Hopefully there isn’t a punishment for last place this year.

The same can happen when trying to pick individual investments you think have great upside potential. Seemingly great companies can still manage to be lousy stocks to own. Picking just a few losers can completely drag down the entire portfolio. Even a big winner can do more harm than good if you can’t bring yourself to sell it while it goes into freefall, or one shiny investment experience singlehandedly causes you to get emotional with your other investment decisions.

There isn’t a foolproof way to pick stocks/active investments just like there isn’t a perfect way to draft a fantasy football team. There are too many unknowns to predict what’s to come.

Sometimes it’s just better to take a passive approach and leave emotions at the door. I may personally opt to let the computer auto draft my fantasy football team next year… Even if I don’t follow through with that, I have a sneaky feeling I would be better off having done it.

Image: P.F.F. (2023, September 5). 2023 Fantasy Football Draft Kit: Fantasy Football News, Rankings and Projections. PFF. https://www.pff.com/news/fantasy-football-draft-kit-2023