Investing

Worth $130 Billion, Warren Buffett Reveals How He Handles Stress

Kristin Hitchcock

Published: August 10, 2024 11:30 am

Warren Buffett is one of the most quoted people alive, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that many of his quotes touch on the topic of stress. We all grapple with stress in our lives, but Warren Buffett’s quotes on stress reveal some new ways of dealing with it. 

Buffett may be best known for his unparalleled ability to read a company, but this isn’t an accident. Much of his success comes from his relaxed temperament and accumulation of knowledge, which anyone can learn how to do. 

We’ll look at some of his most profound stress-relief strategies below. First, though, let’s look at some key insights:

• Buffett emphasizes the importance of concentrating on a few key things rather than doing everything. By simplifying everything and avoiding unnecessary complexity, you can reduce stress and increase your likelihood of success. 
• Buffett highlights the value of anticipating challenges and building resilience. You should avoid focusing on problems and instead focus on the strategies that will overcome these problems. Being proactive can significantly reduce your stress. 
• Knowledge is key to dealing with stress and being successful. Warren Buffett reportedly reads for six hours a day! You should learn all you can about a topic before making a decision or taking action. For instance, before investing in the chip industry, you may want to read our free report on “The Next NVIDIA.”

Why Are We Covering This?

Warren Buffett is one of the biggest investing gurus of our time. As you might expect, this also means we pay close attention to him. This includes what he’s doing in the investing world (you can look at some of his biggest wins in our article “1 Warren Buffett Owned Stock With Big Upside This Year.“) and what he says. 

1. A Relaxed Mind

Buffett once said: “I try to be pretty relaxed. I’ve never worried about making money.” This quote by Buffett is a testament to his laidback approach to life and investing, despite how it may look from the outside. It might seem counterintuitive for one of the world’s wealthiest individuals to claim indifference to money, but the essence of his message lies in his perspective. 

Buffett isn’t suggesting he doesn’t value wealth. After all, he wouldn’t be investing if he wasn’t interested in building wealth. However, he isn’t concentrated on money, as it can even distract from the core principles of investing. 

By maintaining a more relaxed and focused mindset, Buffett is able to concentrate on the fundamentals of his business, where he believes true value is created. His relaxed nature and detachment from short-term market fluctuations prevent him from making poor decisions driven by greed or fear. 

Money as a Tool

Buffett views money as a tool – not as the end in itself. Money is a means to achieving other goals, such as building a successful business or giving back to society. Money doesn’t dominate Buffett’s thoughts, so he’s able to use it logically without emotional attachment. 

2. The Importance of Self-Care

Surprisingly, Warren Buffett also has something to say about self-care: “You only get one mind and one body. And it’s got to last a lifetime. But if you don’t take care of that mind and that body, they’ll be a wreck 40 years later.” You are your greatest asset, and you are not unlimited. 

It’s important to avoid the common tendency to prioritize work and ambition over personal well-being, especially when we are younger. Our minds and bodies are a prized position that requires consistent maintenance. Just as a car needs regular maintenance to function, so do our minds. 

The Dangers of Neglect

Neglecting our physical or mental health can have far-reaching consequences, though they tend to be delayed. Chronic stress and a lack of exercise can slowly erode our cognitive abilities, impairing our judgment and diminishing our quality of life. On the other hand, investing in self-care ensures that we continue to work well years into the future. 

Buffett’s wisdom calls on us to prioritize our health so that we can live a fulfilling and productive life. 

3. The Subtlety of Stress

Stress isn’t always a wrecking ball, and it isn’t always caused by giant problems. Warren Buffett once said: “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” Many of the habits that we carry through life are the exact things that are causing stress. We often don’t feel this stress until the habits become so ingrained that they’re almost impossible to break. 

Stress is often a silent adversary. It creeps into our lives subtly. It often begins as a minor habit, like excessive caffeine consumption or neglecting physical activity. All of these habits may seem harmless or even pleasurable, but they add up over time, leading to stress. 

A Habitual Chain

Much like the metaphorical chains, these habits, when unchecked, grow heavier and more restrictive. They can manifest physically as fatigue, insomnia, or digestive issues. Mentally, these poor habits can lead to anxiety and irritability. Once insignificant effects compound into formidable obstacles. 

Recognizing the early signs of a poor habit is important. If you can identify habits before they start causing stress, you can break free much easier. 

At the same time, the truth of habits also means that you can develop good habits, which can help reduce stress caused by external events. You will have habits, but it’s up to you to pick your habits carefully. 

4. The Power of No

One of Warren Buffett’s most well-known quotes is, “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” However, very few people realize that the reason saying “no” works so well is that it eliminates many sources of stress. 

In a world of busyness, the ability to decline opportunities seems counterintuitive. Shouldn’t you want to do as much as possible? However, the key to success is not doing all the things. It’s about doing the important things well (and there are often fewer important things than you may realize). 

Stress often arises when you’re overwhelmed, and you can eliminate this issue by saying “no.” Make “no” your default. This prevents you from feeling the need to constantly juggle your life, which can lead to anxiety and decreased productivity. 

Establishing Boundaries

Moreover, saying no can help establish healthy boundaries. When we learn to say no, we reduce the pressure to meet others’ expectations. The only expectations that are important are our own. By focusing on a smaller number of commitments, you can meet your own goals – not the goals of others. 

Saying “no” is one of the easiest forms of stress control you can select. 

5. Heroes and Stress

A lesser-known Warren Buffett quote is, “The best thing I did was to choose the right heroes. It’s important to have the right heroes in life. They will form your character in life more than almost anything else.”

The people in life we choose to admire and emulate shape our values and beliefs. They influence how we see challenges and setbacks. If we choose people who model resilience and perseverance in the face of stress, we’re far more likely to develop these qualities, too. 

On the other hand, if our heroes exhibit chronic stress, we’re also very likely to develop chronic stress. While the choice ultimately lies with us, the people we look up to will have a huge impact on our stress levels. 

Selecting Role Models

It’s vital to select role models that embody the qualities we want to have. In the case of stress, of course, this means not being stressed. By consciously selecting role models, we can choose those who have a good handle on their stress levels. These heroes can inspire us to develop our own health mechanisms and set realistic goals. 

6. The Stress of Risk

One of the times we’re most stressed is during risky periods. Whether these periods are very short (like our car sliding across the ice) or long (like watching the market tank), they lead to stress. Warren Buffett is famous for explaining “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” Therefore, stress also comes from not knowing what you’re doing. 

Imagine driving a race car. If you aren’t a very good driver, soaring around the track will probably cause tons of stress. It’s a risk that you don’t know how to handle. However, if you have hundreds of track hours, driving around the track again hardly matters. Life is the same way. 

When there is a risk that you don’t know how to handle, you’re more likely to be stressed. So, how do you counteract this? Learn what you’re doing. 

Knowledge as the Antidote to Stress

Knowledge is the best way to reduce stress. When we understand the factors at play and know how to handle them, we will feel more in control. This sense of control is what makes us feel secure and not stressed. 

If uncertainty leads to stress, then knowledge is the direct antidote to stress. ‘

7. Building Your Ark

Buffett’s quote, “Predicting rain doesn’t count. Building arks does,” may seem like common sense. After all, if it’s raining, you need to get an umbrella, not just stand in the rain! If you see rain coming, that means it’s time to prepare. 

Sadly, many people don’t do this, especially as far as the stock market is concerned. Many people are perfectly fine predicting rain and then telling everyone, “I told you so.” But then they wonder why they’re drowning, too!

Instead of spending time predicting future problems, we should focus on the solutions to those problems. If you spend your time building arks, the coming rain won’t raise your pulse. 

A Shield Against Stress

Buffett recommends the more constructive approach of creating resources and strategies to weather any storm. This involves developing coping mechanisms for stress, as well as dealing with the actual problem at hand. 

We should always take proactive steps to strengthen our resilience to stress. After all, we will feel stressed at some point! When challenges inevitably arise, we want to be as equipped as possible to handle the situation at hand. That means taking a proactive stance, not just predicting the inevitable storm. 

8. The Draw of Complexity

Investing can be incredibly complicated, but Warren Buffett’s investing strategy is incredibly simple: invest in good companies. Similarly, he’s also discussed how humans tend to make things far more complicated than they need to be: “There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.”

This problem manifests in many different ways. You may overthink a simple decision, for instance, creating more problems for yourself in the process. We also complicate our relationships with unnecessary drama or transform straightforward tasks into complicated projects. 

All of these things can lead to unnecessary stress. 

The Simplicity Mindset

To mitigate this stress, we must develop an eye for simplicity. Instead of making things more complicated, make them less complicated. Being in the present movement can help prevent unneeded complexities. Embracing simplicity is surprisingly straightforward, but it can take some dedication to let the complexity go. 

After all, it’s easy to feel like you’re missing something when everyone around you stresses the complexity. 

9. When to Abandon Ship

Warren Buffett’s metaphor of the chronically leaking boat goes like this: “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” 

Yes, perseverance is important. However, it’s also important to know when to let go. Sometimes, seeking a new path is the best option. Being stuck in a sinking boat is incredibly stressful. It’s easy to get consumed by the problem and constantly try to patch up the problems. However, the constant effort can be counterproductive and draining. 

A stressful situation may require more than just a temporary fix. Sometimes, the underlying issue is too deep-rooted to be fixed. In these cases, redirecting energy towards a different approach can be the best strategy. 

When Patching Doesn’t Work

When you’ve tried to fix a situation over and over again, that doesn’t mean you should just keep throwing yourself at it. This doesn’t mean giving up. It’s about making a conscious decision to pick a different path. If you can recognize when it’s time to move on, you can also recognize when it’s time to take up new opportunities. 

10. Focus 

Warren Buffett’s statement, “You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong,” offers a powerful framework for stress reduction. Yes, you should avoid making as many mistakes as possible. However, that doesn’t mean that you have to do everything right, either. 

Instead of becoming stressed by every decision that comes across your desk, focus on just a few key areas where you can do the most good. Avoid making significant mistakes in other areas, but don’t worry too much about doing everything as well as possible all the time. 

You will have to pick what balls to drop, as none of us are superhuman. It’s more about picking the right balls to never drop than never dropping any balls. 

Avoiding Critical Errors

How do you avoid critical errors? By following many of the guidelines we’ve already discussed. Focus on building as much knowledge as possible. Keep things simple. Take care of your mental capacity. All of these factors can help you reduce the chance of a critical error, especially if you also practice saying “no.”

Shift your focus from trying to do everything perfectly to just avoiding catastrophic failures and doing the most important things right. It just takes a few wins.