The sky is falling." And Chicken Littles are effective because everyone of us is a little the rat race-the first question to ask yourself is, "How do I respond to failure?" If failure inspires you to win, maybe you should go for it-but only maybe. If failure makes you weak or causes you to throw temper tantrums-like spoiled brats who call an attorney to file a lawsuit every time something does not go their way-then play it safe. Keep your daytime job. Or buy bonds or mutual funds. But remember, there is risk in those financial instruments also, even though they are safer. I say all this, mentioning Texas and Fran Tarkenton, be- cause stacking the asset column is easy. It's really a low- aptitude game. It doesn't take much education. Fifth-grade math will do. But staking the asset column is a high-atti- tude game. It takes guts, patienceand_a_great attitude to- ward failure. Losers avoid failingTAnd failure tuTnslosers into winners. Just remember the Alamo. Reason No. 2. Overcoming cynicism. "The sky is falling. The sky is falling." Most of us know the story of "Chicken Little," who ran around warning the barnyard of impending doom. We all know people who are that way. But we all have a "Chicken Little" inside each of us. And as I stated earlier, the cynic is really a little chicken. We all get a little chicken when fear and doubt cloud our thoughts. All of us have doubts. "I'm not smart." "I'm not good enough." "So and so is better than me." Or our doubts often paralyze us. We play the "What if?" game. "What if the economy crashes right after I invest?" Or "What if I lose control and I can't pay the money back?" "What if things don't go as I planned?" Or we have friends or loved ones who will remind us of our shortcomings regardless of whether we ask. They often say, "What makes you think chicken. It often takes great courage to not let rumors and talk of doom and gloom affect your doubts and fears. In 1992, a friend named Richard came from Boston to visit my wife and me in Phoenix. He was impressed with what we had done through stocks and real estate. The prices of real estate in Phoenix were depressed. We spent two days with him showing him what we thought were ex- cellent opportunities for cash flow and capital apprecia- tion. My wife and I are not real estate agents. We are strictly investors. After identifying a unit in a resort community, we called an agent who sold it to him that afternoon. The price was a mere $42,000 for a 2-bedroom townhome. Similar units were going for $65,000. He had found a bargain. Ex- cited, he bought it and returned to Boston. Two weeks later, the agent called to say that our friend had backed out. I called immediately to find out why. All he said was that he talked to his neighbor, and his neigh- bor told him it was a bad deal. He was paying too much. I asked Richard if his neighbor was an investor. Richard said "no.