<prompt> Human: Many of us know not to time the market and to avoid over-hyped stocks, but despite this we sometimes let our less rationale selves win. Thats what I did and I lost 5745 since Jan 6th of this year. Lost 470 because I decided to drop 1000 into bitcoin due to all the hype. I happened to buy at its second highest peak and Ive lost 53 of the initial investment. Lost 1098 on weed and online gambling stocks due to similar reasons. I bought into the marijuana stock hype for 3,000 and bought 500 worth of online gambling stock to try and capitalize on the recent US Supreme Court decision that online sports betting is now legal. Both down a total of 1098. Lost 4177 by trying to time the market during the drops in early February even though I know not to do that. I sold off my holdings in one account in time to avoid losing a few extra percent, but totally missed the boat on the market rebound and ended up 4 worse than if I had stayed in.In total, these three stupid mistakes have cost me 5745 since the beginning of this year not counting that additional gains I would have had from putting the 4500 I spent on BTC, weed stocks, and gambling stocks into an index fund instead.While these wont screw me financially, it amounts to 6 of my invested net worth so it stings a bit for sure. Also, I know that the first two losses above arent realized until I sell the holdings, but Im being stubborn and hoping they rebound a bit before I do. This is also probably a bad idea... TLDR: Just stick your in an index fund and let it ride.  <response>: This is why contrarian investing is becoming so much more popular. If you had taken the exact opposite positions, you would be ahead by the same amount. You cant get ahead by anticipating what the market is going to do, you have to anticipate what others think the market is going to do, and the futility of trying to predict human behaviour is why its so hard to time the markets. 