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Bill Ackman on dealing with disaster: “Make a little progress every day”

February 26, 2024

After losing $4 billion in Valeant Pharmaceuticals, other Wall Street investors started betting against his firm, Pershing Square, to further compound its catastrophic 30%+ loss and force a liquidation.

To make matters worse, his shareholders filed a lawsuit and he was in the middle of a divorce.

He eventually bought back control of his company with a loan from JP Morgan, settled the shareholder lawsuit, and resolved his divorce. But when asked how he dealt with his psychology during this period, Bill responds:

“This was not my first proximity to disaster. I had another moment in my career in 2002, and I learned this method for dealing with these kind of moments which is: you just make a little progress every day.”

During this period, he would say to himself:

“Today, I’m going to wake up and make progress. I’m going to make progress on the litigation; I’m going to make progress on the portfolio; I’m going to make progress on my life.”

He explains in the clip below:

“Progress compounds a bit like money compounds. You don’t see a lot of progress in the first few weeks and you can’t look up at the mountain top where you used to be, because you’ll just give up. Just take it step by step by step… And one day, you wake up, and you’re like ‘wow, it’s amazing how far I’ve come.’”

He reflects on the chart of Pershing Square’s share price:

“That huge drop that felt like a complete, unbelievable disaster looks like a little bump on the curve. And that really gives you perspective on these things. You just have to power through…. Nutrition, sleep, exercise, and a little progress everyday.”