First off, remind yourself that you’re not as dumb as your portfolio makes you feel. You have bought a stock (once or twice) that made you money. Here’s what I do-- I pull out a chart of a stock on which I made a boatload of money, or the one I sold (for the right reasons) before it declined. I do this with pleasure trying to relive my "smart days."

We all have these stocks, the ones we nailed. We tend to forget about them during the bear market. But I suggest you remember them now, when you feel lonely and miserable. That way you'll have more of those names to remember in the future.

Remember, cash will not bring the pleasure of victory in the long-run. The cyclical bull market is still there; it’s just hiding under the ugly sentiment of the cyclical bear market. Believe me, it’s just a matter of time before it shows its happy face.

In the bear market, it’s easy to forget about buying. Selling is an easier decision to make. Every time you buy a stock you look dumb because it usually goes down afterward. I recently bought couple of incredibly cheap stocks. Of course they declined, and I don’t feel smart about those buys right now.

However, a while back, I analyzed those companies, figured out what they were worth, determined an appropriate margin of safety and got my buy prices. Stocks declined, but fundamentals haven’t changed. So I bought these stocks.

You can’t worry about marking the "bottom" in every buy. My objective isn’t to buy at the "bottom" and sell at the "top." My objective is to buy a great company when it’s cheap and to sell it when it’s fairly valued! I suggest you do the same. Will Roger’s advice is great, but unfortunately I’ve yet to meet a human being who figured out how to apply it in real life. No, you are not as dumb as bear markets make you feel.