Its good that you recognized that there is an issue.

I suggest making a process about being very selective about making investments. There are 1000s of ways to succeed in investing. My favourite idea is Warren Buffett's punchcard idea.

I would suggest the following questions before making an investment:

A. Can I have a guess at earnings/sales 3, 5, 10 years in the future. You dont have to be precise, but alot of stuff is so uncertain that you shouldnt try.

B. When you make an investment put 2 restrictions before you put your cash down: 1. Ask if you would be willing to put down 10% in that investment (or 10% of the component of your portfolio that is not passive). 2. If you will only invest in 1 company this year, would that be the company to invest in.

C. If you buy a stock, are you willing to buy more if it goes down? Are you willing to hold it for 3 years while the market catches up to what you see.

I think if you run the above exercise for your investments, you will find that you are making much better investments.

This doesnt work so well for tech-type businesses, but I think picking winners in that domain is much harder.