BarroMetrics Views: The Effort for Success
“The sucker play is always the same.. to make easy money. Greed, vanity, and laziness..(his) hope of gaining more keeps him from taking profits when he should;(his hope) of losing less….keeps him from taking a relatively small loss.” (Jess Livermore, “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator“)
This year I started a new career - closed the hedge fund and started to fulfill a dream to create the best educational institution in this part of the world. As with most things in life, it isn’t easy. My wife says the problem is I sell hard work. Of course I do, that goes with the territory. Trading is one of the most difficult, if not, the most difficult profession in the world. By the same token, it is one of the most rewarding - I wouldn’t dream to cease trading for myself. Besides, what other profession imparts the same life skills as the markets: none that I can think of.
I must admit that I don’t envy being a learner-trader. First off we need to weed out the educators who truly have something to impart and the pretenders (those who teach because it’s the easiest way to make an income for themselves BUT have value to return to the student). Then we need to overcome two major obstacles:
- We need to be willing to do whatever it takes to cognitively learn the skills and then
- We need to learn to apply the skills (know-how) to make the approach our own.
In short, we need to know what to do and then do what we know. And this process is harder than it sounds because ‘doing what know’ is the only way we internalise the process to make it our own. This ‘doing’, involves being the market and being open to losing and making money. In addition, in this learning process, we need to overcome the traps outlined by Jess Livermore. No wonder only 10% to 15% make the transition from ‘wannabe to success’.
No it ain’t easy; but if you are willing to do whatever it takes, then as with all things, you will get there.
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
