Nothing in This World Worth Having Comes Easy
Nothing In This World, Worth Having, Comes Easy
There were so many sacrifices I had to make. At the same time, there was so much personal growth. I knew what I wanted and I knew (after some time) what I'm getting myself into. It was never a blind-pursuit, although, in the beginning, I attacked it like an invincible, over-confident young person. It was a decision I made and accepted. I feel the efforts were worth it, anything less was insufficient. Everyone has to place a level of value to the efforts they exert, it's the compensation one has to pay.
Nothing in this world, worth having, comes easy.
People want the easy way out. They are not willing to work hard. You can measure people how they behave in the face of adversity, in the face of hardship, in the face of problematic situation. You can measure if they have what it takes, if they possess certain qualities, only then a few can rise up above the rest.
But you get to a point where other expertise are required for your development to achieve greater endeavors. No man is an island alone.
The very first trait in mastery is the ability to realize your own trait. Most important is your ability to realize your own mistake and lack. This aspect even gets worse because "You don't know what you don't know." It's no different from anyone singing the wrong note because they can't hear that they're singing the wrong note. Getting stuck in limbo is very typical. Going round in circles and unaware that you're just going nowhere. It's no different from a young hopeful, filled with dreams, ambitions and by the age 40–50 has little or nothing to show for it. The sad truth about this first trait is that most of the time, it takes 20 years (or more) to realize that you don't have what it takes. Unless you get an objective point of view from another to tell you what it is you're doing wrong or lacking.
Interesting enough, when you ask every person if they are a "kind person" you get 99% responding "yes" that they're a kind person (Of course there is a degree of level in each individual's kindness). In a group setting, it is objectively seen by the other group members.
It is the same with trading. Ask every individual who enters this game whether they have what it takes and you will get 99% responding "yes". The sad truth is that 90% do not have what it takes to succeed in this game. The "Search for the American singing idol" is an excellent example of this human behavior in motion.
Just like Hussain Bolt was predisposition with height, long legs, and fast-twitch muscles. People are predisposition with a certain level of intellect, natural talents, and physique. And in trading, it is a big edge to be predisposition with such natural talent in accordance with trading. Most people on the short end stick will find it hard to accept this.
Given enough time, any person on the short end of the stick can learn and perform the task. But the reality of life doesn't give the necessary length of time and energy — the allowance to learn and grow. Life is filled with hurdles; paying the bills working a 9–5 job, family commitment, health issues, accidents, daily grind, and distractions, etc.
Professional Coaches are screening for those natural talents. Because it takes a lot more effort in time and energy in training someone who doesn't have it. Even people screened for natural talents sometimes fall short, taking a bet on someone who doesn't have it is a very risky move. If we live in a world where there is no such thing as competition, then everybody can be trained to reach their full potential and society will benefit greatly from this. Unfortunately, we live in a competitive world, where time and delivery is the essence, thus resulting in a lot of people getting left behind.
The next points are your ability to adapt and the speed you learn/unlearn. Next is your ability to track your progress. Again, these traits are usually skewed subjectively in each individual. You simply need to understand the cone of learning. You can read a lot of materials, but you may not be aware that your retention and learning process is at its lowest form. Now, your cognitive bias will be telling you that you learned the material and that you are confident that you learned the material. But unfortunately, there is no teacher to shove your face to a big F (failure).
There are many "masters" in many different fields and they do possess similar traits:
- Perfectionists in attitude
- Highly philosophical (not biblical nor religious)
- Highly Multi-talented in many areas
- Realist rather than Idealist
- Confident decision-makers
- Problem solvers
- Rational thinkers
- Unmaterialistic
- Highly focused, excellent in concentration
- Highly conscientious
- Highly routine and disciplined
- Strong work ethics
- Humility
- "Pain before Pleasure" type of mentality
"Necessity over Pleasure" type of mentality
AKA: Delayed gratification - They highly value and have a strong meaningful connection with what they have: both materialistic and non-materialistic
- They take good care of their belongings: both materialistic and non-materialistic
- Early Risers
But How long would it take to be a trader?
"It would take as long as curing an addiction."
And there are no guarantees. There is no definite time frame. It is not a "one-size-fits-all". Have you ever notice how someone has been speaking English for many years yet still haven't an accent, or someone who has been typing on the computer for many years yet still haven't improved.
What makes trading a lot more complicated is that the lack of discipline is not just a habit, it is also due to an urge of impulse. And this is where "life experience" comes in. Have you done enough in life to improve yourself? Examples are succeeding at losing weight, running or exercising daily, quit smoking, any other life experiences that require disciplines such as bodybuilding or running a marathon, any accomplishments that required discipline such as achieving new years resolutions.
It takes discipline and mind management to achieve anything worthwhile. Mind management or discipline is not something you learn once. It is a continues process day in and day out. You don't exercise for a day and you stop and say that you are now fit for the rest of your life.
Knowledge and Experience are not counted by years.
The hardest part to accept is the fact that you can't do this in 5, 10, 20, or more years. A lot of people have been driving for 5, 10, 20 years and they're nowhere close to being a formula one driver. Without the proper education and training, you ain't going nowhere, even with 20 years of experience.
I think one must be a perfectionist in their personality. And then at one point will reach a crossroad that in order to succeed one needs to realize that imperfection is part of the equation. A perfectionist puts all their heart into what they do. Love, passion, and devotion are the elements that propel them to great achievements. Whatever it is in life one pursue, I believe that anyone who doesn't possess such elements will produce mediocre result.
The ability to achieve perfection in just about any endeavor is an unlikely prospect. What we refer to as perfection, in many cases, is more a perception as opposed to a reality. When we see something behave exactly as it was designed to and working without error, we say it is "perfect".
We all want perfection as much we want a peaceful and happy life. In many ways, we see that peaceful and happy life as nothing more than a function of perfection. The desire to do something perfect can be addictive and lead to obsession, as we all know how trading tends to evolve and affect in different ways.
Perfection is a perception and not a reality. Perceptions must change in order for reality to follow suit. Regardless of your own individual traits understand that this "journey" you have sought to undertake requires a tremendous amount of input. Dramatically changing your end result many times boils down to nothing more than changing your thought processes.
Adaptation is a long process. In the context of trading, to say "adapt or die" is not that simple. You have to go through the whole process of rebuilding from square one; research, trial, and error. It is not accomplished overnight. It is like building a new successful company from scratch.
Being in any field of endeavor for so many years doesn't equate (nor doesn't proportionately equate) to any measure of success nor any measure of certainty/truth. Sadly to say, it goes the same with trading.
Keep going down the rabbit hole, you are on the right trail.
Source: https://medium.com/marknomics/nothing-in-this-world-worth-having-comes-easy-97b3f557a3e5