Seasons come and go, markets change and evolve, but human behavior hardwired into the brain has not really changed much since the time of the Neanderthal.
Every one of you reading this wants to make money in the markets. The principles, while simple, are not easy. Take personal responsibility for your trades, execute ruthlessly, cut losses quickly, stay healthy in body, mind and spirit, practice good risk management, plan your trade and trade your plan, master your emotions, practice patience, do more of what is working, and take profits on a regular basis. This sounds easy, but the majority of you struggle daily to do these things. You search continually for something---an indicator, a method, a newsletter, a guru. You are looking for answers in all the wrong places.
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength and courage to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles...Christopher Reeve
There is one immutable fact that underlies all successful trading: The answer is within you. It is not out there somewhere. It is about your brain (your true trading system) and HOW, not WHAT you think. Traders, with few exceptions, are made not born. Anyone, given the passion, determination and willingness to work hard, lose, fall down and keep getting up, can learn to trade successfully. I have three doctorate degrees: an M.D in Psychiatry, a Ph.D. in Brain Anatomy and a Ph.D. in futures market losses. I had to get the last one in order to get a true grip on who I really was as a person in the realms of risk and money. Long story--three excruciatingly painful years-- but if I can do it, you can do it.
How? You must believe totally that you are called to trading, that it is the one thing about which you are completely passionate and that you are willing to forego everything else in order to succeed. Moreover, you must learn to think in probabilities and entrain the qualities of being counterintuitive and peripatetic. You must become a chameleon, a great actor and acrobat on the largest and most intimidating stage in the world. Most of all, you must be absolutely determined and passionate about it. If you can take these steps—slowly and one at a time-- you have a chance to make it.
2010 is upon us. Is this the year you will find the courage to follow your passion and do what it takes to become a successful trader? If so, then see yourself as the most brilliant firework lighting up the sky. Settle for nothing less than your personal best. Let 2010 be YOUR year to shine like the brightest star in the universe. Is this your time? If now not, then when?
Courage is more exhilarating than fear, and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight...just one step at a time, meeting each new thing that comes up, seeing it not as dreadful as it appeared and discovering we have the strength to stare it down...Eleanor Roosevelt
