Let’s get this out in the open right from the start: stock traders have absolutely nothing to complain about unless…(I will get to this in a moment).
“I USED TO COMPLAIN ABOUT MY SHOES UNTIL I MET A MAN WHO HAD NO FEET.” Unknown
Think about your life as a trader and list some of the characteristics. Here are mine:
Work is not a dirty word but a lifestyle. If you have a life then there is no such thing as work.
Work when you want to not because you have to. The when is up to you not the time clock.
Work how you want to not because you are told to. No deadlines to meet in the trading room.
Wear what you want (if you trade at home). In this case, PJs are a good option.
Work where you want. The internet has made this more than a dream but a reality.
Spend your free time doing what you want to do. If you have a set-up (set of rules) for trading like I do, I know that there will be many hours or days where there is nothing to trade. Go do something else: fish, read, exercise. spend time with the kids, even clean the house. Just do something else!
Make money as a result of your own efforts not because of your loyalty to the monthly check.
The list can go on and on and can vary from trader to trader but you get the point. We really do have the “dream job” even if it can get frustrating at times.
UNLESS…
This bring us the the UNLESS of the equation.
If we do complain it most likely grows out of the seeds of discontent. These seeds of discontent come in all shapes and sizes but mainly revolve around purely emotional responses to that which we cannot control: the stock market.
One of the many lessons I had to learn early in my trading was (and is) the fact that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. Once I accepted this (and you must accept it!) I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. If you try to fight something where you have no chance of winning you will wear yourself out fighting. You cannot control the stock market!! Stop fighting it!!
Once you stop fighting the market and work with it you will gain the confidence needed to make your living trading. For me, trading became “easy” when I stopped fighting the stock market and, instead, focused on finding just one highly probable trade set up.
I call this the CROSSHAIRS and it is all I focus on. Nothing else.
This shift from fighting the uncontrollable to controlling the focus turned my trading upside down!
The only complaint I have: why did it take so long for me to find the “secret”.
