Hi.
To be honest, I don't know how to answer you question. Can you forget, I mean, truly get it out of your head? No, I don't think so. The tendencies or some kind of knowledge is always there, I think.
I think Iceman made a very good point. Yes, tendencies can be worked on, and you can make improvements. And if you battle it everyday, then you can keep the demons down. But you have to do that everyday, every waking moment. Now, I don't know about anyone, but for me, that is TOUGH.
Another thing about working with tendencies that we all have (whatever it is) - is that it can come back out of nowhere and BLOW UP IN A BIG WAY. Sometimes after years and years. After decades. That's why I don't get surprised when a successful trader or some fund manager gets blown out, after YEARS of success. I felt this when I read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. I didn't know anything about Jesse Livermore back then (it was recommended to me by a fellow trader, when I was just starting out), but after reading that book, I felt that he was gonna blow up in a big way again, before he died. It was as if he could keep the tendencies down for a while to succeed, and then all of sudden, the tendencies would come back and destroy him. Or, he kept the tendencies alive because he didn't want to be rid of them, and he kept them around long enough, and then at crucial moments (at pinnacles of success), he let them out. BOOM. I talked about this before, but it seems like some people have the tendency to self destruct, among many other things. It's like they want to. That Jesse Livermore guy - I mean, he had it all. But he couldn't take it. He couldn't take the following - doing what he loved to do (trading), enjoying the success of his labors, love from his wife, among many other things. He cheated on his wife, took bad positions, etc. And he self-destructed after many times of blowing up, and telling himself, no, promising himself that he would never be broke again, many times. As many of you probably know, he ended up killing himself. I guess he just couldn't take it.
Boy, this post sounds really negative. But I think it's true, and this is the reason why some traders make it while most do not. This is the tough part, I think.
Trading is brutally honest, I think, because you can't bullshit your way in trading. No disrespect, but in other professions, I think you can be totally dishonest with yourself and still be ok. Not trading, I don't think.
So I guess the final analysis is that we have these tendencies. We can work on them to keep them down, but they're always there. And constantly battling them is the hard part.
Ahhh well. Dad said success isn't easy, anyway.
Jake
To be honest, I don't know how to answer you question. Can you forget, I mean, truly get it out of your head? No, I don't think so. The tendencies or some kind of knowledge is always there, I think.
I think Iceman made a very good point. Yes, tendencies can be worked on, and you can make improvements. And if you battle it everyday, then you can keep the demons down. But you have to do that everyday, every waking moment. Now, I don't know about anyone, but for me, that is TOUGH.
Another thing about working with tendencies that we all have (whatever it is) - is that it can come back out of nowhere and BLOW UP IN A BIG WAY. Sometimes after years and years. After decades. That's why I don't get surprised when a successful trader or some fund manager gets blown out, after YEARS of success. I felt this when I read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. I didn't know anything about Jesse Livermore back then (it was recommended to me by a fellow trader, when I was just starting out), but after reading that book, I felt that he was gonna blow up in a big way again, before he died. It was as if he could keep the tendencies down for a while to succeed, and then all of sudden, the tendencies would come back and destroy him. Or, he kept the tendencies alive because he didn't want to be rid of them, and he kept them around long enough, and then at crucial moments (at pinnacles of success), he let them out. BOOM. I talked about this before, but it seems like some people have the tendency to self destruct, among many other things. It's like they want to. That Jesse Livermore guy - I mean, he had it all. But he couldn't take it. He couldn't take the following - doing what he loved to do (trading), enjoying the success of his labors, love from his wife, among many other things. He cheated on his wife, took bad positions, etc. And he self-destructed after many times of blowing up, and telling himself, no, promising himself that he would never be broke again, many times. As many of you probably know, he ended up killing himself. I guess he just couldn't take it.
Boy, this post sounds really negative. But I think it's true, and this is the reason why some traders make it while most do not. This is the tough part, I think.
Trading is brutally honest, I think, because you can't bullshit your way in trading. No disrespect, but in other professions, I think you can be totally dishonest with yourself and still be ok. Not trading, I don't think.
So I guess the final analysis is that we have these tendencies. We can work on them to keep them down, but they're always there. And constantly battling them is the hard part.
Ahhh well. Dad said success isn't easy, anyway.
Jake
(le petit lion c'est si mignon!)