Quote from SnakeEYE:
Find a mentor.You won`t make it on your own.
You really don't know that. Sure it's rare, but that was my road. People do succeed without a mentor.
Anyway, I think there is wisdom in limiting losses, starting small, trying to be humble, etc. But the truth is, I think getting severely beat up is undervalued.
It's likely that you'll read all of our advice and it won't be what you hoped to hear so you'll ignore it in favor of what you think is a better idea.
If the pride of your human nature is telling you that you're smarter than everyone else and that's why you don't need to follow the rules and such, I think the most reasonable course of action is to listen to your slimy prideful heart and try to get rich on the first try. Go ahead and blow up your account. Feel the pain. Blow it up again and again, 5 or 6 times, until the "Mirror" called the stock market shows you a clear image of just how filthy your heart really is. Then have a good cry. Not because you lost money, but because you can no longer deny the essence of your nature. You're a human being just like the rest of us. Just like all those people you want to think you have nothing in common with. Why do you even want to trade? You're trying to prove something to someone or yourself aren't you?
Avoiding severe pruning can be a setup for long term failure in the life of a fruit tree; moreso in the life of a person. Every great person I know of who has lived with outstanding emotional stability has come to the same conclusion after a time of gutwrenching failure. They realize "I'm no better than ______." As soon as you realize you're no better than whoever it is you'd love to believe you're better than, the rest of your life will have peace. Trying to avoid being associated or labeled as being of the same essence as another "kind" of person is the root of all kinds of high risk/low probability ventures.
Just do what your insides are saying to do. Keep denying who you are until it's horribly, horribly exposed. Then get humble, realize it doesn't really matter and it's not the end of the world, then become a stock market Billionairre over the next 30 or 40 years. It really doesn't matter.