Originally posted by bone
I've always believed (along with alot of other veteran traders, for that matter) that the limelight is the kiss of death in this business. Every time that I start to believe my own B.S. the market seems to take great issue with my ego. It's a battle royal for me every day that I step into the pit, or log onto the computer.
Absolutely!!! When no one knows who you are, there are no standards but your own. There is no one to stroke your ego and no stressful crap to put up with, no annoying "fans" to bombard you with questions and waste your time and treat you like superman (which you're not).
Years ago I thought it was a quirky coincidence that so many great traders fiercely guard their privacy. Now I realize that it's no coincidence at all.
To reach the highest levels of trading prowess, you have to beat down your pride with a crowbar or the market does it for you. You have to screw up morning, noon and night for days, months or sometimes even years before everything falls into place. You have to maintain your humility day in and day out, always watching your back, always remembering that the market is bigger than you are, that you are just a drop in the ocean, that without discipline you are dead.
In otherwords, you have to become a lot like one of those monks in a remote monastery: perfect discipline, no distractions, no ego, no focus on the past, no fear of the future.
After all that struggle to get to that place- along with getting the knowledge burned into your brain that you are not bigger than the market, that no one is nor will ever be- why in the @#$@# would you care about being idolized by a bunch of know nothings who think you are some kind of magician? Why would you want their baggage or even care what they think of you at all?