I started getting involved after the 2008 crash which coincided with when I graduated high school. I thought the future was the great depression and I thought what f'n great timing....of having to start my "real life".
I was curious to figure out why and how I could have seen the crash coming and the stories of how people struck it rich by betting on the market collapse, which made me BIASED to a direction that was looking back completely wrong.
After listening to the likes of Marc Faber and Jim Rogers, I agreed with their view and was one of the gold/silver bugs thinking the fed was gonna just print print print and cause hyperinflation while the market was headed for a crash or something like that. (I distinctly remember buying 3x leveraged bear etfs before SP500 made a higher high post 2008 crash.)(I mean technically they were still correct considering we are now at QE4 and the dollar hasn't broken above key level while gold has made new highs in almost all other currencies).
Looking back with the technical knowledge I have gained, I would have been buying instead in 2009, 2011 and this is what gives me confidence now that I have grown from my novice ways. Also by being highly focused on what caused the crash, I have at least been able to call every correction correctly since the 2009 lows.
To sum it up, I had VERY high expectations of myself and figure I would strike it rich considering I was positioned with the people who have seen and called the crash coming.
12 years later from the initial start/expectations, I have experienced so many swings. Emotionally ,mentally its been crushing but I have NO REGRETS
I still stand and by being able to stay in the game I have learned from MANY of my mistakes.
Now I don't have a bias towards what the market ought to be doing, now I simply go with the flow of the market. My entries have been very fine tuned, and my exits are fast if I am proven wrong. My ego has completely dissipated and have been humbled tremendously.
And as of now, I don't have any expectations of myself, only goals. I am only focused on the process of doing what needs to be done to be a successful trader.
Thus to sum it up, I have learned to not have expectations, just focus on the process, doing what needs to be done to get to the goal I have set for myself.
It's a matter of time when there is an ample track record of being consistent in the futures market, I just amp up the # of contracts, and start living the life I had set for myself.