Don’t Trade for the Money
I have met many successful people, and the one thing that they have in common
is that they love what they do. Many have told me they can’t believe that they
actually get paid for doing what they do. They have so much fun they feel guilty
taking money for doing it. Many successful people will tell you that they would do
what they do even if they weren’t paid at all.
SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DON’T WORK FOR THE MONEY
Work hard and love what you are doing and the money will follow. Successful
people work first and count the money later. Sometimes they don’t ever count it,
and some don’t even know (or care) how much they have. They just know that
they have enough to allow them to continue what they are doing; working hard
and having fun.
LOVE TRADING FOR ITS OWN SAKE
I know that many individuals want to trade because they think that they can make
a lot of money easily and quickly. Because of the low start-up costs for trading as
compared to other businesses, they think that trading should be the easy road to
riches. Their goal is to make a lot of money fast. These are the people who come
to seminars and want an indicator that will guarantee profits. They don’t want to
learn the ins and outs of the business; they want the magic indicator that will get
them the money they desire. They are doomed to failure.
I remember a guy named John walking into a seminar I was about to teach. He
threw up his hands and said, “Ah, Traders! I am glad to be home.” This individual
was a successful trader. John loved going to seminars, not so much for the
techniques and indicators, but for the camaraderie. He loved being around traders,
talking with traders, analyzing trading strategies and techniques, and learning
about the latest and greatest trading technology. He loved learning the latest
features added to TradeStation and finding out a new way to use EasyLanguage.
He loved designing new indicators, and spent countless hours working on new
and different ways to exit the market. He was excited about getting up early in the
morning to monitor the overnight market information and checking what the S&P
was doing in London. He looked forward to calling his broker and putting in his
orders. He loved watching his strategy run on TradeStation. He was exhilarated
when he had to call his broker and give him a lot of grief for the latest bad fill. He even loved losing trades. Even when he had to take a losing trade, he was still
doing what he loved to do—trade.
John is a successful trader. He loves what he is doing. And as long as he can keep
on trading, he will be happy. The money he makes is secondary, but he makes a
lot of it. He can’t believe that he can have all of this fun and make money as well.