It's amazing how easy it is to lose perspective.
No matter how experienced you are at doing something, no matter how much or how little education you may have perspective more often than not is everything.
It can mean the difference between success and failure right out of the gate, simply from of the viewpoint that "it can't be done" or "it can be done".
By the same token, it is just as easy to get that perspective back by having the right people around you.
Surround yourself with like minded people that encourage you and build you up.
Am I saying that they have to think the same way as you, dress the same way, have the same opinion and never disagree with you?
Absolutely not! The market does not always agree with me, but I look at it as a person (it's the psychology of the masses) and always "hang around it".
Mentors in your life are always looking to add to you and increase you in every way they can, not take from you.
No matter what your experience is in life, if you live long enough you will encounter enough things that will challenge you in every area of your being; mentally, physically and spiritually.
These challenges especially happen in trading, with winning streaks, that can make your prideful, and losing streaks that can get you down.
These life challenges will come in every area of your and through every access, your job, your friends and even your family.
It is a very wise person that guards his heart, his mind and his very soul. This begins with the eyes and ears.
Be very careful who you give your attention to, what you read and what you listen to.
What you focus on the longest is what you will become and he who has your ear for a long period of time is in control of your future.
If you are watching the financial talking heads and listening to them on a daily basis, you will end up a double minded man driven by every news flash and eventually end up a trading
wreck losing everything you have.
Remember if they really could trade they would be running a 100 billion Hedge Fund, not sharing their "tips" on TV.
Make sure to keep your perspective.
Even with what I share with you. If you don't accept all my trading advice, that is fine. I am happy to get through even to one person.
You may think this is a little deep for something as simple as trading ETFs and stocks.
Yet we have all heard the saying, "If only I knew then what I know now?".
I preface what I am about to say with the recommendation of, "only doing this briefly to learn from it, do not stay there long enough to dwell on it".
Well, I can look back over the many years of experience of trading and learn from the mistakes, the hundreds of thousands of dollars lost, the emotional distress and probably years that
it took away from my family.
Why?
All because of the lack of perspective, lack of vision and lack of a mentor helping me keep things in perspective.
Without the right people and right direction in my life I was blown around by every wind of doctrine (every trading system and trading book I found) in every direction like a ship without
a sail lost at sea.
Likewise today, no matter how successful one may become, the challenges only become greater.
We get this upside down worldly mentality that say and think that a man with a lot of money must not need help.
We think the person with little to no money needs all the help.
Not true, not by a long shot.
All the while the truth of it is, to whom much is given much is required.
So think about it. Why is it when I have $100 dollars to my name my wife is ready to help me manage the budget and pay the bills that are piling up?
Yet when I am a millionaire with more than enough, she fears that I do not need her and she pulls away in fear that I will leave her?
Do I not need her help more than ever before to manage the million dollars, the responsibilities and temptations that come along with
it?
Of course! So yes the "rich", still need help.
Yes the successful trader still needs help.
And to me that help comes in the form of keeping the right perspective.
The common view the market is as they do Vegas, it's just gambling.
You're either lucky or you're not.
Me personally I do not believe in luck. If you look at it strictly from a definition, "luck is where opportunity and preparation meet", ok I can buy into that.
Because it took preparation on your part. It takes work!
It doesn't happen by chance. Yes sometimes there is an aspect of chance involved, yet if you don't put the effort forth to be at the right place at the right time, you will not be available to that chance.
One of my mentors really put things into perspective for me here recently.
As a mentor myself, I have numerous opportunities to get really offended on a daily basis.
The choice is all mine. Many times with my children and grandchildren I tell them, "Look, you can be angry about what you don't have or you can be happy about what you do have. The choice is yours."
So I thought, "I will practice what I preach".
And then the rationalizing began.
I said to myself, "I don't know whether to be flattered, that he thinks I am that good; or, offended, that he thinks I'm lying about
it."
It's so funny how we adults can justify acting like children sometimes.
Anyway, when I mentioned this to my mentor, he calmly said, "Probably neither."
I mean in an instant my heart was pierced, probably only for reasons known to me.
But the point is that true mentors in your life are not there by chance or accident, it's a choice that we make. Just like you choose your job,
it was your choice.
Or you choose to read this far down this long article. Receiving mentorship is a choice.
And yes, something that simple very well could have made the difference between me making a rash decision of giving up and walking away from a very rewarding opportunity.
Just like in life, there are many ways to trade the market.
You can have very complicated software programs that you spend tons of money on or you can keep it simple.
You can run yourself ragged listening to every news station and Yahoo news wire that goes across the ticker.
Or when it's all said and done you can find a system that has a proven track record, one that works for you.
Not one that just makes money. In the end you will find that making money is really easy. The keyword being "in the end", that is after the learning curve.
If you don't believe me ask Ben Bernanke. In the end it's about making relationships, finding a good mentor that speaks into your life that keeps things in perspective. Then following that teaching.
In this case, it's about how to conquer the market.
That's the challenge. That's worth it's weight in gold. If you lose perspective, all else is soon to follow, including your trading accounts.
Helping you retire on time,
Big A
P.S – My mentor's favorite quote was, "A, never forget you can lose it ALL in one trade, never, never, never forget."
And by ALL, he also meant job, house and reputation.
