Quote of the Day - Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
“One has to investigate the principle in on thing or one event exhaustively. Things and the self are governed by the same principle. If you understand one, you understand the other, for the truth within and the truth without are incidental.”
“A vivid example of doing small things well is Rory McIlroy, the young golfer who recently won the British Open. He revealed, before the competition, that he had two secret words that were his cues for success. He invited the media to guess the words, but no one was successful. The words were “process” and “spot”. His entire focus was on the process of taking the right swing with his long shots and hitting desired spots on the green with his putting. No thoughts of where he stood in the competition; no thoughts of how he performed on the previous hole. Rory was entirely present-centered, absorbed in the mechanics of doing the right things and letting the score take care of itself.”
“The market will seldom reward the carelessness of trades born of desperation.”
“The best decisions he has made in his life, he said, were completely unexpected, the ones that cut against convention. Then he went even further. He said that every decision he has forced himself to make because it was unexpected has been a good one. It was refreshing to hear a case for unpredictability in this age of careful career planning. It would be nice if it were true.”
“Now, if you know you have won the game of trading before you start, then there is no problem taking a loss, because you understand that is just part of the way of getting to the ultimate gain.”
“The point is that if you listen to anyone else’s opinion, no matter how skillful or smart they might be, I guarantee it is going to end badly.”
“The hard work in trading comes in the preparation. The actual process of trading, however, should be effortless.”
“The essence of the idea is that you have to learn to let the arrow shoot itself… In trading, just as in archery, whenever there is effort, force, straining, struggling, or trying, it’s wrong… The perfect trade requires no effort.”
The Paradox
Now here is the irony. Why are so many people attracted to trading? Because is seems like an easy way to make a lot of money. But the fact is that the people who are really successful in trading are tremendously hard workers. This dichotomy between between perception and reality as it pertains to trading success and work leads to the following paradox. You’ll grant me that no sane person would think of going into a book store, walking over to the medical books section, finding a book titled Techniques of Brain Surgery, studying it over the weekend, and then Monday morning walking into a hospital operating room believing he was ready to perform brain surgery. No sane person would think this way.
Yet how many people do you know who think there was absolutely nothing unusual about going into a book store, walking to the business book section, buying a book called How I Made $1,000,000.00 in the Stock Market Last Year, reading it over the weekend, and then Monday morning believe they can beat the market professionals at their own game.
- Jack Schwager, The Little Book of Market Wizards
“The safety should come by concentration in the one outstanding, fast trading leader that is jumping in the right direction.”
“Are you certain you watch your capital closely to free from smoke before it becomes fire?”
“The main challenge is to identify the current leaders and to spot the new leaders who are waiting to take over”