What We Should Know By The End
"Soon you will die, and still you aren't sincere, undisturbed, or free from suspicion that external things can harm you, nor are you gracious to all, knowing that wisdom and acting justly are one and the same."
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Another really tough meditation to compare to trading and I feel that I am being severely tested in my final month of writing these daily journals!
I can still take some pointers from today's meditation, such as "We are unfinished products up until the end"
In trading terms, we are definitely unfinished, because we are forever evolving and developing on our trading journey and we are also learning about our trading techniques and the strategies that we use. Also just as importantly, we are learning about ourselves; how we react to situations in the heat of the moment, when we need to react swiftly to cut short a trade that may be running away from us.
Some days will go pretty much perfect for us and then other days it can be much more difficult, but we must be ready and prepared for any scenario, once a trade goes in play. Like I have said many times previously, always be ready to expect the unexpected, because anything can happen and we have to sometimes react accordingly, with very little thinking time! This is where the repetitive practice is so important, so that we get to know our strategies inside out and back to front, rinse and repeat; becoming almost robotic in our decision making. This gives us the confidence and belief, as we become more and more consistent, as time goes by.
Another pointer from today's meditation; "The earlier we learn, the more we can enjoy the fruits of our labour on our character-- and the sooner we can be free (or freer) of insincerity, anxiety, ungraciousness and un-Stoic-ness"
This one is pretty self explanatory and it reinforces that we need to learn exactly how to react, to any given scenario during a trade. When we are confident of reacting to any scenario during a trade, we are becoming less anxious and we have less chance of becoming angry and upset, because we are making the right decisions in a heartbeat at times.
So let us learn and ply our trade so to speak and as a result, we are not only character building, but we can also hopefully enjoy the fruits of our labour. Food for thought perhaps?