The Only Prize
"What's left to be prized? This, I think — to limit our action or inaction to only what's in keeping with the needs of our own preparation . . . it's what the exertions of education and teaching are all about — here is the thing to be prized! If you hold this firmly, you'll stop trying to get yourself all the other things. . . . If you don't, you won't be free, self-sufficient, or liberated from passion, but necessarily full of envy, jealousy, and suspicion for any who have the power to take them, and you'll plot against those who do have what you prize. . . . But by having some self-respect for your own mind and prizing it, you will please yourself and be in better harmony with your fellow human beings, and more in tune with the gods — praising everything they have set in order and allotted you."
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Today's meditation is a deep thinking one for sure! As traders our "prize" so to speak is the reward that we get from sticking to our plan, day in day out with no distractions or delusions of grandeur. We have no self importance and we're certainly not eager to boast about our success to others via social media platforms. We quietly get on with the job in hand, practising on a daily basis to be fully conversant with our strategies, so we can get better and better as traders. We don't yearn for things that are realistically out of our reach, as this makes us want more and more and we will not be content with slow and steady progress. We will become impatient and patience is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated strategies for growth and progression! If we are not patient, disciplined and sticking to the plan, there then becomes a danger of pushing the boundaries of the rules/criteria for our strategies; trying to squeeze more and more profit, which will only end up with us being in trades that we shouldn't be involved in and taking chances that we simply just shouldn't be taking! We may get away with one or two, but eventually the unforgiving market will kick our ass big time! Patience, discipline and adopting the correct mindset, keeps us grounded!
For us, "The only prize" is gaining the satisfaction from seeing slow and steady progression on our trading journey.
Are you ready to stick to your rules and give it a try? Food for thought maybe.