Three Parts, One Aim
"The best and the greatest number of authors have asserted that philosophy consists of three parts: the moral, the natural, and the rational. The first puts the soul in order. The second thoroughly examines the natural order of things. The third inquires into the proper meaning of words, and their arrangements and proofs which keep falsehoods from creeping in to displace truth."
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 89.9
Today's meditation is a tough one to compare to trading, but it is definitely something to digest, about life in general and how stoics live their lives.
The "three parts" for stoics; the moral, the natural and the rational, have "one aim," to help you live a good life, ruled by reason.
To try and compare this to trading, I would say that the "three parts" for traders, would be the strategies, the execution and the management, which also have "one aim" to achieve long term profitability.
The big one there for me is the management. Not only do you have to manage your trades, but you also have to manage yourself, ensuring that you have zero distractions and you are "in the zone," adopting the correct mindset to achieve your trading goals, day in day out.
This is something that we have to practice working on, every time that we trade. It certainly isn't easy and it's why the majority eventually give up through impatience, when they realise how much hard work that they have to put in and don't see instant rewards!
It's a long and arduous journey, on your trading path, but if you remain persistent with a dogged determination to succeed, there is no reason why you can't achieve your trading goals.
As the stoics aim to live a good life, ruled by reason, so do we as traders, through the reasoning of sticking to the rules/criteria for our strategies, based on the historical stats/data that we have at our disposal.
Plenty to think about here.