The Philosopher's School Is A Hospital
"Men, the philosopher's lecture-hall is a hospital — you shouldn't walk out of it feeling pleasure, but pain, for you aren't well when you enter it."
— Epictetus, Discourses
Another interesting meditation today and the same message can be applied to trading.
Our pain as traders, comes from losses when we fail to control a loss at a manageable level and this can happen a few times as we are learning and developing.
I call this my tuition fees, as I learn to become better and better through countless hours of practice!
Everyone will have losses and it's how we deal with those losses, by controlling them and becoming resilient to them, that is so important and most of all, we must not give up!
An extremely high percentage of new traders give up after taking a few losses, because they want immediate success and to double or treble their trading bank in a few days. Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you; it doesn't work that way and you have to put in the hard work, which involves an incredible amount of resolve to keep going day in day out, learning from the mistakes that you make!
Persistence, patience and discipline are key to developing the correct trading mindset and becoming consistent in making the right decisions, as you follow your trading path.
So show up every day that you can and strive to be the very best. Some days, especially early ones on your trading journey, may feel like a hospital A&E department; but remember, it's all part of the learning curve and you must suffer some pain to get better and improve.
Stick to the plan 100% of the time, with no deviation and you've got this. You can do it without question!