Recognition — Part 6
You don’t have to be here
Becoming the greatest trader on Earth will not get you into Heaven.
Even if you never become great at this, a very real possibility that we may not want to face, the absence of that potential greatness won’t be what defines your life. Trading is not where meaning is found, but this statement is not meant to deter you from the journey, in fact quite the opposite. For without meaning, the best possible scenario after enough time doing this is that you will simply move on from lack of inspiration, the worst case is that you quit sometime very soon.
Why are you here and what’s keeping you?
There is a good reason why many traders don’t go into heavy detail about where their motivation comes from, and that’s because it will be different for everyone and so the message can be hard to relate. Some people come to the table with a strong belief in themselves that was fostered in a different environment and simply carries over. Some, like me, had to discover what that thing was in the process of development, but none can survive without some kind of deeper motivation.
Having a higher pursuit will allow you to approach trading with the freedom of someone who is truly unafraid of failure, because your failures in trading will have no bearing on that higher pursuit if it is truly higher.
I had to discover something about life that was more important to me than becoming a skilled trader. For me that thing was my understanding of life itself, or why anything ought to exist at all. Philosophy and eventually, the God question in short. And while I’m happy to say I’ve found my answer to it, this exact pursuit does not have to be yours, but you will still need to find one of your own beyond trading. Something else that, like trading, requires constant pursuit and discipline to understand and fully realize. However, I would be dishonest if I said that I thought this list was long.
As human beings our lives instinctively matter to us, it is natural to desire prosperity, and there are very few things that we can place properly (and honestly) above that desire. For you, that may be your family or your community, it may be a passion for some other skill or your pursuit of knowledge at large, but something must come before trading.
If trading is your top priority above all else it will become impossible to perform. Because the idea of failing at the thing you desire most will create a pressure to perform out of spite or urgency, as opposed to real opportunity, and the mistakes that will come as a result of this mentality will likely outweigh any gains made in the long run. The attachment problem will manifest itself within that unnecessary pressure. Every trade, every session, every win and every mistake will carry more emotional weight than they deserve. You need something larger to anchor you.
There are things in life that are more important than money, as obvious as it sounds. Something matters to you more than trading, and that thing is usually why we pursue trading in the first place. Whether you seek peace or prosperity, trading is merely the means by which you attain them, it is not “becoming a trader” itself that we are actually seeking. And we don’t actually need trading in order to find these things. Within the realization that you don’t have to be here, comes the peace and recognition that you genuinely want to be, and the peace that comes with this recognition is what will carry you through the struggle.
There are plenty of more noble professions and lifestyles to aspire to than being a trader, the fact that you are drawn to this game is what’s special here, not the game. But it is your love for the game, and your ability to participate in love regardless of how the game plays out that gives you the strength to persevere.