I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving, as we all know, is the one day of the year where we all reflect on what we are thankful for and the really important things in life, love and family. It is a day where most people really take time to understand how fortunate we all are. Now, think about that very moment when you were sitting at the dinner table and everyone was going around the room telling your family what they are thankful for. Think about how you felt… Now, imagine if you could feel like this all the time for the rest of your life…

It is time to revisit a piece I wrote a while back. Don’t worry, this is not simply a rehashed article, there is plenty more in “The Cycle of It, Part IV.” I have been in the trading and trading education world for many years. This has allowed me to watch traders grow at different levels and reach different levels of success, and failure. I have often wondered and speculated on the difference between those who achieve success and those who fail. For me, the answer lies in the proper definition of success when it comes to trading, or any occupation for that matter.

Let me explain a scenario that I have experienced so many times with individuals going through trading education. There was a gentleman back in 1999 who I met at a trading seminar. He walked up to me before it started and introduced himself. He had been reading my daily trading advisory letters and was very excited to meet the face behind the letter and take the seminar that I was giving. He explained that he had a family and that trading was going to be “IT” for him. He wanted to make lots of money from trading and do it for a career. After the seminar, he thanked me and could not wait to get home and get started on his quest for “IT”. A couple weeks after the seminar, he sent me an email and said he was doing well but he said, “Sam, if I could only take all my stop losses according to plan, I would really make “IT”. Time went by and I contacted him months later and asked him if he made “IT”? He said yes. I said, “How is IT”? He said “IT” was good. He then said that if he adjusted his rules a bit and added a moving average for a trail stop, he could hold on for larger gains and really make “IT”! More than a year went by before I heard from him again and when I did, I asked him the same question, did you make “IT”? He said he did. I asked him how “IT” was and he said “IT was good.” He also added that his marriage was falling apart and he did not know where things were going in his personal life. He also added that he only needed to make a little more money from trading than he did from his day job to quit the day job. This would finally be “IT,” this would save his marriage, his family…

Let me let you in on something I realized long ago. “IT” is never “IT”. The “IT” cycle will have you chasing an illusion of happiness your whole life in many forms if you let it. If you are looking for “IT”, the real “IT” only exists in a much grander vision. This grander vision will meet all your needs and become “IT” for you. I want to invite you into a simple reality that most consistently profitable market speculators share. They are not looking for trading to be “IT” for them. They have a much grander vision. The best traders I know spend very little time trading and spend less time talking about trading. They make plenty of money trading and they use that money to feed the grander vision. One person I know who has done very well in trading bought 3 vacation homes on a lake all next to each other. He has a family with many kids and invites families who would not be able to afford to do this to stay at these vacation homes in the summers. His life is all about his family, that has always been his grander vision. Because of this, he is not looking to change or improve his trading strategy, he does fine. In fact, he never talks about his strategy, he would never waste the time as he is too busy with his grander vision. I know his strategy and let me tell… Continue Reading