“How long will it take for me to become a profitable trader?”

Boy – if I had a dime for each time I was asked this question, I would have one large collection of dimes. But I think I’ve done my work well. The majority of people who have sat in on my workshops and listened to me speak over the last couple of are no longer asking this question. So if you ever catch yourself wanting to ask this question, then please pay close attention to what I’m about to share with you here. Because once you understand the poisoned thinking from which this question comes from within you, you will be thankful that you now see things from a much more useful perspective.

We are always, from an early age, comparing ourselves with others. From our upbringing and various influences on our thought processes as we grow up, we develop certain metrics and rules in order to determine what is ‘right’, ‘wrong’, ‘fair’, ‘unfair’, and unfortunately when we are ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Stop doing it. Realize, that you are unlike any other individual or soul on this entire planet….or in the universe. So how can you compare yourself with others? It’s like comparing apples and oranges. There are no comparisons because you are simply ‘you’. You are not like anyone else. Period.

So how long it took other traders to make a ‘good’ income at trading is completely irrelevant to you. And, if one thinks about it, what possible good could come of putting a ‘standard’ or an ‘average amount of time it takes’ out there as YOUR measuring stick simply because someone told you it was so. There are so many fallacies at work in a statement like this that it’s ridiculous. If someone were to say it took 11 months, for example, for the ‘average’ trader to ‘make it’, what does that mean? Define an ‘average trader’. Define ‘make it’. And then ask, “What data do you have to support that 11 months is the average?” Did every single trader in the world give the person making this statement specific feedback on how much time it took them to ‘make it’? NO! It’s NOT POSSIBLE! The very criteria that would go into such a poll is subjective and thus makes the results entertaining, at most.

Most of the truly amazing traders seem to ‘disappear into the sunset’. They enjoy their privacy. And if they are amazing traders, they will be NO PART of such a silly ‘poll’ to help new traders provide themselves a measuring stick with which to measure their progress. They understand that this type of ‘information’ will not serve any trader.

Think about that. Now, wouldn’t you feel silly if you had actually measured yourself against some standard that was communicated to you which has no way of being based in reality? And even if it was, realizing that using it for yourself as a measuring stick is like comparing apples with oranges? Worse – I know people who have QUIT trading because of articles like this.

What possible good could come of it? If you are just starting out, the thought of losing for 11 months before you ‘make it’ is pretty daunting. So it doesn’t serve that person. If you have been trading for 8 months or thereabouts, chances are you will psychologically ruin yourself as you get closer to the 11 month mark and I can almost guarantee that you will not ‘make it’ by then simply because of human nature and the stress/pressing you will put on yourself. And, God forbid, you are past the 11 month marker already and you will make yourself feel like a complete idiot.

We have a great lineup ofFREE Power Trading Workshops. Make sure to register for those programs that interest you the most.

Kurt Capra
Contributing Editor
Instructor and Traders Coach


Day Trader School