Thomas Edison was asked how he was able to accomplish so much with his time. He said, “It’s simple. You and I both have eighteen hours a day in which to do as we choose. You spend the eighteen hours doing a number of unrelated things. I spend it doing just one thing, and some of my work is bound to amount to something.”
If you want to be successful in any field, there is one rule to observe: concentrate your efforts. Get one thing in your mind. Learn to ignore all the distractions and temptations along the way. Then, put all the power you have into forward motion.
If you’ve read Ralph Waldo Emerson, you’ll know that he wrote two essays that apply to success, one titled “Power” and the other titled “Wealth”. The main theme in each is concentration. Emerson said, “Stop all miscellaneous activities. Do away with distractions, other duties, property cares, chores, errands, diverting talents and flatteries-all are impossible.” And he said elsewhere, “The one prudence in life is concentration. The one evil is dissipation.”
Can you concentrate on one goal when you aren’t quite sure what that goal is? Can you move forward firmly and decisively on one road without constantly looking elsewhere to see what’s going on? People who know how to concentrate put all their effort into their projects, continually improving their ability to succeed.
Dissipation is the opposite. A person who dissipates is like an archer who tries to shoot several arrows at once: the arrows move with dissipated force and rarely ever hit the target (unless you’re Robin Hood, maybe). People who dissipate jump from one thing to another, neither improving their abilities nor moving forward toward success.
How does this apply to trading? This can apply several ways. The most obvious is if you quit your job to trade, then find that trading might not be for you, so then you move onto something else and beyond. Perhaps your efforts in trading were not concentrated. How about continually trying to find the “holy grail”? We heard this term used so often, but surprisingly, many traders are still looking for it! Stop moving from one thing to another and concentrate your efforts in improving your core skills.
Let’s take the case of two brain surgeons with equal prospects of success. One puts all his efforts into his work and all of his money into a relatively safe investment to ensure longer-term financial success. The other doctor tries to play the stock market and practice medicine on the side (or vice versa). Ultimately, the second doctor’s practice suffers when the market goes up and his money when it’s going down (provided that he’s just another retail loser). How would you like to have brain surgery performed on you by a doctor who had just lost $100,000 in the stock market?
The point is, trying to diversify too widely will always detract from your success.”Where you believe the treasure is, there will your heart be also.” That is an immutable law. Can you then be a success if your heart is in three different places – or five or a dozen? No, of course not. I am having this struggle right now as I am juggling so many things at once such as my course work, fund, real estate, internet stuff like iBC and Stocktwits, etc.
Whatever you choose to spend your time on, spend it well. Whatever your goals are, make sure they are unified. Only a person who specializes becomes truly successful these days. Word?
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Word up, CA. My tagline is, “A full-time engineer with a part-time trading problem.” I keep my full-time job at the expense of my ‘hobby’. But that’s good for you bloggers, eh?
As usual….another awesome post J-Lee. Gonna print and read this one regularly too
The SPX analysis is on the Chart.ly blog.
thx cliff, septic
What is the URL for that blog. Thanks
chart.ly
MBI may bouce off its 200 day MA here
richard branson disagrees……
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21
great quote!
Thanks for the post CA! I am currently concentrating on trading /ES technically. It has worked well, but I find it is my perception of what the market should do that is limiting me. Example would be yesterday, as /ES hit 1081 early in morning with a good reversal signal, but I did not “see” the textbook reversal signal because my expectation was for it to break support. Then the amazing run-up to within half a point of previous high of 1099,
(wonderful upside move) and topping at 1089.50, and then the downside move, which I was looking for. My entry timing was off and I missed out on some nice profits.
My goal is to see what the market is doing without bias and follow it . This is where the money is. Hopefully I can get there faster than Edison with his lightbulb–patience is not my strong suit.
Thanks for all of the posts–much appreciated!!
you are very welcome
Ive noticed this problem for almost a year now. Im so directionalized that i can only make slow progress in all directions. If i could forsake everything else and focus on one thing i’d be buckets of win. I’ve been trying to concentrate on 4 major things: Cooking, Trading, People and G-d.
That list is reversed. haha.
reading that “book” u sent me. lol its huge
TESO is 7-8 cents away from BTFO …
just bought some SYNA.
it broke the down trend and big gap to fill.
I LOVE THESE POSTS!!!!
Bought AMZN 109.11 in pre-market, CISG at 24.28
taking 1/3 AMZN off table
great trade. you are killing it.
Nice high pole and flag on KAZ (on the 50 day chart) ……….
not really interested in anything at the moment
How bout HERO plays into the decline … just as a cure for boredom?
No. Be patient and let the trades come to you.
Will do …
CA- check out the chart on REST! that entry point looks really good imho
have a great weekend
REST? Cant get a chart up
Oh my, you definately need to buy soon… Go to this website: 2muchonplate.com
You mean WEST?
GBE
great job on amazon!!
Great post, John…referenced it here http://stocktwits.net/blog/2009/10/22/channeling-teddy-ballgame/ in my blog post on Stocktwits
yo Derek, thanks homes! Much appreciated.