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Don’t Trade for the Money

I have met many successful people, and the one thing that they have in common

is that they love what they do. Many have told me they can’t believe that they

actually get paid for doing what they do. They have so much fun they feel guilty

taking money for doing it. Many successful people will tell you that they would do

what they do even if they weren’t paid at all.

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DON’T WORK FOR THE MONEY

Work hard and love what you are doing and the money will follow. Successful

people work first and count the money later. Sometimes they don’t ever count it,

and some don’t even know (or care) how much they have. They just know that

they have enough to allow them to continue what they are doing; working hard

and having fun.

LOVE TRADING FOR ITS OWN SAKE

I know that many individuals want to trade because they think that they can make

a lot of money easily and quickly. Because of the low start-up costs for trading as

compared to other businesses, they think that trading should be the easy road to

riches. Their goal is to make a lot of money fast. These are the people who come

to seminars and want an indicator that will guarantee profits. They don’t want to

learn the ins and outs of the business; they want the magic indicator that will get

them the money they desire. They are doomed to failure.

I remember a guy named John walking into a seminar I was about to teach. He

threw up his hands and said, “Ah, Traders! I am glad to be home.” This individual

was a successful trader. John loved going to seminars, not so much for the

techniques and indicators, but for the camaraderie. He loved being around traders,

talking with traders, analyzing trading strategies and techniques, and learning

about the latest and greatest trading technology. He loved learning the latest

features added to TradeStation and finding out a new way to use EasyLanguage.

He loved designing new indicators, and spent countless hours working on new

and different ways to exit the market. He was excited about getting up early in the

morning to monitor the overnight market information and checking what the S&P

was doing in London. He looked forward to calling his broker and putting in his

orders. He loved watching his strategy run on TradeStation. He was exhilarated

when he had to call his broker and give him a lot of grief for the latest bad fill. He

even loved losing trades. Even when he had to take a losing trade, he was still

doing what he loved to do—trade.

John is a successful trader. He loves what he is doing. And as long as he can keep

on trading, he will be happy. The money he makes is secondary, but he makes a

lot of it. He can’t believe that he can have all of this fun and make money as well

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