Daily Reading 1: Everybody gets what they want

• Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money. I think that if people look deeply enough into their trading patterns, they find that, on balance, including all their goals, they are really getting what they want, even though they may not understand it or want to admit it.
• Source: Schwager, Jack D. (Editor), Market Wizards, HarperCollins (1989), page 172

The market is the market.  It does what it does.  No matter what it is that we are trying to accomplish, we get it.  When you win, it's because you wanted it that way, the same as when you lose.  More than likely, whatever it is that you are trying to achieve does not come easy to you.  Becoming great takes practice.  When you practice, you make mistakes.  This is what separates the good, the bad, and the great.  Most of the greats in the trading arena started out bad, but they were willing to learn from (and fix) their mistakes.

The greats are constantly learning.  For traders, it is not only important to learn what the markets are doing, but how to trade them.  They keep records of every trade and see what went right, or what went wrong.  Most discover that early failures come from a lack of discipline in regards to money management.  As soon as they correct that, they succeed.  They all, however, became successful after taking their early lumps, learning from and correcting them, and continuing on.  Because of this, they all got what they want.

The most important part for me to take away from this, is that you have to get out there and practice.  Practice with demo accounts or very small amounts of money, but practice, practice, practice.  Keep a trading journal to track every trade to see what went right and what went wrong.  Identify and correct all mistakes that I find in my trading, and have the discipline to stick with it through the good and bad times.  I am about to get what I want out of the market.

Motivation 3: Discipline comes from within

I believe that we have control over our brains.  I'm not talking about things like digesting food, or telling your heart to beat.  That stuff is on auto-pilot, and I'm fine with that.  I'm talking about the things that instinctively pop into our heads all the time that our minds overrule.  I am terrified of heights, but I manage to overrule that fear and fly, by reminding myself just how safe flying actually is.  I get anxiety over all the things that could go wrong, but I still get on board because I know how good the engineers are that designed the plane, how good the safety regulations are, and how great you have to be to become a commercial pilot.  I believe that I am in control.  It may take practice, but I believe we can over come most mental road blocks.  You can ask others what you need work on, but getting an honest answer might not be that easy.  What kind of friend would sit there and tell you your flaws?  In order to figure out your road blocks, you might have to sit down and just be honest with yourself.  Besides, you can't fix a problem unless you actually believe that it's a problem.

For me, a big mental road block has been my lack of discipline.  Without discipline, nothing else matters.......it's what keeps us on track to achieve our goals.  Things pop up all the time that try to knock me off my path, but I believe that I can ignore all the distractions and focus on learning, if I try hard enough.

Becoming great requires such a high level of sacrifice and dedication that I need to change the way I use my time.  The reason that I do this is for my family, so I will not use that time.  There is, however, time before work, during lunch, and after my son goes to bed.  With such little time, I can't afford to waste any of it on useless things.  I need to be disciplined enough to complete my daily checklist before wasting any time.

Another road block is that I'm a step-skipper.  I like to skim through a lesson and immediately go and try to apply it.  I need to be more disciplined and learn each step before moving on to the next.  I also need to practice more before doing anything for real.  So until I'm perfect, I need to practice.

The last area that I need to work on is that I am too quickly defeated.  Not that I think I'm a failure and stop trying, I just assume something doesn't work and stop.  I try different systems or strategies, and if they don't work immediately, I find a new one.  If I stick with something, however, I might get better.  Part of the strategy not working could be because of my step-skipping.  It is important to stick with things even if you fail early because it is amazing what you can accomplish in a relatively short amount of time.  You may not see the immediate results of yesterday or today's hard work, but when you start combining them you get better and better. and you will see it eventually.  I need to keep learning and keep practicing.

I truly believe that discipline comes from within.  Sometimes things do come down to "just how bad do you want it?".  If I want it bad enough, I will make time to study, practice, and complete all of my daily tasks.  I will also learn each lesson before moving on to the next, and see it through start to finish.  While I am learning I will practice on demo accounts and get perfect before moving on to live accounts.  Finally, I will stick with it even if I fail at the beginning.  Becoming great is a long difficult process, but it will never happen if I don't stick with it.  I guess I will find out just how bad I want it.

To keep my mind on doing what it takes, I have my checklists, notes, and pictures to remind me.  Reminders, however, are worthless unless I act.  In the end, it will be because of me if I succeed or fail......no one or nothing else.

Passive Income: Idea 1- Start a YouTube Channel

The whole point of the passive income retirement plan is to have money coming in that you don't have to work for....it just comes in.  Since starting and maintaining a YouTube channel is going to be a lot of work, it doesn't quite fit the true meaning of passive income.  However, once your channel is up and running with videos and you have followers, the ad money can begin coming in by people watching your videos.  So it is kind of similar to royalties.  And since I am already doing research and writing about things, I may as well make a video that might some day make me money.

Before we can even begin thinking about making money, we have to go to work and make a channel people will want to see.  If nobody cares about your content, then nobody will watch your videos and you will not get any ad money.  Since my channel will cover several similar subjects, I believe that I have content that people will search and that there is a good chance that someone will watch a short video that I post.  So the first step is to come up with a plan.

I already know who my target audience will be:  males, 18 and older, who are horseplayers, gamblers, chartists, or any individual looking up any of the Passive Income ideas I post about.  It seems like most people have a relatively short attention span, so my videos will be short and to the point, but still have the information they are looking for.  My channel will be organized into playlists for each different subject.

Once I have that situated, I will go to work on making a video.  To make it as professional as possible, I will start by making a script.  Since all of my information is already written down on my blog posts, this should not be difficult.  After I make the script, I will record the video.  I have a video camera and my phone to help with that.  Once the video is made, I will upload it to YouTube, edit, then post.

The articles that I have read make it seem like the key to developing a successful channel is to develop followers.  In order to do that, they recommend first focusing on making your channel a professional place that people will want to come to watch your videos, then worrying about monetizing it.  As soon as you have followers, you can monetize your channel for ad revenue, and sell merchandise.  I have found many places that will make cheap merchandise like shirts and other novelties that your followers might purchase.

I will post more once I try some things and make progress.  The goal for me is to have everything up and running by next year.