Fear is the emotion of survival.

Before every game or before the first trade of the day there is always that little bit of uncertainty. That feeling in your stomach. For me it always went away as soon as the first hit or the dink of my first order getting filled. Same is true with my fear of public speaking.

It was not always that way. I had to do the work, be prepared, and convince myself whatever the outcome I would work to achieve a better outcome the next time. Eventually the fear of not doing became worse than the fear of doing.

Like I always say, do it once, the good habits that is.

There is a knock on positive people and a valid one in some cases. The difference between a positive person and an idiot is a positive person will take neutral news and make it positive and an idiot will take negative news and make positive.

The same is true about combating fear. Taking something that “appears” risky and making it not as risky. Idiots take something that is risky and make it “appear” not risky. Jumping off the La Salle St bridge to get my start in trading was me being an idiot not a lack of fear. You will find that you can almost never remove failure from something that is worth winning. But you can put yourself in the best possible position. The hard part about that is that there is no one left to blame but yourself. And do not wait till you think you have it perfect to start because theory goes out the window at a rapid pace.

If you are feeling fear do not ignore it, it is a survival mechanism. The question is, is it survival of your life or your ego?