Here are 10 prerequisites that I believe are important:
- Love what you do. Passion matters – nurture it and feed your inspirations.
- Repeat your successes. Purge your failures. Make the effort to understand both intimately.
- Embrace change. No, I mean truly expect change, be open to it and figure out how to use it to your benefit.
- Market bubbles happen – accept their profits with a sense of wonder, gratitude and tight stops.
- Show up – be prepared organizationally, physically and emotionally to trade.
- Ethics matter – always more than money. A good night’s sleep matters, too. Never ever let yourself get close to the line.
- Be honest with yourself. Be kind to others. The two skills are related.
- Formulate your thesis. Reach out and listen to both bullish and bearish commentaries. Listen for their perspective and reasoning to help challenge your own thinking, but then decide for yourself.
- Accept praise for profits. Accept responsibility for losses, but then move on.
- History has shown me that it rewards the bulls with a much higher frequency than it rewards the bears. Plus, it feels better to be optimistic and positive.