“Happiness is not to be achieved at the command of emotional whims. Happiness is not the satisfaction of whatever irrational wishes you might blindly attempt to indulge. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy—a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but of using your mind’s fullest power, not the joy of faking reality, but of achieving values that are real, not the joy of a drunkard, but of a producer. Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions. Just as I support my life, neither by robbery nor alms, but by my own effort, so I do not seek to derive my happiness from the injury of the favor of others, but earn it by my own achievement. Just as I do not consider the pleasure of others as the goal of my life, so I do not consider my pleasure as the goal of the lives of others. Just as there are no contradictions in my values and no conflicts among my desires—so there are no victims and no conflicts of interest among rational men, men who do not desire the unearned and do not view one another with a cannibal’s lust, men who neither make sacrifices nor accept them. The symbol of all relationships among such men, the moral symbol of respect for human beings, is the trader. We, who live by values, not by loot are traders, both in manner and spirit. A trader is a man who earns what he gets and does not give or take the undeserved. A trader does not ask to be paid for his failures, nor does he ask to be loved for his flaws. A trader does not squander his body as fodder, or his soul as alms. Just as he does not give his work except in trade for material values, so he does not give the values of his spirit—his love, his friendship, his esteem—except in payment and in trade for human virtue, in payment for his own selfish pleasure, which he receives from men he can respect. The mystic parasites who have, throughout the ages, reviled the trader and held him in contempt, while honoring the beggars and the looters, have known the secret motive of the sneers: a trader is the entity they dread—a man of justice.”
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Nothing will work unless you do.
Ignore Your Guts
In my studies I have often found something that is rather interesting and maybe different than most would suspect. The most successful traders I have studied don’t rely on gut calls or feels, but rather adhere to a disciplined set of rules or guidelines and are humbled enough to admit that their emotional decisions aren’t consistent enough to hold up during the heat of the moment.
Ironically, most would think just the opposite that the more successful a trader is, the more ‘feel’ he or she has or the more ‘instinct.’ Sure, it looks macho to make calls or predictions and when proven correct a person is often praised and viewed as having some superior knowledge, but in reality these people are one step below those that have already moved through this stage and left it behind.
As an individual trader it is simply impossible to remain emotionless, making the proper trading decisions at all times, when the action is heated. Even when there is a lull, our emotions kick in and we feel a change is needed or something should be done, when in reality our rules may say to stay put or do nothing.
The importance of emotion in trading.
Anxious: Am I prepared? Can I afford to lose what I am risking? Am I breaking my rules? Did I drink too much caffeine?
Anger: Have I not moved from the last trade? Am I tired? Is there conflict in my personal life?
Happiness: Are psychological gains more important than monetary gain? Am I overconfident?
Indifference: Do I care? Is something more important?
It is natural to feel emotion but in an appropriate and proportional way.
Anxious:
To this day, the first trade always produces a little anxiety. That little tingle in your stomach and shallow breathing. The same is true when I a trade I have been waiting for sets up. Above that, I know there is something wrong.
Anger and Happiness:
I am angry after a negative outcome and happy after a positive outcome but in order to adapt more quickly I have to remove emotion from the outcome as soon as possible. It is more important to focus on what happened and less how I feel about it. Prolonged feelings of anger or happiness causes risk blindness and impedes my learning. Misjudging risk will prevent me from taking a trade or taking too much risk. (more…)
The Greeks had it right
Great Motivational Quote
One Dam Metaphor For The 2012 Global Financial System
One Dam Metaphor for the 2012 Global Financial System
What do you do when flood waters threaten the dam? If you’re the Federal Reserve, you close the floodgates and let the water rise.
Metaphors have an uncanny ability to capture the essence of complex situations. Here is one dam metaphor that distills and explains the entire global financial system in 2012. The way to visualize the current situation is to imagine a dam holding back rising storm waters.
The dam is the regulatory system, the rule of law, trust in the transparency and fairness of the system and the machinery of perception management. All of these work to keep risk, fraud and excesses of speculation and leverage from unleashing a destructive wave of financial instability on the real economy below.
As legitimate regulation and transparency have been replaced with simulacra and manipulated data, the dam’s internal strength has been seriously weakened.
Depending on how you date various rivers of financialization, water has been piling up behind the dam since either 1982, 1992 or 2000. In this metaphor, the water is comprised of multiple sources of destabilization: rising money supply, debt, speculation, leverage, fraud, shadow banking and lax regulation.
Common sense suggests that water rising to dangerous levels would trigger an official response of opening the floodgates to relieve the pressure. Unfortunately for the real economy, common sense has nothing to do with the official response of central governments and banks. Their entire raison d’etre (reason to be) is self-preservation and the preservation of the financial Elites that set the context and policy of the State and central bank.
In effect, the State and central bank recognize that it is highly dangerous to let any water out, lest the toxic waste of fraud, speculative incentives, excessive leverage, etc. corrode the spillway and cause the entire dam to give way.
The official rationalization for keeping the gates closed even as the water is rising to the very lip of the dam is that the flood water released might harm the real economy downstream. (more…)
The Goldman Sachs Careers Page
Look, I help my readers out. Here’s the Goldman Sachs “Careers” part of their website.
Be sure to tell them that you read this blog religiously — and you’ll be so in.
One more thing, here are the Do’s and Don’ts for your Goldman internship:
No matter where your summer experience takes you, you can benefit from these useful tips and hints. They may seem simple, but your colleagues will notice if you aren’t acting on them.The Do’s
* Be eager for a challenge
* Be yourself
* Be open-minded
* Be on time
* Know the dress code
* Observe and ask thoughtful questions
* Treat everyone you meet with respect and professionalism
* Understand that everyone makes mistakes
* Carry a notebook with you at all times
* Pay attention to the details
* Be proactive
* Show energy and interest
* Set goals for yourself
The Don’ts* Let a bad day get you down
* Take on more than you can handle
* Pretend to know something you don’t
* Have nothing to do
* Ask everyone the same questions
* Take yourself too seriously
* Talk negatively about co-workers
* Focus all of your attention on senior management
* Bring your personal life into the office
* Surf the web all day (BWAHAHAHAHA – Eddy)
* Spend working hours on social networking sites or texting friends