1. Bear in mind at the outset that when Darwin was asked by Galton to fill out a questionnaire concerning his main talents in the 1850s, Darwin said his main talent was speculating in the consols.
2. Darwin established a routine. Every day was mapped out the same way for 40 years. Walk before breakfast, work until 11 am. Walk the dog. Listen to wife Emma read the family letters. Lunch. Read the newspapers (to check on his holdings and plan future speculative undertakings and to see what important flexions he could get on his side. Take a nap. Work from 4:30 to 6:30. Small dinner. Play backgammon or billiards. Listen to wife play piano. Such a routine enables you to speculate when you are prepared and not to let emotions interfere.
3. He listened to music every day. The wife played very well. An interlude to take the mind off the fray of the day, and to enjoy another language, gives one insight into the battle for investment survival.
4. Play some backgammon with the kids. Important to stay young at heart or else you’ll be unable to adjust to the new things and ever changing cycles.
5. He had a secret mirror to warn of the approach of uninvited guests so he could absent hide and pretend not to be home. (Gino Paoloochi had a similar trick, although he often supplemented it by always wearing a hat so he could say “of glad to see you. Sorry I am just going out.”) (more…)
Motivational guru Tony Robbins once observed, “People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them.” My experience is that this is very true of traders: many of their goals are impotent. They are written in a journal or a post-it note attached to the computer monitor, but they are not inspiring goals. They don’t bring a hunger for action.