Check out Steve Pavlina’s post about fields with low barriers to entry, where 99% fail. Seems very applicable to trading. A quote:
Imagine starting as a white belt in kung fu with no previous martial arts experience. You go to your instructor and say, “I want to compete in sparring tournaments at the black belt level.” Your instructor will probably laugh at you. If you were to spar a halfway decent black belt, you’d take a beating every single time. If you spar 100 matches, you’ll lose 100 matches. This is where the dabblers conclude that it’s impossible for them to succeed in kung fu. Those who are committed, however, know that they have a long road of skill-building ahead of them. Becoming a black belt is a choice, albeit certainly not an easy one.
What’s unfair about easy-entry fields like blogging, acting, or music is that white belts and black belts are thrown into the same pool. White belts are forced to compete against black belts who’ve been honing their skills for years. It’s totally unfair. But that unfairness is what provides the challenge and makes it fun.
There are lots of other interesting posts on his blog, if you aren’t familiar with it.
December 18th, 2006 at 6:09 pm
I don’t normally like Steve P, but he really nailed it in this post. One of his best, I think.
“Your goal is to survive and to learn, not to win.”
Very well said. Thanks for linking to it, Richard.
December 18th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
yeah, there is a range of quality, but I stay subscribed because every now and then a really good article shows up.