MANY YEARS AGO, when I had a ‘real job’, I used to run a department where a bunch of reporters would call up companies and update their credit histories.
Graduates, straight out of business school. Young, hopeful, and enthusiastic.
A top entry job, with a bright future assured.
I remember I was holding an interview for one particular role.
A clear winner emerged. The candidate was articulate and clearly capable.
Sky-high people skills. A very persuasive young lady.
She had done short courses in negotiation and read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People and David Schwart’s The Magic of Thinking Big for fun.
So much more than ready for the role. She’d prepared in ways the others hadn’t.
Pre-emptively prepared. A clear stand-out.
So, what is it that you’re doing in the markets to be pre-emptively prepared?
Are you learning about new markets, and reading the right trading books to dig into your core craft?
Have you taken the initiative, even in the absence of opportunity, to fine-tune your skills?
Learned about a new market or trading method before you needed it?
Because successful trading calls for initiative. It DEMANDS initiative.
It will take you re-creating yourself until you’ve molded your life into what you envision you could become.
You must push from the front.
According to legend, there was a big fight between Jay Leno and David Letterman to get Johnny Carson’s job on The Tonight Show.
Leno nabbed the role. He pushed to the front, then pushed FROM the front.
He didn’t wait for an opportunity to present itself. He innovated, levered open opportunities, and refused to let go like a pit bull with a prize.
Letterman thought his reputation entitled him to the role.
Leno fought.
Leno won.
So, even if you’re at the top of your game – unless you keep your hunger and drive, some upstart who you don’t feel is entitled to the role will be your biggest threat. Unseen. Unexpected.
Get in front, and then push. In trading, and in life.
