You Are A Fantasist

In the current edition of New Scientist they have a feature piece on the seemingly endless array of contradictions psychological and intellectual that are contained within each of us and chief among these is the notion that we are the hero’s of our own narrative. Or as they put it we are all fantasist with an overblown sense of who we are and a dismissive sense of the worth of everyone else. And I have to admit that on any given day I do believe that the majority of people I run into are idiots – you just have to try and deal with the business banking section of Westpac to be convinced that this true.

The article refers to the notion of self enhancement, that is we believe we are above average and everyone else is below average. In males this manifests itself as what they term the frog prince delusion which leads to a sometimes over inflated positive self image. I do grant that when you encounter this in its full blown form (see Dunning-Kruger Effect) it is profoundly frustrating. There is seemingly nothing ore irritating than a fool who thinks they are an expert (see brothers in law)

However, in trading you do need to be slightly delusional to attempt the profession. In fact I would suggest that things only get done by people who do have a slightly inflated sense of self. Buddhist monks whilst well centred and calm rely on the charity of others. Delusional arsheholes tend to get things done or fail gloriously.