I want to write today about excellence in life. You can apply these principles to trading, although I am not here to talk about trading specifically - much.
As you may know, I've entered this market at around this price point twice, both times I was stopped out with minimal loss. So far, I haven't been entirely wrong about the market, but I haven't made money. Okay. I'm glad I am wrong PUBLICLY because it forces me to up my game - it reminds me that this is more about my personal financial growth. I am trying to help people learn trading and generally good financial practices because it is not something you are ever taught in school and is very important. I can help people best by also BECOMING the best. I am not the best, or even remotely intelligent with my practices, but I would like to be and I believe I will get there (maybe with some competition - but I will give them hell). Below are ramblings about how/why I think I will get there. I will show you three things that should help you and explain to you how to solve problems - any and all. What you do with this information is unbounded and up to you.
This post isn't about becoming financially successful (directly) or my goals (who cares). I want to talk to you about excellence and the patterns I see in those who are excellent. People are excellent, and that's a broad statement so let me define it, when: they not only have VAST amounts of knowledge, but have also found the best ways to acquire knowledge. As you get better at something, you begin to understand more clearly what you need to do to get to where you need to go. You can only solve problems once you are aware of questions. You can only answer questions if you OBSERVE phenomena. Traditionally, people pair the duet of questions and answers and think this is how humans acquire knowledge. It's not. There is a precursor to the question: the observation. You can only question something once you observe it in some way, not axiomatically by sight, but there must be some sensory interaction with the thing to be questioned. This sounds obvious and I'm sure you are sitting there thinking I am a dumb shit (I am) but I haven't made the life changing posit, it is: most people do not observe reality AT ALL EVER, the few who do do it narrowly; to observe reality AT ALL is profound. The people who actually can observe reality often change the world. Isaac Newton could observe reality. I don't know that he observed reality at all times, and I doubt it - so he likely did it narrowly and even doing it narrowly was profound.
Let's talk about what I have observed to be very effective for the people that are excellent. I have an acquaintance who I am convinced will become a billionaire if he wants to - he can do anything he sets his mind to (I have decided I am going to make sure he follows through on everything he sets his mind to). He has started a hedge fund and I know it will be a big success. When I first came to his house and was alone with him, one of the first things I noticed was that he writes down what he must do for the day. He creates various tasks for himself that vary in complexity and therefore time and so he tries to maximize his production curve by always keeping on top of what needs to be done. He is not perfect in his implementation, but people who are excellent don't have to be, and no one ever will be - but he strives for excellence and it follows. This is the element of thinking ALGORITHMICALLY to excellence. You come up with a recipe to solve your goals and you follow it. Write everything out you need to do, try to get into a constant routine (we are machines), and follow through. I think he just uses a yellow legal pad for this.
So, the first step is about creating a plan and following it, but let's expand on following it. My brother is a professional pianist, but he is not a concert pianist. He did, however, go to school with a concert pianist: Kenneth Broberg. What he observed from Kenneth was that he would keep track of exactly how much time he was at the piano. I don't remember how much time he played for a day, but we will go ahead and call it eight hours, because that sounds about right to me. If someone interrupted Kenneth, he would stop a timer he kept. He made sure the eight hours was continuous and focused. He was incredibly methodical in his execution and he was serious. Kenneth is an EXCELLENT pianist. This displays the application of the first principle, but also displays another: dedicated work. If you are going to be excellent you are going to have to work quite hard for many hours a day, probably every day, and for a long while. This is why most people can't be excellent. If you are going to be excellent at something you are going to need to continuously dedicate yourself to becoming so.
These will get you to the level of excellence, but there is something missing, right? What's missing, well, we have OBSERVED these people and see their actions lead to a certain path. We can now QUESTION. The ANSWER, I do not have for you - it varies for everyone. I have an ability to help people reach their potential by KILLING the parts of them which do not serve them and by helping them grow the parts that will. I cannot give someone a reason as to why they are doing something or should evolve or even want to evolve. I create my own path and everyone MUST create their own path (you must self actualize). I can't tell you your individual answer, but I can tell you how I have found my own answers and how people like Steve Jobs have found their own: deep self-reflection and meditation. I do not wish to write much further and I'm sure the tl;dr threshold was crossed after the first paragraph and so that seems logical. As well, most people aren't moved by the spiritual because it has been perverted by salesmen. If you don't have a why in your life, do yourself a favor and OBSERVE yourself and then question yourself. Observe how you are behaviorally in a comprehensive way. Why is this the case? Observe what you are good at. Why are you good? Observe what you are bad at. Why are you bad? Observe what you can change. Why can you change this? Observe what can you not change. Why can you not change this? Observe how you feel about not being able to change things. Why do you feel this way? Observe how you feel about your own death. Why do you feel this way? etc. Lastly, I meditate by either thinking of nothing at all (try focusing on white noise like a fan or something in the beginning is helpful - it's hard to train your mind how NOT to think) or by focusing on breathing (I just say "in" and "out" over and over). I meditate for an hour a day and have been for quite some time. By doing this, you will at the VERY LEAST acquire an intense focus and clear headedness that will make you feel secure and serene. At the very best, you will find everything you NEED to know about yourself and the world you live in. They call that stage of your journey enlightenment. I've read you will know you are at that level when you get there.
Good luck, I hope you discover that what is written here is true. Understand what I mean by observing reality.
-YoungShkreli
As you may know, I've entered this market at around this price point twice, both times I was stopped out with minimal loss. So far, I haven't been entirely wrong about the market, but I haven't made money. Okay. I'm glad I am wrong PUBLICLY because it forces me to up my game - it reminds me that this is more about my personal financial growth. I am trying to help people learn trading and generally good financial practices because it is not something you are ever taught in school and is very important. I can help people best by also BECOMING the best. I am not the best, or even remotely intelligent with my practices, but I would like to be and I believe I will get there (maybe with some competition - but I will give them hell). Below are ramblings about how/why I think I will get there. I will show you three things that should help you and explain to you how to solve problems - any and all. What you do with this information is unbounded and up to you.
This post isn't about becoming financially successful (directly) or my goals (who cares). I want to talk to you about excellence and the patterns I see in those who are excellent. People are excellent, and that's a broad statement so let me define it, when: they not only have VAST amounts of knowledge, but have also found the best ways to acquire knowledge. As you get better at something, you begin to understand more clearly what you need to do to get to where you need to go. You can only solve problems once you are aware of questions. You can only answer questions if you OBSERVE phenomena. Traditionally, people pair the duet of questions and answers and think this is how humans acquire knowledge. It's not. There is a precursor to the question: the observation. You can only question something once you observe it in some way, not axiomatically by sight, but there must be some sensory interaction with the thing to be questioned. This sounds obvious and I'm sure you are sitting there thinking I am a dumb shit (I am) but I haven't made the life changing posit, it is: most people do not observe reality AT ALL EVER, the few who do do it narrowly; to observe reality AT ALL is profound. The people who actually can observe reality often change the world. Isaac Newton could observe reality. I don't know that he observed reality at all times, and I doubt it - so he likely did it narrowly and even doing it narrowly was profound.
Let's talk about what I have observed to be very effective for the people that are excellent. I have an acquaintance who I am convinced will become a billionaire if he wants to - he can do anything he sets his mind to (I have decided I am going to make sure he follows through on everything he sets his mind to). He has started a hedge fund and I know it will be a big success. When I first came to his house and was alone with him, one of the first things I noticed was that he writes down what he must do for the day. He creates various tasks for himself that vary in complexity and therefore time and so he tries to maximize his production curve by always keeping on top of what needs to be done. He is not perfect in his implementation, but people who are excellent don't have to be, and no one ever will be - but he strives for excellence and it follows. This is the element of thinking ALGORITHMICALLY to excellence. You come up with a recipe to solve your goals and you follow it. Write everything out you need to do, try to get into a constant routine (we are machines), and follow through. I think he just uses a yellow legal pad for this.
So, the first step is about creating a plan and following it, but let's expand on following it. My brother is a professional pianist, but he is not a concert pianist. He did, however, go to school with a concert pianist: Kenneth Broberg. What he observed from Kenneth was that he would keep track of exactly how much time he was at the piano. I don't remember how much time he played for a day, but we will go ahead and call it eight hours, because that sounds about right to me. If someone interrupted Kenneth, he would stop a timer he kept. He made sure the eight hours was continuous and focused. He was incredibly methodical in his execution and he was serious. Kenneth is an EXCELLENT pianist. This displays the application of the first principle, but also displays another: dedicated work. If you are going to be excellent you are going to have to work quite hard for many hours a day, probably every day, and for a long while. This is why most people can't be excellent. If you are going to be excellent at something you are going to need to continuously dedicate yourself to becoming so.
These will get you to the level of excellence, but there is something missing, right? What's missing, well, we have OBSERVED these people and see their actions lead to a certain path. We can now QUESTION. The ANSWER, I do not have for you - it varies for everyone. I have an ability to help people reach their potential by KILLING the parts of them which do not serve them and by helping them grow the parts that will. I cannot give someone a reason as to why they are doing something or should evolve or even want to evolve. I create my own path and everyone MUST create their own path (you must self actualize). I can't tell you your individual answer, but I can tell you how I have found my own answers and how people like Steve Jobs have found their own: deep self-reflection and meditation. I do not wish to write much further and I'm sure the tl;dr threshold was crossed after the first paragraph and so that seems logical. As well, most people aren't moved by the spiritual because it has been perverted by salesmen. If you don't have a why in your life, do yourself a favor and OBSERVE yourself and then question yourself. Observe how you are behaviorally in a comprehensive way. Why is this the case? Observe what you are good at. Why are you good? Observe what you are bad at. Why are you bad? Observe what you can change. Why can you change this? Observe what can you not change. Why can you not change this? Observe how you feel about not being able to change things. Why do you feel this way? Observe how you feel about your own death. Why do you feel this way? etc. Lastly, I meditate by either thinking of nothing at all (try focusing on white noise like a fan or something in the beginning is helpful - it's hard to train your mind how NOT to think) or by focusing on breathing (I just say "in" and "out" over and over). I meditate for an hour a day and have been for quite some time. By doing this, you will at the VERY LEAST acquire an intense focus and clear headedness that will make you feel secure and serene. At the very best, you will find everything you NEED to know about yourself and the world you live in. They call that stage of your journey enlightenment. I've read you will know you are at that level when you get there.
Good luck, I hope you discover that what is written here is true. Understand what I mean by observing reality.
-YoungShkreli