Trading is an odd occupation. No other job that I can think of can prepare you for what it takes to become a successful in trading. What other profession can teach you (give you experience) to be successful and maintain an edge by remaining patient at doing nothing - taking no action most of the time but be ready at any time?
for me to relate - think about the game of soccer, a 90 min game (i think) on average each player touches the ball about 5min to 10 min during the course of the game. Those few minutes are critical to the overall success of the game, and each player needs to be ready at any time to receive the ball an be on his A game - So for me, the principal that can be applied to trading is what do I do when I don't have the ball/ or trade on ? what am I thinking of during that time, am I doing stuff that makes me feel (emotionally) I'm working hard (like in other jobs) yet I'm pissing away money? Of course the last thing you need to do is do something to lose your mental edge or be come inpatient and then get whipsawed when I do decide to enter a trade.
Billy, as far as I can tell from following your post over the past 15 months - you are born to think and act like a trader, you do it without even thinking about it! I'm learning from you and relating your comments/princials to stuff I can understand and apply to my personality. Hope my soccer analogy can help some-one else whith similar questions.
thanks, cheers
Charl