Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive
Every bear market, every volatile market, every directionless market has a tendency to wreck havoc with otherwise good traders. Many who did so well during the bull phase, give back much if not all of there profits and more; some swear off the stock market as nothing more than a casino, never to try again. The primary reason, IMHO, is these traders have allowed others to influence their decisions, rather than learning to make their own decisions. Whether it be someone interviewed on TV, a newspaper or magazine article, even a well-meaning friend that has caused the trader to violate his or her rules. If this has happened to any of you, I say you have experienced a little bit of the school of hard-knocks, you have survived, you will make it in the long run.
Napoleon Hill (author of one of the top selling success books of all time – Think and Grow Rich) left us with one of the best affirmations of all time, “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Do you believe, I mean really believe that you can make money trading and investing through good times and bad?
Napolean Hill began his career as a journalist. His big break came when he was asked to interview steel-magnate Andrew Carnegie. Mr. Carnegie was so impressed, that he challenged the young journalist, to research and organize the world’s first philosophy of individual achievement. The challenge took Hill 20 years to complete and in the process he interviewed every industry magnate possible. What is interesting about this story, and the reason for my bringing it up, is simply that Napolean Hill’s life was not all smooth sailing. He overcame quite a bit of adversity to become one of the best selling authors of all time. Traders must also overcome adversity.
Napoleon Hill struggled against a myriad of obstacles throughout his life. Many of which were brought on by some of the earlier choices he had made. A number of times he became broke and penniless following a highly successful venture gone sour. His personal life was as spotted as his financial life. One would think that the discovery of his many flaws would cause one to lose respect, and thus doubt the veracity of his teachings. Quite the opposite is true. When you read about the struggles of this very ‘human’ man you get a whole new perspective of respect, and the incredible resilience and persistence that he displayed repeatedly against sometimes incredible odds. Traders, especially in unkind market environments, need all the resilience and persistence we can gather and sometimes against incredible odds.
So the next time you are struggling, whether it is in the market or in other facets of your life remember the resilience and persistence of this man and also remember his famous quote “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
