A Trader’s Second Most Important Virtue

In the first part, we reviewed VIRTUE OF PREPARATION i.e. that the very first quality to succeed in financial markets is PREPARATION which includes everything e.g. know-how, practice, patience and continuous improvement process for increasing your odds of success.

Once your are well prepared, the next quality that will shape a trader’s success is PERSEVERANCE.

So lets understand what perseverance is and then I will explain how it is linked with succeeding in trading the markets.
per•se•ver•ance
noun \ˌpər-sə-ˈvir-ən(t)s\

Perseverance is the quality that allows someone to continue trying to do something even though it is difficult …or saying differently steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

At times, many people confuse persistence with perseverance. While both persistence and perseverance require discipline, focus and determination, Perseverance is much more than just persistence. Yes, you would need persistent desire to succeed, to stick to your preparation and to follow through your plan! Mr Market will toss your trading around. One day up, another day down and you will most likely see losses first before seeing consistent profits. You have to have that burning desire to succeed. And thus you have to have persistence.

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However, wrong persistence will lead to frustrations. Sticking to your unproductive actions and doing the same thing over and over again without learning from your mistakes will turn out to be a recipe of disaster.

Persistence is a skill whereas perseverance is a virtue.

So how do you PERSEVERE? Let’s take it step by step.

It all starts with the PURPOSE.

Your purpose for trading and goals will provide you with a strong desire to achieve. As I like to say “Discovering WHY will lead you to HOW“. That purpose driven, persistent desire to achieve your goals will allow you to persevere.

No matter what others would like you to believe, the fact is Mr Market is brutal and doesn’t care for anyone. There will be ups and down. There will be irrational days questioning even the best systems or strategies you had in your toolbox. You might see Murphy smiling at you. Times when nothing seems right. During such moments, it is that PERSISTENT DESIRE to succeed that will keep you going. Trading/ Investing or Financial Freedom is a long journey and one needs to persevere through this tough journey by continuously working on what’s working and removing what’s not. I would like to quote Dev for one of the best definition of PERSEVERANCE

Perseverance is persistence applied towards positive outcomes.

I have done my share of mistakes, plenty in fact and it is still an on-going journey. It is the persistent desire, to continuously upgrade my skills to deliver best ideas for OP subscribers or train new traders so they can see success they never saw before, which keeps me going. It’s not easy but it’s not impossible either.

Your positive feedback adds motivational fuel to my desire too taking it to the next level.

PREPARATION and PERSEVERANCE are the basic building blocks that are going to determine your trading success. Well not just trading, but almost any business you are going to get into. The third virtue is specially true for trading or investing business. Without this 3rd virtue, both preparation and perseverance will dry out after sometime.

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What do you think? Share your thoughts or your personal experiences where you found these virtues to be of utmost importance. What else did you find to be very useful to be a successful trader?

Profitable Trading, OP