Are You an Iconoclast? Part 2

Last Friday, I told you about a friend of mine that I recently spent time with in Arizona. Don Cardon (or DJ)… a really talented developer who who is literally changing the Phoenix Skyline with a massive development project.

It is pretty obvious based off his accomplishments,  DJ is one talented dude… someone who inspires and empowers all those around him to pursue greatness. But even he would admit, it wasn’t just his talent alone that allowed him to do big things. (If you didn’t get a chance to read the previous post, it is right below this one.)

I read something this morning from Mark Twain which helps to explain what I mean…

He said,

“No one can achieve anything important simply as a result of heredity or talent. Training is always the critical factor in success: Talent is useless without training, thank God.”

I totally agree with the wise words of Mr. Twain. It doesn’t matter to me if you have the most talent in the world… it will fail you if you do not have skill, which is only attained through constant and consistent training.

Before DJ was making headlines in the newspaper and being pursued by the Governor of Arizona, he as training. He was spending hours locked in his office studying tax credit codes. He was understanding the ins and outs of city planning. He was practicing by developing smaller and unglamorous projects in rural areas. Perhaps most importantly, he was studying and learning from the best developers in the world… and how they got to be the best.

This may sound somewhat similar to the post from a a few weeks ago called The Road to the Top (http://fittotrade.com/172/the-road-to-the-top/).  I talked about the Law of 10,000 hours being what it takes to become a professional in any field. The truth is that it takes more than just 10,000 hours. It take someone to help train and coach during all those hours.

I have never met a successful trader who did not have coaching. I have talked to a lot of traders and every one of them has someone they credit their training to.

So if you’ve been a little discouraged about your trading… or maybe even taken a loss, the solution may come in answer this question: How (and with with whom) are you training?

Make sure to leave a comment below with how you are training for success.

Talk to you soon,

Jeffrey



One Response to “Are You an Iconoclast? Part 2”

1. ray. says:

   March 11, 2010 at 5:11 am

   I have elected to train with you and follow you trading plan.