Peter is a very close friend of mine, and possibly one of the biggest influences on how I learned to think and act. There is not much that he cannot do, and I know that to be fact. I receive his email newsletter on a regular basis, but many times just delete them depending on the topic. Not that what he has to say is not interesting or of value, just that I have had thousands of similar conversations with him over the past 20+ years, and maintaining my email is a consuming task.

Peter is a very close friend of mine, and possibly one of the biggest influences on how I learned to think and act. There is not much that he cannot do, and I know that to be fact. I receive his email newsletter on a regular basis, but many times just delete them depending on the topic. Not that what he has to say is not interesting or of value, just that I have had thousands of similar conversations with him over the past 20+ years, and maintaining my email is a consuming task.

But this one was very relevant to a current topic of my journal;





The Razor's Edge Newsletter
For People Who Live Life in the Pursuit of Excellence

“The Art of Waiting"
by Peter Ragnar



Waiting in a doctor’s office, waiting for a plane, waiting for a guest to arrive, waiting for a check in the mail, waiting in line, waiting for success, love, or recovery from illness—the nature of life is waiting.

"When you’re forced to wait, how does that make you feel?"

If you’re like the overwhelming majority, waiting is often coupled with feelings of discomfort. Have you ever been caught in heavy traffic while under time pressure to be somewhere else? Did any anger surface? Any irritation? How many of us identify this as a mild form of suffering?

Interestingly, most religions address this problem, yet we still suffer. Why? Could it be because we lack patience? The Latin “passus,” which means “to suffer,” is the root of both “patience” and “passion.” When we’re impatient, we endure discomfort. However, those who are said to be good patients say nothing about their suffering.

According to the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, impatience is a form of mental suffering. Paul’s words in the Bible book of Corinthians tell us, “Love is patient and kind.” In the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, “That one I love ... is incapable of ill will … not agitating the world nor by it agitated.” But how can we wrath-prone humans learn the art of patiently waiting?

The answer lies in only doing one thing at a time and doing it with focused attention. It means being totally present and conscious in the moment: doing what you’re doing without any influence from thoughts about the future or the past. I realize you may have attempted this only to be confronted with its difficulty. Please don’t be dismayed. It takes a lot of practice—much like exercise, until the needed strength is built up. This means regular daily practice. Thankfully, each day presents us with new opportunities to do this.

Can you imagine yourself as “incapable of ill will”? How about as patient and kind beyond measure? Buddha said, “There is suffering and there is a way out of suffering.” This “way” has nothing to do with believing anything. It has everything to do with noticing. It has to do with being as humanly present as possible and living each and every moment being fully conscious.

A Zen master was once asked, “What’s the secret to your happiness?” He replied, “When it’s hot, it is simply hot. When it’s cold, it is simply cold. I do not require its opposite.” Another master was asked the same question and said, “I chop wood and carry water.” Hidden in the answer was the secret. The performance was totally a conscious act.

The art of waiting is the skill of patience. You can be patient only by being conscious. Rousseau wrote, “Patience is bitter, but its' fruit is sweet.” You will taste its delights when you master the art of waiting.



Reflections from Turtle Lake,

Peter



Peter Ragnar | Facebook
Roaring Lion

I seem to remember seeing a documentary about this guy a few years ago. Did he used to be in prison or something like that? Or maybe it was he totally failed at something filed a BK and then in about 6 months went from almost homeless to making bank online....if its the same guy, it was really inspiring.

Patience is a subject whose importance is not to be underestimated, nor taken for granted. The primary reason for my success as a floor trader was execution edge, reduced commissions, and access to customer order flow. The major factor that slowly eats away small retail accounts, is not that the retail trader is inevitably wrong the market, but that they can't stay ahead of their own transaction costs. This takes into account commissions and execution slippage. As a pit trader I was on the other side of the execution slippage, and commissions were a non-factor.

A theme that consistently runs throughout a lot of novice threads is the overriding concern to make current positions more likely to succeed, always to the detriment of long-term performance. Once again, its the the natural tendency to maximize the number of winning trades, rather than the desire to maximize the chance of gain. These instinctive preferences run counter to perhaps the most fundamental principle of successful trading: Cut your losses and let your profits run.

Asymmetrical responses are common in trading and are often counter-intuitive. If the price moves close to a stop point, the trader will automatically think about moving his stop out to give the trade a little more room, but will not allow such flexibility with a winning trade, and will prematurely book the profit, before it turns into a loss. Decision theorists have demonstrated that people consistently prefer to lock in a sure win rather than accept a gamble with a higher expected payoff. Unfortunately, what works in the short term is nearly the opposite of what works in the long term.

The market likes to lull you into a false sense of security of high success rate techniques, which in the short term might work, but which often lose disastrously in the long run. The trader often compounds and exacerbates the problem, because their natural instincts will also mislead them in trading. These tendencies will make it increasingly more difficult to overcome transaction costs, especially when trying to scale your trading.

Therefore, the first step in succeeding as a trader is reprogramming behavior to do exactly the opposite of what feels good and comfortable, and to do what is correct and right. Patience is certainly an integral component in the formula for achieving this result, if not the most important. Its acquisition was the most important factor contributing to my successful transition from the floor to screen based trading.

"Where is my glass of water?"

Patience is a subject whose importance is not to be underestimated, nor taken for granted. The primary reason for my success as a floor trader was execution edge, reduced commissions, and access to customer order flow. The major factor that slowly eats away small retail accounts, is not that the retail trader is inevitably wrong the market, but that they can't stay ahead of their own transaction costs. This takes into account commissions and execution slippage. As a pit trader I was on the other side of the execution slippage, and commissions were a non-factor.

A theme that consistently runs throughout a lot of novice threads is the overriding concern to make current positions more likely to succeed, always to the detriment of long-term performance. Once again, its the the natural tendency to maximize the number of winning trades, rather than the desire to maximize the chance of gain. These instinctive preferences run counter to perhaps the most fundamental principle of successful trading: Cut your losses and let your profits run.

Asymmetrical responses are common in trading and are often counter-intuitive. If the price moves close to a stop point, the trader will automatically think about moving his stop out to give the trade a little more room, but will not allow such flexibility with a winning trade, and will prematurely book the profit, before it turns into a loss. Decision theorists have demonstrated that people consistently prefer to lock in a sure win rather than accept a gamble with a higher expected payoff. Unfortunately, what works in the short term is nearly the opposite of what works in the long term.

The market likes to lull you into a false sense of security of high success rate techniques, which in the short term might work, but which often lose disastrously in the long run. The trader often compounds and exacerbates the problem, because their natural instincts will also mislead them in trading. These tendencies will make it increasingly more difficult to overcome transaction costs, especially when trying to scale your trading.

Therefore, the first step in succeeding as a trader is reprogramming behavior to do exactly the opposite of what feels good and comfortable, and to do what is correct and right. Patience is certainly an integral component in the formula for achieving this result, if not the most important. Its acquisition was the most important factor contributing to my successful transition from the floor to screen based trading.