Editor’s Note: Did you catch today’s Opening Playbook? Nate closed it out with an amazing breakdown of his recent $10,000 trade.
You might still be able to follow this one today, so see all the details here!
If my 34-year-old self (which is not a number I really feel comfortable saying yet) could go back in time and deliver a pep-talk to my 12-year-old self, I’d have a lot to say.
But one thing would be this:
“Practice the violin more.”
If you’ve read my newsletter over the last few months, you’ve probably heard a few times that from third grade through high school, I played violin.
And I was pretty good, insofar as I was one of the students who made the extra effort to take private lessons and play in the highest orchestra.
But it was obvious to anyone who listened well that I wasn’t putting in the work to really excel.
Outside of orchestra class and those thirty-minute private lessons each week, I really didn’t play the violin that much.
At home, I was embarrassed and shy, scared to play it and make mistakes. I didn’t want to look silly when everyone else could hear me.
And that was really dumb.
Because 34-year-old me would love to be more comfortable getting out the violin and playing it. And I’d certainly love to be competent enough to play masterpieces by Brahms and Vivaldi and Mendelssohn, the pieces that I love listening to but don’t have the technical skill to play myself.
Even today, I’ve given thought to re-entering private lessons and actually putting in the work at home, but it’s always at the bottom of my priority list.
Right after I said the bit about the violin, I would probably shake my younger self lovingly and say “pay attention and really apply yourself in German class.”
I took German from seventh grade through my second year of college (off and on).
I wanted to learn the language because much of my family’s heritage was German, my dad had spent time in Germany in the military, and it was the number one country I would hope to visit one day.
Of course, I couldn’t have known then that I would one day have a bunch of great friends from Germany, work with colleagues from a German company, and even get to officiate a wedding there.
But had I stuck with German and really practiced it, I might have actually been fluent, or close to it, when I had all these opportunities — instead of being embarrassed about how poor my German knowledge was after 7-something years of half-hearted study.
The point is, I think when we’re new to something, or when we’re young, we often forget or under-emphasize the value of practice.
Not to trigger Allen Iverson or anything, but practice really does make perfect.
And the same is as true of trading as it is of playing the violin or speaking German.
You need to be in the markets every day and practicing.
That doesn’t necessarily mean putting your money on the line or gambling on risky trades.
But watching the markets, seeing what they’re doing. Tracing out technical patterns and learning what makes stocks move. Attending webinars and trainings and anything you can to make your game sharper.
If Iron Condors and 85% win rates are the “Brahms and Mendelssohn” of trading — the things it’ll take the most time to master and perfect your strategy on — then you need to get there one step and one annoying practice session at a time.
It’s not always fun to practice. It would be more fun to leap to the 85% win rate right away.
But the practice is what makes it possible.
So for my part, I commit to placing one trade today and watching one training on spreads.
It’s not too hard, but it’s a pretty good start.
What is your practice going to be today?
I’ll let you answer that for yourself, but remember, as corny as it might sound: practice makes perfect.
To your prosperity,
Stephen Ground
Editor-in-Chief, ProsperityPub
P.S.: I’m happy to say I actually AM practicing German these days, and I was studying in front of a German friend just yesterday and he said I was getting way better — see? Practice does pay off!
