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Stop Doing Dumb Sh*t
Seriously, it's like the easiest superpower
In association with DarwinexZero. Allocating real capital to successful traders
Everyone focuses on doing really intelligent stuff. Nobody stops to ask if being cleverer is actually useful.
See, thatās my working theory for pretty much everything (and it ESPECIALLY applies to trading & investing).
Instead of focusing on optimising and perfection, what if we just tried doing less dumb shit?
Picture a giant, transparent water tank.
The tank can represent whatever you want. Your life, career, business, trading returns, health. Take your pick.
All the good stuff goes into the top of the tank.
In theory, that tank should fill up and compound over time.
In reality, we do dumb shit.
Which means the tank leaksā¦
Science
A lot of the time, our ego will push back at this idea.
Simple stuff isnāt attractive. We seek novelty.
Thereās even a name for itā¦
Shiny object syndrome (SOS) is a pop-cultural, psychological concept where people focus on a new and fashionable idea, regardless of how valuable or helpful it may ultimately be.
People who face a fear of missing out are especially susceptible, as the distraction of shiny objects in themselves clouds judgement and focus.
The term shiny object syndrome is often used when people mistake something small and focused and fixate on it to the extent that they lose the big picture.
Which should sound familiar to any retail traderā¦
Hey, Iāve been trying this trading system for a week and it hasnāt made me any money. This guy seems to be making a lot of money with his MACD/RSI crossover fandangaroonio algo strategy. Iāll try that.
System hopping is the perfect example of dumb shit that itās easy to stop doing.
This applies to much more than just trading, but weāll stay in our lane for nowā¦
Short list of dumb things to avoid.
Boredom Trades. Just go and do something else.
Revenge Trades. Do this if you hate money
System hopping. Stick to a first principles system and build around it
Actually, thatās really the point I want to focus on. Principles.
Trading is a business
Like any business, there should be some basic principles at the core.
Usually these are based around the aims & goals that the business sets out on inception.
Unsurprisingly, most businesses donāt put making money at the heart of those goals.
Itās not necessary. The purpose of every business is to profit.
Principles guide the āhowā.
Trading is no different
When trading, what are you expecting to get paid for?
Maybe your ability to accurately forecast the futureā¦ (your talent is wasted here)
Identifying when the market has moved too far from āvalueāā¦ (mean reversion)
Identifying when āvalueā is changing because new information has changed perceptionsā¦ (trend)
And so onā¦
If you pile in on every new shiny object, these markets will chew you up & spit you out.
Itās a massive clichĆ© but this Bruce Lee quote is a banger.
Keep doing the same things over and over again. Improve a little bit each time.
Reject complexity, change for changes sake and focus on not making stupid mistakes.
If your goal is to become exceptional at āone kickā, why are you pissing about with those nunchucks?
Honestly, keeping it simple & cutting out the toxic dumb shit is a superpower.
And donāt listen to the cynical little ego telling you it canāt be that easy.
Cynics are dumb. Theyāve just perfected the art of sounding smartā¦
While weāre on the subject of cynicism, David talks about every cynics favourite asset (and a few other things) here š
Plus his thoughts on oil reacting to todayās NFP data
Also keep an eye on the Nigeria Effect.
Nigeriaās main labour union has just announced that they will "embark on a total and indefinite shutdown of the nation within 14 working days or 21 days from today until steps are taken by the government to address the excruciating mass suffering and impoverishment being experienced around the country,"
Nigeria produced 1.1 million bpd in 2022
And just for fun. This is precisely why weāve started Fink.Moneyā¦ š¤¦āāļø
To get out of the DIRE situation we're in with regards to financial literacy, we started @Fink_Money.
Retweet this, follow @Fink_Money and sign up to the mailing list to be in with a chance of winning Ā£500 on September 25th.
Winners will be picked from their email so make sureā¦ twitter.com/i/web/status/1ā¦
ā David Belle (@davidbelle_)
12:27 PM ā¢ Aug 31, 2023