Chapter 12 - The Dynamics of Goal Achievement (catch up) W - “To adapt, we need to choose not to resist learning and change. This requires a willingness on our part to think outside of the limitations established by our beliefs, associations, and memories and a willingness to learn how to manage our mental energy so we can release ourselves from the negative effects of our painful memories.” (p. 148) A - Mark is telling us that we must go beyond our internal mental limits of beliefs, associations, and memories by accepting that everything is in a constant state of change and to keep up with these changes we must be in a continuous mode of learning in ways that are productive to achieving our goals and creating satisfaction in our lives. A - Change and learning how to deal with change is something that I think about and meditate on every day. It has helped me with my personal development as a human being and to adapt during times of crisis. The idea of impermanence, the state or fact of lasting for only a limited period of time (dictionary), helps me to understand that I cannot allow outdated beliefs, useless associations, or painful memories to interfere with my goals and achieving happiness in this lifetime.

Chapter 13 W- When you start out there are plenty of things that you don’t know. If understanding is a problem, then your direction in trading will not do great either. A- Mark said that knowledge is the shining light when you are stuck in the depths of fear. It’s something to give you a shining light on your way out. A- It’s good to keep in mind that there isn’t a finite amount of information to learn, so you can’t be considered an expert forever. When you explore you understand what is happening here and now. This is one of many things I hope to keep what I know relevant in trading.

Chapter 13 - Managing Mental Energy W - Everyone instinctively knows that if we allow ourselves to think about something, the thoughts have the power to change the way things exist inside of us. And once things change on the inside, we know we will perceive and experience a different outside. A - All change begins with thought. (Mark states this in another area of the chapter & I think this sentence explains this further) A - Thoughts are so important and we have to be careful what we think and what we allow into our environment. Be careful with what we read, watch on TV, etc - it is all influencing who we are whether we believe it or want it to... As we think about things we start to see things differently (beliefs can even change); this will inevitably cause the way we experience the world & the way the world/people experience us!

Hey everybody, Today is quite an important day for me. I've finally managed to get back to break even after being in the red for 4 and a half years since I started day trading. I'll be honest, I was starting to doubt my ability to ever become a profitable trader at the end of 2020, and I thought about quitting. Investing so much time and effort for years, only to see money disappearing from your account is very hard on morale, of course. One thing that kept me going was the fact that, even though my account wasn't getting better, I felt like I was always making a little progress on both the technical side and the psychological side. I figured if I kept going, one day, I would finally turn the corner. Well, I turned that corner at the end of 2020, when I changed my approach, strategy and tools all at the same time. It took me 4 years to lose 25000$, and only 6 months to make it back. And frankly, I'm pretty excited to see what the next couple of years will look like as I'm only starting to ramp up my size. I wanted to share this with you guys because this chatroom is one of the reasons why I was able to make it work for me, and I figured it could help motivate and inspire anyone that is still struggling to find their marks and make it work for themselves. As you can see from my total realized P&L of the last 4.5 years, I had a pretty long and difficult journey. I just wanted to say this: As long as you feel that you're progressing at least a little, and if you like what you are doing, make sure that you give yourself the time and the tools to keep going because you never know when you'll be turning that corner. I surely didn't expect it, not more than a year ago I was about to call it quit, and it would have been a monumental mistake. Let this be an inspiration for those still struggling.