Tim’s Letter: A Lesson on Patience in Trading
Coach Sommer’s Advice on Embracing Slow Growth
I stumbled across a post from Tim Ferriss in which he shared an email he received from his gymnastics coach, Chris Sommer.
Tim mentions that he revisits the email often, and there’s a lot of great stuff in it.
But there’s one particular paragraph that is so apt for traders that I need to share it with you…
IMPATIENCE
This is a trader’s nemesis – lack of progress.
And exactly as Sommer says, this lack of progress is why most people quit.
They simply cannot take the slow pace of growth.
THE START LINE
If you remember a podcast with Al Brooks I recorded a while back, he mentioned it took him 8 years to become profitable.
For most traders I know, it took at least 3 to 4.
That’s 48 months of work just to get to the start line.
Are there edge cases?
Sure.
And we all think that we are the ones to break the mould when we start.
“How hard can it be?” arf arf.
But just like Coach Sommer mentioned in his letter to Tim – “Dealing with the temporary frustration of not making progress is an integral part of the path toward excellence”
Most people can’t handle it.
But, if you CAN handle it and sit through months or years of stagnation with seemingly zero forward progress, then you have what it takes to be an elite trader.
“Throw out a timeline. It will take what it takes.”
Catch you tomorrow,
Mark
PS: Here’s the complete letter Tim posted on X