Self Fulfilling Prophecy

I admire people who put themselves through tremendous odds as well as go through what outsiders view as hell to do what they love to do. Everytime I admire a painting or a sculpture or any piece of art, I can only think of how obsessive the creator was but really when you are doing it you don't think it's being obsessive but more of being in the moment and being fully absorbed.

In fact, you don't even find it tiring or boring but instead you are energized and excited and just want to reach perfection. Which is why most masters paint the same famous artwork more than once before the final piece is selected. In trading, there's no visible end product to be shown and everyday is a test of many things...your emotions, your mind, your conviction, your capital and the list goes on.

Although as time goes by, for me, the effect is lesser and I'm less affected by the changing numbers. Sometimes, you may find yourself thinking at the back of your head even when you are just going about your normal life and sometimes you may just figure out where you went wrong or why you missed out something and then you go back and look at it again and again and again until something clicks.

I don't think they find themselves sacrificing anything while creating those works which is how I feel when I wake up at 2am in a foreign land while on holiday to check on my trades. But I didn't find that to be a sacrifice when I read how Monet painted Charing Cross which is by going from two places at different times of the day to observe the light on his subject matter. He did this for days on ends and yet he only completed a series of paintings back home with only his sketches and memory as references.

Nor do I feel anyway tired after a 14 hour flight with two simultaneously screaming twin babies a few rows in front of me and I just started checking on my positions when I landed. Despite not sleeping a wink, no shower and with the aid of two panadols, I closed my short position, watched the market and then proceeded to take a short nap before waking up just before market closes to see whether any decisions have to be taken. But no, I didn't sleep well...again somewhere out there I was thinking of the market...

I feel humbled in front of these masters of their own fate and even ACCICB was shocked to hear that Picasso had an estimated number of 50,000 works in his lifetime! It just reminds me that I, too am master of my own fate and while I may never be a Monet or a Picasso but that doesn't stop me from striving for perfection every single day for the rest of my life. Trading has become my chosen trade just like how art was the only life that these masters know. 

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