Yes but what if “something else” presents its own share of formidable challenges? If that doesn’t work, do you then move on to “something else” yet again? There’s no right or wrong answer here.
True. There's no reason to believe that the something elses will not also be challenging. But he knew himself well enough to understand that if he didn't get it in six months, he was unlikely to get it at all, in contrast to those traders who go on year after year after year and never get much past break-even, if that. Those who aren't locked into a particular course by family or other circumstances may return to the buffet several times before finding something that is just right. Life is no longer short, so there's time, as long as one doesn't crap it all away by being stubbornly unrealistic.
Well, most sources of alpha are very straight forward, it's the implementation and combination of them that makes the whole thing complex. What really differentiates RenTech from many other shops is how they combine different alphas. Indeed. It's 150 bucks of delta, relatively pedestrian size for any institutional player.
Something like that happened to me with online poker many years ago. Only one friend listened, shadowed my play and then crushed her games many levels lower for an excellent living. Everyone else noded, agreed but kept to their old ways, lost their ass-- and then one even tried to borrow money.