And even if you get to where you can successfully trade small size over time, that doesn't mean you'll get comfortable trading large size.
I agree that the type of market and the type of assets really do make a lot of difference. In some markets with some assets, grinding is just not possible or very very difficult so difficult that the reward/risk is just not worth it. And these type of markets change all the time. But the biggest thing with grinding I find is how much and how easy you can keep vs how much you can make at the end of the day. with grinding, the consequence from not being consistent is much more felt plus the possibility of not being consistent is higher thus the requirement for being consistent is much higher. With a windfall, you can retire and do nothing and you would've still kept all of your profit. But with grinding, you will have to go back again and again and again and again to continue to make profit and one wrong move, you could risk losing all or large portion of the profits made because the profit that you make each time is so much smaller.
350K a year is pretty easy to get to. I always wonder why people go to higher education, work so hard, and hope to get 50K-75K a year, when all they have to do is make 1K a day trading. I mean some people work 2 jobs and can't feed their family on their $10 an hour....if only they new about trading they could make 350K a year, with no variance. Why not just design a day trading system, hit a button and take a nap all day as you profit 350K annually. Weird....let's keep the secret among ourselves please. Shhhh....
It's easier than done. Trust me. LOL Yes it might be doable, but it's very very very difficult and very often, you lose more money before you are able to make a profit, just like running a business. The learning curve for trading is very very steep. Of course at ET, we are trying to make the curve flatter, but there is only so much you can learn from others. Majority of the trading is really learned by just doing it and many times through mistakes and losses. Not everybody can afford to lose as nobody has large trading capital to begin with. Majority of us have to work to accumulate trading capital and still have to work even during trading to provide a stable income in case we incur losses.
10K hours was debunked some time ago. The concept of having to put in a shit ton of work and screentime though stands. Agree on upping the contracts - but only after you've proven consistent edge.
Still very difficult but I agree as I did with Volente. Find an edge and once proven consistent over time - lever up. Attack less points with more weight. Personally this is what I am working on and will do over time - but I also like to leave some contracts on as runners in case price keeps running hard in my favor. Scalp out about 75% of my position and the rest is just a bonus with a stop near B/E. Obviously it's still about whether you have a consistent edge or not. Without that you are dead to rights.
It is never easy to expect that much, that is why more than half of traders are disappointed after first trade.