Not sure what it is that we agree on, but as to the "long, hard road", sorry, no. Since few of the traders I've encountered over the last fifteen years have any idea what a trend is or how to trade it, much less how to distinguish between a trend and a range and avoid the latter, the "long, hard road" they travel is one they've chosen for themselves, not one which is required by the market or the trading environment. The trolls who inhabit this thread are a perfect example.
The agreement was on the fact that few succeed, even with your masterful guidance. Are they too stupid or lazy? When are all your smooth sailers coming forward?
Sorry but I gotta ask: you mean that some people (and a majority of them, to boot?), can't draw a demand line under an up trend? Isn't this the kind of thing everyone does instinctively before even picking up a first book about trading? "Buying pullbacks" is something we hear everywhere. I feel like I'm from another planet here, which makes me think I probably misunderstand what you're trying to say.
This brings to mind an assignment I had in the service. We were charged with teaching basic trainees to read. These guys were draft age, many of them high school graduates. Yet a surprising number of them didn't even know the alphabet. But they had to be able to read at at least a fifth-grade level in order to get through the manuals they'd be using when they got out of basic and were assigned to one path or another. So they were placed with us, and we had six weeks to get them where they needed to be. We didn't have the luxury of a "long, hard road". So can it be learned quickly? Yes, if one isn't riddled with anger and frustration and hostility.
Yes, few succeed. As to the causes, mostly lack of effort. As to when the smooth sailers are coming forward, I have no idea. If you're going to wait for that before reading the material, then your behavior is typical of those who fail.
So we can conclude if one does not succeed as a trader within 6 months of studying your material one is either too stupid or lazy. Most of your students fit this bill. I'd like to read what your students think of this.
Well, not to put too fine a point on it, yes. The extraordinary degree to which some beginners' minds have been fucked surprises even me. Why do you suppose indicators are so popular? As for "pullbacks", what's a "pullback"? Traders have been struggling with that one for at least a century. Donna has taken the statistical route to solving that dilemma and has done so to a sufficient degree for herself, but she as well has found only one person in all these years who will make the effort and do the work to achieve success. One needn't go far in this forum to find arguments over "trend". That these could go on at all is unfathomable. But they do. And have. For years now. But if one can't define "trend", much less acknowledge its existence, how is he to progress? If one can't define a range, how is he to explore any tactics to trade reversals and breakouts? All of this is preliminary work. It does not just "come".