He has to think in a different way ImO. We (people) are all part of a video game created by our governments to be marketed to big money. It's the Big Money that plays the game and pays governments a licensing fee. As money doesn't have a proprietor Big Money will play this game all the time, they can win, lose & re-start all they like as long as they keep on paying the licensing fee. We (people) are part of this game, just because we are part of this game it doesn't qualify us as players until the time we manage to move up the ranks and eventually making a player lose the game & by doing so performing a transition from a participant to a player BSC recent player that lost
e-mini Nintendo Rocks! Seriously, I avoid looking at the PnL on every trade. At this point in my life I don't touch the money in the trading account, so if I make money or lose money, my lifestyle doesn't change. This is a way of segregating trading and real life. I can't think of a better analogy than it being a video-game. When I don't see winning and losing as stuff I can or can't buy, I'm able to trade with a much clearer head.
same basis as the book ender's game.. teach a kid something on a sim, and then let loose on the real thing, and the results will be stunning
the computer game analogy is a very good one; it has paralells with competitive sport, and few could disagree that trading isn't at least a little like competitive sport. w.r.t "loving to trade"... it takes alot of blood, sweat and tears to be a prof. trader - semantics aside, there sure as hell needs to be something inside you that makes you feel its worth it. If you ask a professional sportsman what drove him to become so successful at his sport, invariably he'll say "the love of the game"or something similar - not the money or the fame. Trading is similar, drive for the money and the fame (or lifestyle or whatever) isn't what you need to make it. you need to "love the game" (computer or not) to reach the top. And still that alone isn't enough.