Since we are getting near to winding down the year and i haven't posted in a long while ...i have substituted the word I for YOU as i suspect my journey will be similar to the experiences of others and i hope this post will inspire the struggling traders out there who really feel deep down,as i did,that trading is their destiny. If you are one of those guys- do not give up,you may be closer to success than you think.But i don't need to tell you that do i? You will spend the first year learning everything you can get your hands on even when you suspect it's crap.Too early to commit real money you will paper trade / use simulators, though instinctively you'll realise real market trading will involve emotion so results will differ. You will blow your first account faster than you imagined by doing something you had promised yourself 100 times you wouldn't do. You'll immediately go back to study/paper trading.Fail this stage and you are a gambler and not a potential trader and you actually know that. Rinse and repeat. Your biggest fear now is that you're tracing out the path of the 90% losing traders-You lost didn't you? And you actually feel you know less than when you started You have zero intention of giving up.You realise the money lost so far represents a fair tuition fee and it's justified since you have already proved you're not a gambler.You know you are attempting to succeed in one of the toughest businesses in the world in which 90% fail, many of whom are smarter,better educated and better capitalized than you.If you succeed, 2 or 3 years of struggle will be the best deal you ever made. Now we are getting somewhere.(nobody else around you sees it that way,like you care) Time to step back and think outside the box while reducing things to simplicity. Time to reflect on things you read from other traders that take on new meaning now that you've traded for real (mostly from ET sorry i can't remember who said what but thank you guys you are a big part of my success!!) So here is my paragraph,every trader has their own.I wish you luck in writing yours: 'first losses are best losses' 'the market moves between support and resistance and IT CANNOT MOVE IN ANY OTHER WAY' ''I only put on trades that i would literally run down the street to my broker to make' 'There's a conspiracy on wall street designed to convince you that taking losses are a normal business expense' ('Profitaking fool'? - if that was you,or whoever it was,you have changed my life-literally and i owe you one very large drink.) To make that last one work guys will actually take a moment of personal epiphany such as i had, good luck!