Persistence is doing something again and again in the hope you will have some success. Tenacity is using new data to make new decisions to find new pathways to find new ways to achieve a goal when the old ways didn't work. Telemarketers are persistent, Nike is tenacious.
Wouldn't it be clearer to say as follows: Obstinacy is the negative connotation trait of doing the same thing over and over to the same result or holding one's opinion despite contrary evidence. Perseverance is the positively connotated trait and denotes flexibility of means towards achieving the goal. Determination is the state of having made one's mind up and the resolve not to change it. Persistance is the state of not evolving or moving. Tenacity is the attribute of not giving out (as in a strong glue). Or am I being a smart ass? - ras72
However you absorb the point best is how you should view it. Assuming of course you think the point itself is worthwhile.
How about being persistently tenacious? I agree it's important to stop doing what doesn't appear to work, which isn't as easy it would seem because of intermittent reinforcement, plus the fact that strategies degrade to unprofitability over time.
Great thoughts SN But (always a damn but - it seems) Lest we forget plain ole stubbornness A rose by any other nameâ¦.. Has distinct potential to prick one square in the ass - if / as we allow RN
You raise a very good point. I found it both worthwhile and necessary to reflect around the concepts of obstinacy, perseverance and determination in evolving my trading. These words resonate strongly with me. The issue of obstinacy comes up continously in my discretionary trading as resistance to recognizing the failure of my predicted scenario. Something very insidious and potentially catastrophic. - ras72
Thanks RN. My template for this type of thinking goes back to when I was in somewhat more structured businesses that required staff. Contrary to what many seem to believe I found that if you took the hiring process seriously -- after all trusting others with aspects of your business and reputation is no small matter -- most of your staff wants to do a good job and they are willing to work hard to get it done. The ones that never seemed to have a chance, in general, were just as hard working as the others but had one trait in common: They were unwilling to reach out for help when the got stuck. They seemed to believe that solving the problem or navigating around the roadblock had more value if they got that done through their own efforts as opposed to that it got done because others could give them a hand or show them a different prospective. I found I could not make that type of staff member effective and I also found -- to my great annoyance -- that i was unable to weed them out in the interview process. I always had new staff members start on Monday and I always gave them a good sized project to do that I was dead certain they could not complete on their own. Those that didn't reach out for help by Thursday at one PM were fired by my general manager so I could be at lunch and avoid the discussion. They were always paid for the entire week and were gone when I returned from lunch. Rank has its privledges and, since I did not like letting them go, I made sure to delegate that task 100% of the time. My botom line is you can't let yourself be trapped in your own mind or with yesterdays losing construct. Most breakthroughs in life come from looking at the wall/road block from a different prospective not from banging your head into it until either it gives or you become like a punch drunk fighter. I killed enough brain cells with scotch in my younger days and the few I have left I'm hell-bent on protecting. Although, given just the right set of circumstance ,I'm willing to sacrifice a few to a good bottle of Barolo.
Swan Noir, why discontinue your previous business in brokerage? What made you want to jump into full time trading with its relative instability when you had more stable income from your business?