A pretty smart guy once told me years ago that we all have pretty much what we want. I didn't believe it back then, but the older I get, the smarter he seems to have been. In our society, there are apples hanging from trees almost everywhere. It's up to us to figure out how to pick them. A relative of mine was a pretty average and unmotivated student growing up. But he always claimed that he was going to figure out how to retire early with enough money to live as he wanted. He started his own business and eventually expanded it to a really successful small operation. He also helped almost anyone who ever asked him to. His employees loved him for the most part and when he was 42, he'd decided that 22 years of 70+ hours a week was enough and that his nest egg was big enough. He sold the business to one of his employees for a thousand dollars down and monthly payments and retired. That employee paid him off 2 years ago and is, herself, now, almost as successful as he was. He credits his success to long hours, hard work, focus, and careful money mangement. I say the good karma he built up along the way didn't hurt, either. The moral is probably that if you want it, you can figure out a way to get it.
We all hold the keys to reality. Personally, i'm not in jail, but i know my limits at this particular moment in my life. What would most people expect from the markets or trading? Get real! Do people think the markets are a lottery, not all, but most. I don't expect anything, especially where the markets are concerned. Can i play the game? I'm giving it my best shot every day.
My jail cell is filled with posters touting that money has to be earned through hard physical labor, not sitting at a desk staring at a monitor. After 10 years of doing a job that was physical in nature, I am struggling with the issue of self sabotage. A review of my trades show that a very good portion showed profit, then turned negative. Now I know that's greed, but it is also me thinking that I do not deserve this "easy" money. I have to get over this. Starting to do more research into automation in case I do not have the courage to leave my cell behind.
"We all hold the keys to our own jail cells." I would agree with this in the sense that much of what we do in life, and our failures are the result of psychology and personal beliefs. Bad habits, self-sabotage, addictions, and other things that we succumb to because of our own personal weaknesses can cause us to be trapped... but if we acknowledge these and work to improve ourselves then we can unlock it and free ourselves.