Sunday, September 01, 2024

Exercising Our Character, Improving Ourselves

 
It's been great spending my 70th birthday with wife Margie and daughter Devon, traveling around Colorado.  There's something about natural beauty that inspires mood and mind, turning vacation time into a time of rejuvenation.  With that new energy, I find myself tackling fresh goals and challenges.  One of the most popular TraderFeed blog posts explained the process of FIGS:  Focused, Intensive Goal Setting.  The idea is that we achieve the greatest growth by establishing a limited number of goals and then focusing on working on those on a daily basis, turning them into internalized parts of ourselves.  I've long held that the age at which we become old is the age at which we determine that our best years are behind us.  The key to staying young psychologically is always having a guiding vision that we pursue intensively, challenging and inspiring us.

A particularly powerful vision comes from visualizing the kind of person we would ideally like to be.  What personality strengths would we most like to develop?  We can view our character development much as we view our physical development:  use it or lose it.  We can also set up routines to exercise our character the way we exercise our bodies.  What one personal improvement can you make that will make you a better friend and partner, a better trader, a better human being?  How can you use each day to make that improvement?

The keyword for my character improvement goal is forbearance.  That term can mean a decision to not enforce an obligation, such as the payment of a loan.  It also means patience and an acceptance of the limitations of others.  When we become impatient with others and expect them to meet our needs, we naturally put ourselves first and can create toxic interactions.  The idea of servant leadership is that we best lead by taking care of others, accepting and addressing their needs.  One of the reasons I've enjoyed our adoption of rescue cats is that it pushes us to get outside ourselves and prioritize their development.  In doing so, we create meaningful experiences and interactions.  In building my forbearance, I'm--in a sense--adopting everyone I deal with, committing myself to furthering their lives.

There is wealth in trading, and there is wealth in our personal development.  Indeed, it's not unusual to find that pursuing personal development furthers our trading success.

What are you working on today that will make you a better version of who you already are?  

How will today provide a great exercise routine for the qualities you want to cultivate?

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