Thursday, November 01, 2007

The Doll Face Trader


Doll Face seeks the image of perfection. She remakes herself...the image recedes...but she pushes toward that image...and pushes...and pushes, until...

There are many Doll Face traders. They're mesmerized by the images of success, trading for a living, trading to win, wealth, freedom...the images recede, but they push toward those images...and they push...and they push, until...

The great traders express themselves through their trading as artists express themselves through painting or dance. They are immersed in markets, statistics, patterns, information; figuring things out is who they are. They'd be doing it if they were rich or poor, young or old.

The Doll Face traders are smitten with an image; there's no substance, no immersion. They trade, not as an expression of who they are, but in the vain hope of remaking themselves and their lives.

I'm occasionally asked to endorse books, products, or services that promise great trading riches. Always a new image for traders to latch onto. Sometimes I'm even promised rewards for those endorsements: money, "exposure", contacts, marketing opportunities: Images to capitvate me.

And then I think of Doll Face at the end of the video and everything becomes clear:

Pursue your life with integrity. Find what you're good at: that which so fits your values and interests that it expresses the depths of who you are. Out of that you'll find a career and a calling--whether it's trading or something else.

Everything else is illusion.

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Note: This post was written following a phone call requesting me to endorse and market a curve-fit trading system. I was to receive a portion of profits. Life's just too short, too precious to join the market idiots.