Life with options #8
Trading perceptions
I think the perception portrayed by the Wall Street world, is one of debilitating high energy and engulfing stimulation. The Wolf of Wall Street epitomises this in our current day viewpoint as a benchmark for a reference to the culture. That vein popping, fist clenching, eye widening, male egotistic environment, is I imagine, our first thoughts of this white collared hideout. It seems a world dominated by a narcissistic nature and not an every person affair. Maybe it is, although as I argue it doesn't have to be like that trading options from your own home.
Perhaps my description is only a part and maybe a small part. I don't have any experience or first hand knowledge of what it is like to work on trading floors or for brokerage companies. Maybe I'm quite wrong about my unforgiving attitude and have fallen victim to using popular culture as my reference for something I know little about, even though I dabble on the fringes. But I can't help but feel there is some truth to the stance I take.
Most of what we tell ourselves about things in the world are built from our perceptions and stories. So even if my description is wildly inaccurate does it really matter? Until my story is changed this is what I would believe and expect. At the ignorance of others, I would assume this holds true for many people, involved or uninvolved.
Maybe I'm getting a little over philosophical about it all. After all it's clear I still entered this unforgiving game. But this is where the point of this post lies. If it is perceptions that result in the reality you experience, then it is only your perspective on the subject that matters. To clarify further, don't be put off by what you think the experience of options trading might be, the reality as I have experienced can be very different. It is what you want it to be.
I of course cannot continue to comment on the deeper industry culture of trading, so I will to turn the attention to my own options trading culture. In my life, the trading culture is very calm and indifferent. At least this is what I aim for it to be. I want it to impact my daily life as little as possible and for the most part it doesn't. I try and create a mental space that is passive and uninterested in trading. I do this because I believe it's a successful way to trade, limiting the subjective influence of my ego or poor prefrontal cortex decision making. It also happens that I don't wish to spend 6.5 hours glued to a computer screen staring at price charts - for me this isn't time well spent. My goal is to create a culture tailored to my needs and desires. Just because the wider industry might go about it in one mind set doesn't mean I have to, or you have to.
I feel we're often told hard slog working is the only way to progress and achieve "success". Naturally there is truth to this, but I believe there to be an elephant in the room with this theory. I find it hard to doubt there are over 7 billion people on this planet who regardless of working hard are unfortunately getting much return for it, economically or personally. I don't mean to diminish their hard work but the point that perhaps we're told this because it actually benefits the puppeteers of the systems in place, rather than us all as individuals, holds. Likewise i'm sure there are numerous examples of people who haven't had to work very hard for their stature in life. Whichever position is more correct, life is about living how you want to live not how we think we should live.
I use this to lean towards my style of thought that placing your time as more valuable than your economic output can still be achieved through current processes, we just have to sculpt them to our own way. I'm able to do around 5 hours of work a week trading options, a very acceptable pay off in terms of hours worked to hours for me. These types of work, or styles of work, are what will make us more fulfilled throughout society. Options is the focus for me but I invite you to place your own "options" example in replacement.
I appreciate I may sound preachy about the all play no work rhetoric, but this is my goal and rationale for trading options, so it's at the forefront of the culture I create for myself. I am in no doubt work really does please some people and I don't wish to snub this if it does. Equally I am in no doubt a lot of people (like me) wish either to increase income routes or work less. Options can give you one, the other or magically both!
I want to encourage more people to open up to opportunities they never would have thought viable, like trading options. The way you trade options can be any way you want it to be. Strategies can be moulded to suit your needs the best way possible. Again I stress this isn't to focus on just your economic requirements. Insert any other goal or desire. For example, I look to create strategies to focus more time on my relationship with my fiancee, by placing high probability of success trades. Therefore I'm not left worrying about them or having to deal with them, freeing up my mind when we're together. These are the real outcomes of the type of culture I wish to cultivate through options. It's a consequence and compliment of the trading not an active dissociation from the work that I do, like it is in so called normal jobs.
At the end of it any type of culture is a dynamic entity. By their very nature they can't be a static or unchangeable thing, everything is only determined by how it's thought of and thoughts are forever morphing and spontaneously appearing. This should shed light on the dark world options may appear as. You are the master of the culture that you wish to set the precedent for, and this couldn't be any truer with trading options.
Photo by Mathilda Khoo on Unsplash
I think the perception portrayed by the Wall Street world, is one of debilitating high energy and engulfing stimulation. The Wolf of Wall Street epitomises this in our current day viewpoint as a benchmark for a reference to the culture. That vein popping, fist clenching, eye widening, male egotistic environment, is I imagine, our first thoughts of this white collared hideout. It seems a world dominated by a narcissistic nature and not an every person affair. Maybe it is, although as I argue it doesn't have to be like that trading options from your own home.
Perhaps my description is only a part and maybe a small part. I don't have any experience or first hand knowledge of what it is like to work on trading floors or for brokerage companies. Maybe I'm quite wrong about my unforgiving attitude and have fallen victim to using popular culture as my reference for something I know little about, even though I dabble on the fringes. But I can't help but feel there is some truth to the stance I take.
Most of what we tell ourselves about things in the world are built from our perceptions and stories. So even if my description is wildly inaccurate does it really matter? Until my story is changed this is what I would believe and expect. At the ignorance of others, I would assume this holds true for many people, involved or uninvolved.
Maybe I'm getting a little over philosophical about it all. After all it's clear I still entered this unforgiving game. But this is where the point of this post lies. If it is perceptions that result in the reality you experience, then it is only your perspective on the subject that matters. To clarify further, don't be put off by what you think the experience of options trading might be, the reality as I have experienced can be very different. It is what you want it to be.
I of course cannot continue to comment on the deeper industry culture of trading, so I will to turn the attention to my own options trading culture. In my life, the trading culture is very calm and indifferent. At least this is what I aim for it to be. I want it to impact my daily life as little as possible and for the most part it doesn't. I try and create a mental space that is passive and uninterested in trading. I do this because I believe it's a successful way to trade, limiting the subjective influence of my ego or poor prefrontal cortex decision making. It also happens that I don't wish to spend 6.5 hours glued to a computer screen staring at price charts - for me this isn't time well spent. My goal is to create a culture tailored to my needs and desires. Just because the wider industry might go about it in one mind set doesn't mean I have to, or you have to.
I feel we're often told hard slog working is the only way to progress and achieve "success". Naturally there is truth to this, but I believe there to be an elephant in the room with this theory. I find it hard to doubt there are over 7 billion people on this planet who regardless of working hard are unfortunately getting much return for it, economically or personally. I don't mean to diminish their hard work but the point that perhaps we're told this because it actually benefits the puppeteers of the systems in place, rather than us all as individuals, holds. Likewise i'm sure there are numerous examples of people who haven't had to work very hard for their stature in life. Whichever position is more correct, life is about living how you want to live not how we think we should live.
I use this to lean towards my style of thought that placing your time as more valuable than your economic output can still be achieved through current processes, we just have to sculpt them to our own way. I'm able to do around 5 hours of work a week trading options, a very acceptable pay off in terms of hours worked to hours for me. These types of work, or styles of work, are what will make us more fulfilled throughout society. Options is the focus for me but I invite you to place your own "options" example in replacement.
I appreciate I may sound preachy about the all play no work rhetoric, but this is my goal and rationale for trading options, so it's at the forefront of the culture I create for myself. I am in no doubt work really does please some people and I don't wish to snub this if it does. Equally I am in no doubt a lot of people (like me) wish either to increase income routes or work less. Options can give you one, the other or magically both!
I want to encourage more people to open up to opportunities they never would have thought viable, like trading options. The way you trade options can be any way you want it to be. Strategies can be moulded to suit your needs the best way possible. Again I stress this isn't to focus on just your economic requirements. Insert any other goal or desire. For example, I look to create strategies to focus more time on my relationship with my fiancee, by placing high probability of success trades. Therefore I'm not left worrying about them or having to deal with them, freeing up my mind when we're together. These are the real outcomes of the type of culture I wish to cultivate through options. It's a consequence and compliment of the trading not an active dissociation from the work that I do, like it is in so called normal jobs.
At the end of it any type of culture is a dynamic entity. By their very nature they can't be a static or unchangeable thing, everything is only determined by how it's thought of and thoughts are forever morphing and spontaneously appearing. This should shed light on the dark world options may appear as. You are the master of the culture that you wish to set the precedent for, and this couldn't be any truer with trading options.
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