It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.

— Harry S. Truman

I find that these days I am a slow learner.  It’s not that age has slowed me down, at least not in the sense that we think of age slowing us down.

For the longest time, “conventional wisdom” (perhaps an oxymoron) taught that as we got older, our brain cells died off and we got slower and stupider.  Just a few years ago, in his book When the Game is Over It All Goes Back in the Box , John Ortberg wrote:

You start losing brain cells at an alarming rate.  If you’re over thirty, you lose thousands of brain cells every day.  If you’re very, very quiet, you can hear some of them dying right now.

Since he wrote that, science has discovered that we don’t actually lose brain cells, that our brains are amazingly plastic and adaptive and that we can continue to learn indefinitely.  So why  have I become a slow learner…  because I have too much experience.  Somehow, despite the fact that I am paying good money to take the course or buy the book, which is theoretically written/presented by someone with more knowledge than I possess – I still manage to judge their approach and modify it to something I decide is more appropriate for me.

What made me come to this BGO (blinding glimpse of the obvious)?  Investing – yet again.  As you know, during my long tortuous journey to become a “great trader”, I have learned a lot.  The thing that is most amazing is that I learn more about myself than I learn about trading – and in the end, it’s self-knowledge that will lead to me becoming a “great trader” because most mistakes are thinking mistakes, not mistakes of skill.

Learn It Again, Sam

All traders make mistakes.  They get into a stock just before it heads down or they stay out during a huge run to the upside because they’re sure that it’s going to roll over and crash any day now.  The only thing that you can be sure of in the stock market (and probably in all of life) is that the unexpected will occur and you will deal with it when it does.

It may be good or even great – “I won the lottery, YIPEE!”  Or it may be unpleasant – “You definitely need to recap all four of those teeth.” (That one’s actually YIPEE for the dentist and UGH for you.)  But whatever it is, you deal.

The real key is how you deal with your latest challenge and the biggest determinant of how you cope is how you think.  And it seems as if at this point, my life has aligned to show me how it all fits together.

First, I realized that I was the biggest deterrent to quickly learning how to be a great trader.  The trading platform (the software that submits orders and keeps track of everything I do) comes in two flavors:  Papermoney and the real system (where I get to play with my own money).  As I listen to the instructors’ analysis of the charts, they repeatedly recommend practicing in Papermoney.  I did some of that, but always did it in amounts that mirrored what was in my real account.  This limited the number of trades that I could make.

Suddenly, I GOT IT.  Trading more equals more experience equals better judgment.  DUH!  There is a time to trade less due to budget constraints; but while I’m learning and using pretend money, trading more is good as long as I learn from each situation.

Second, I’m listening to Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.  In it they describe life as a game – not a new concept.  But, they describe how gaming is done today.  Since I’m not a gamer, I wasn’t aware of the approaches taken by people who play games regularly.  First, they learn the game basics; then they figure out how to use the rules to their advantage and finally, they figure out how to work outside the perceived rules.

None of this is cheating, it’s just what businesses do every day.  You may have heard that the stock market hates uncertainty.  That’s because as long as they know the rules, they can develop a strategy to use them to their advantage.  If the rules are uncertain, then it’s difficult to pick a strategy.

The same is true for us.  Learn the rules.  Play the game.  Find your way forward.  And when you truly understand how the game is played, improvise.  Just like in music, create embellishments and alternatives that enrich the play.

Finally, I re-remembered that it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react/respond to what happens.  As Ortberg reminds us, learned helplessness is a primary determinant of depression.  If I respond to adversity by declaring that there’s nothing I can do, I choose to be powerless.  This infects everything I do.  I’ve noticed this most in my attitude first thing in the morning.  I feel yucky and I don’t get right out and walk.  Finally, I get my butt out the door and the combination of movement and new ideas quickly turn me around.  By the time I get home, I’m more ready to take on the day… and yet, I have to re-prove it to myself each morning.

Let It Go

What do I need to do to learn faster?  First, I have to trust the mentors that I have chosen to lead me towards where I want to go.  Their solution may not be exactly what I need, but I can try it and then modify it instead of prejudging what they say.  Especially when the risk is low, like using Papermoney, I need to “Just Do It!”

Second, I need to consciously observe and adapt the rules of the game so that they serve me.  I may not like the rules, but I need to know them before I can find a way to integrate them into my plan.

Finally, I need to bring to top-of-mind the wisdom I once had.  Wisdom is obtained by life experience, often difficult life experience.  Forgetting or ignoring what I’ve already learned is a terrible waste of the pain I’ve experienced.  I need to take out those old chestnuts, dust them off and keep them in front of me as I go forward:

• Attitude counts.
• Take action.
• Stay connected.
• Keep moving.

There are millions more, but these are the ones I need to remember, every single day.