Today I went to a Chinese restaurant and, at the end of the meal, received a fortune cookie. It said, “You will be successful.” Pleased by what seemed to be my future prospects, a friend quickly brought me back to reality by reminding me that like all fortune cookies, mine was not exactly insightful. Since everyone wants to be successful, the cookie only managed to tell me something applicable to any recipient on a topic so vaguely defined as “success.” Although we each have different ideas as to what qualifies as success, be it money, family, fame, etc., we can all agree that the ultimate object of achieving success is inherently what drives us. In doing so, many people like to set goals, both long and short, as a form of measurement for their own success. For example, if my idea of success was making a lot of money, then a possible goal would be to make one million by the time I graduate college. Of course this is an unrealistic scenario, but it illustrates the basic difference behind success and goals, or at least the definitions that I will go by for the sake of this article.
Currently, many professionals in the investment banking industry, or what is left of it, may be feeling rather “unsuccessful.” As we know, the traditional idea of a successful financial professional is someone with the general goal of making money. Although each individual or firm may differ in their quantitative target amounts, it is safe to say that in the long run, investors want to have a positive net gain. Yet given the current economic climate, investors big and small alike must face an added obstacle: the bad market. Thus with finance in the slums, many individuals are not able to reach their target goals, or monetary gains, like in years past; and consequently, may instead feel as though they have failed to meet success. Although there exist certain factors that can alleviate losses, probability still indicates that in our current downturn, losses will be more frequent and at a greater amount.
In situations like this, many people in unfavorable spots tend to start pointing fingers, because let’s face it, it is easier to blame someone else than to admit your own fault. Thus, all we seem to hear these days is how the government, Obama administration, or Wall Street big-shots are the reasons why we have not bounced back from the market crash. Although in the back of our minds we know that everyone is trying their best to turn things around, said things have yet to work. But does that mean that the rest of us, or even those involved in the big decision making, should just sit back and wait around for “real” changes to be made? Absolutely not.
In fact, although it may seem like we, the little people, have no real power over what goes on in the financial world there is something we can do, or more specifically some way we can do it. Suggested solutions to the market crisis are not palpable by far, but the attitude behind how we should address and, in turn, solve the problem can be. In Brett Steenbarger’s The Psychology of Trading, the author makes a very important observation that can be applied to any market, or even life, situation. He states that “a developing trader's goal should not be to become a consistently successful trader. Rather, the goal is to become a consistently good trader.” Therefore in this context, the aim does not always have to mean making money, but instead “an effortful pursuit of valued goals,” even if it is on a bad day. Of course, making money stands as the ideal prize, but the mindset that goes behind actions taken should also have considerable value. Therefore, the “trader who develops his or her own unique idea and acts upon it decisively to make money” will be the one who is truly successful.
Although the majority of investors think with more long-term goals set in mind, they should not ignore the day by day efforts that go into reaching that goal. In other words, you will not internalize a genuine sense of success unless you exercise the same efforts and values to achieve it. In doing so, you will not only be more likely to meet your goals and reach success, but you will also feel a greater sense of accomplishment in earning something well deserved instead of it being given. Not only will this make the good days more rewarding but the bad days also worth going through. In practice, by following this ideology, you will have an easier time resisting the temptation of over investing or taking risks driven by emotion rather than technique. In other words, don’t be the fool who wins the jackpot only to lose it all in the next hand, or like many investors today, face a few losses and let the anger overpower them into falling deeper into trouble. Come the day when even a financial loss can still feel like a personal win, then something beyond monetary goals is attained: the intrinsic concept of success itself.
Going back to my fortune cookie, I just realized it was right. I sat down with the goal of finishing this article and, low and behold, it looks just about done. Of my options I could have ate, slept, or simply not done it (for this is voluntary I’ll have you know). But other temptations aside, I honestly would like to think I went into this just wanting to write about something worth reading. So I hope you enjoyed this piece, and if not, I could care less, because today it looks like I was successful. How about you?
