Winning Principles for trading

• In life, if you risk everything enough times you will eventually lose everything. Instead, just move in the direction of your goals every day, so even with setbacks, in the long run you will get to where you are going.

• Before making any decision in life, the question: “What do I have to lose?” is a serious question. This should precede, “What do I have to gain?” If the answer is: I could lose $100, but if I am right I could gain $500 and my odds of being right are 50% – then you have a good risk reward profile. If it is reversed, then you have a bad risk reward scenario and should pass. These are also questions you must ask in your marriage, job, business, or friendships before making decisions you regret.

• Failure to admit when you are wrong can be disastrous. When you are going down the wrong road it is better to turn back sooner rather than later. Never fight a war for a hill of bones, because even if you win, all you have is a hill of bones and regret over what it cost you.

• When you have won big prepare to take profits. Have an exit plan in place. If your house goes from $100,000 to $300,000, have a plan to sell and move. Do not just sit there and let it drop back down to $100,000. It is surprising how many people are in the right place at the right time and win what is equivalent to the lottery in stocks, a house, or a business but have no exit plan, so they ride it all the way up then all the way down again with almost nothing to show for it. Tragic.

• What most separates successful people from unsuccessful people in all areas of life is that they persevere until they are successful. Everyone has to overcome failures, but those who keep going are the ones with successful marriages, businesses, careers, and trading systems.

• People who are successful become experts in one area. They put in 10 years of learning and mastering one business, one career, one marriage, or one trading style. do not jump around and become a jack-of-all-trades and master of none.

• Successful people do what really leads to success, not what they believe will make them successful. They read books, study patterns, have mentors, and learn cause and effect.

• Winners base their actions on proven results, not on their own opinions or predictions. Feedback is crucial to them; people with strong opinions who believe they can predict what will happen reject feedback. Winners go with the flow of the trend causing their success.

• In life, those who are driven by their vision, passion, and plan usually end up where they want to be or close to it. Those who let their emotions and feelings take over and drive their decision-making usually end up where they do not want to be in life.

• I believe that people who realize they have made a mistake in a given situation and who cut those losses and try again will be much more successful than people who waste years on a marriage, business, or career that continuously gets worse. It is important to continue in a business or career that is successful until that trend changes.