19th of May 2019, marked the grand finale of one of the best series ever watched in human history, and will forever remain indelible in my heart.
Yes, I can see you rolling your eyes, this should be the quintillionth time you are reading about something that has to do with Game of Thrones.
You look up in frustration and blurt out:
“Dear Lord save me from these fanatics of Game of Thrones, I only came here to read about trading, I never bargained for this”
I can hear your prayers friend, but before you go ahead and click on the back button of your device, there is something I want to share with you.
Going through the entire series, I continuously asked myself one question:
Which of the characters in the series would have made the most successful trader, if they were all in some forex training institute?
My answer was Arya Stark.
I don’t know if my choice fits yours, but I fell in love with that character after she showed lots of grit throughout the entire series and I had no choice but to pencil down some of her qualities I wanted to share with you.
Before I go any further,
I need to apologize to those who haven’t watched the series. I was worse than you some three months ago but I couldn’t help but notice the infectious energy the fans of the series exuded.
So, I gave it a try.
After the fourth series, I began to wonder why I never followed the bandwagon all these years?
Well, it wasn’t late, I managed to finish the final series alongside all the Game of Thrones fans all around the world (Hahahaha)
Now, where were we? …
Hmm… Arya Stark, that’s right
In the series, Arya was born into a noble family. Her dad was the King of the North, she also had other siblings like some of us do.
At some point in the plot, Arya was forced into leading the life of a fugitive after her dad (Ned Stark) was wrongly accused and murdered.
Arya’s transformation from a royal tomboy, who runs around with her favorite sword (Needle), into a cold-blooded assassin was necessary for not just her survival, but also to avenge her family that was gruesomely butchered during the entire series
The entire metamorphosis of Arya into a deadly assassin didn’t come cheap. She endured unimaginable pain throughout her transformation.
The amazing part was that Arya had a choice of fleeing such hardship, but she adapted because her purpose in the series far outweighed the pain she needed to go through.
In my trading experience, there are a few traders who possess such grit.
Some of Arya’s inhumane qualities I greatly admired during the entire series are:
1. Blending in
Arya being a typical tomboy, always had a keen interest in what most boys in her time loved doing. Which was learning how to master the sword and bow.
She even had this boyish gait and charm.
This trait she possessed allowed her to easily blend in wherever she went to, and not being noticed as a lady.
In forex trading, one major trait a newbie should have is an analytical mind.
Having such a trait may seem trivial to most, but it will amaze you that there are fewer people than you think who possess such quality.
In forex trading, we deal with analyzing chart patterns, which can be said to be a collection of millions of traders thought process all around the world.
So, does this mean that, if you are lagging in the analytical department, all hope to become a trader is lost?
The TRUTH is… NO
The mind can be trained to analyze the different technical situations in the market.
However, such mastery of analyzing the market doesn’t happen overnight, but I promise you that, if you are focused enough, you may be lucky to become a decent analyst sooner than later
2. Unlearn
Arya was naturally endowed with most qualities of an assassin, no wonder her mentor (Jaqen H’ghar) had to ask her to become his mentee in one of the episodes.
Despite her natural gifts, learning the art of becoming a skilled assassin meant forgetting her identity as Arya Stark.
At a certain point in the series, Arya was told that:
Holding on to her identity may not bring forth the desired results she needed to become “NO ONE” (a skilled assassin).
Which of your identities do you need to drop in order to become a better trader?
In my opinion, there are many beliefs that distort the growth of a new trader. Some of these traits are:
- A trader MUST trade every day in order to become highly profitable.
- A trader is entitled to a weekly/monthly income which MUST be constant
- A trader MUST become wealthy overnight through trading with little or no effort.
Bringing such emotional baggage into trading will NOT assist in your development as a trader.
You may end up getting to a certain developmental level, and find it difficult to surpass that stage.
If you want to become successful in this career, my advice to you is to UNLEARN what you have been fed by those forex hype men.
If not:
Your expectations regarding this career could stunt your growth as a trader.
3. Pain is Gain
For those who watched the series, you would agree with me that Arya Stark went through a lot of hardship in the entire series.
From scavenging for food to fleeing some life-threatening situations in order to simply stay alive.
In my opinion, she had the roughest time of her life during her time in the black and white temple with H’aghar (her mentor) trying to perfect her skills in order to become an assassin.
Life was so bad that at some point in the series, she was made blind by her mentor, simply because she dishonored a code.
The saddest part was that she was not only blind, she was also sent away from the temple, to live in the streets, begging for alms in order to survive
Can you beat that?
The daughter of a “once great king”, undergoing such painful humiliation, in order to become a skilled assassin.
If I may ask you…
Do you possess such mental fortitude?
Can you go through such self-induced hardship in order to become a professional trader?
Anyone?…
Well, If you possess anything close to such mettle, then you have a higher chance of becoming a consistently profitable trader.
4. Time
Time has killed more dreams than you could ever imagine.
However, Arya Stark was completely immune to it.
Chronologically, Arya spent a little over a year at the house of black and white with her mentor.
In that one year, all Arya did was eat, sleep and breathe the life of an assassin. Her level of dedication was unparalleled.
Most new traders do not have such dedication or time to spare honing any craft. All they tell you is:
“Just tell me all I have to do, to make MONEY“
Their money driven minds suffocates their inner creativity, hence whatever they learn does not grow roots within them, so they hardly ever attain mastery of any subject they try learning
Don’t get me wrong, almost everybody who was sucked into forex trading because of the financial gains, including myself (to a great degree).
However, what made me stay longer was because I love the challenge of learning how to play a game against other traders and making money from it. Not to talk about the financial freedom you enjoy through trading.
Most of the new traders who are so hooked on the money aspect always fall by the wayside.
You know why?
The love for money and getting it quick can’t provide you with the discipline needed to withstand the difficult times you MUST go through before becoming a profitable trader.
One thing I have noticed is that:
In general, most people go through life, never really learning any craft, not because they are lazy or not focused.
Most people have an integral problem lasting through the incubation period everyone must go through before attaining mastery.
In the end, ALMIGHTY TIME beats them to frustration, hence they resign to fate.
5. Own The Game
In my opinion, the most interesting part of Arya’s growth as an assassin was:
The part where she returned to the house of black and white with the waif’s (A senior assassin apprentice) face and this conversation ensued between Arya and her mentor:
Mentor: “Finally a girl is NO ONE”
Arya: “A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell, and I am going home”
This dialogue could be translated a million different ways, but two thing I picked was:
- Arya broke the code of the faceless men by still retaining her original persona all along, while she pretended to be one of them, and secondly.
- After proving she had mastered the ways of the faceless men, she didn’t just move on with those skills she learned, she OWNED them.
I don’t know how she was able to pull that off, probably she used some Vudu of some sort, but for Arya to leave the house of black and white after she became a lethal assassin was something phenomenal in the series.
If we were to Relate this to forex trading, I would say:
So many new traders come into trading with a closed mind.
What do I mean?
Okay, let me break it down…
If you are keen on learning how to trade the financial market, one thing to note is:
You need to forget whatever anybody has told you or whatever you have fed your eyes with on social media, if it also means forgetting yourself and what you stand for, go ahead and freaking do it.
The ONLY thing you should thirst for is:
Learning what you need to learn and after you are done learning it, you can then add YOUR OWN flavor to it, but not before.
If you refuse to drop your fairy tale expectations about forex trading at the door post before coming into the temple of mastery, you will fail at becoming a trader long before you even OWN THE GAME.
As a new or intermediate trader, what mental baggage do you still struggle with?
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