Anbell wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 9:15 am
Actually, I'd also be interested in you fleshing it all out a bit more. There's a lot of wisdom there that you skated over quickly.
It's a big ask, because these are massive subjects and it's near impossible to do them justice with a random post, but I can explain what I meant at least, hopefully without rambling and memes. But I'm glad someone enjoys my ramblings, although I think I prefer brevity after all
It's an overall conclusion you've helped me reach as well.
Because how many words-per-point should one really need to get it across? Assuming they understand the subject. As fun as long-windedness can be I'm not sure how necessary that particular over-indulgence is... and how long before the reader loses sight of the key points you were trying to convey? So it often feels a bit counter-productive.
1. Deepwork - Work = Progress
From my experience everything stems from this, because we seem quick to confuse work with progress. Simply putting in time and working without real focus might keep you busy for years (and years) to come, but I think it's just not enough to make any tangible progress. Actively seeking that elusive eureka moment through focused and uninterrupted effort has a much higher chance of success than repetitively going through the motions hoping it randomly strikes you. Our brain can only make meaningful connections with the info we provide it, surely we would prefer to feed it quality over quantity. That's why I believe the depth and focus of your work are what truly matter in the end, any market breakthroughs are much more likely to occur through deliberate practice than through passive hoping. People often say: "I have spent 5000 hours on this and got nowhere!". OK, but how many of those were deepwork hours?
2. Progress - Distractions = Results
Then whatever progress you initially make will probably fizzle out (or take forever) unless you minimize or eliminate your biggest distractions. I don't know any other way to convert that tangible progress into actual results. I suppose progress is basically just potential until you strip away the distractions that slow it down and chip away at your focus. And that focus is super easy to lose in today's noise filled daily life. When you build some hard-earned momentum one of the very last things you want to do is check your phone every 10 minutes. Or in my case, post another stupid meme that no one asked for. If you keep starting and stopping how's the brain ever going to reach any meaningful conclusions, and then how are you supposed to reach your destination?
3. Results - Variance = Edge
If you can consistently achieve good results then you've probably got yourself an edge. This is what OP wanted clarification on, but there are a couple of steps before getting there, hence my initial post. In any case, getting good results isn't enough, you obviously need to separate luck from skill. Because variance can make anyone look like an absolute genius or a complete fool, at least in the short term! So once you strip away the randomness what's left is the real measure of your skill, and your advantage over the market, aka edge. This part has been well covered in this thread already, from a lot of different people and angles, which hopefully was helpful to OP and others.
4. Edge - Complacency = Mastery
Sadly, mastery means never ceasing to be a student. Once you have your edge the work doesn't stop there, this is actually where the real work starts, as annoyingly as that sounds. You cannot afford much complacency at all, because it will only water down your edge and it's likely to naturally erode over time as well. The moment you get comfortable and stop refining your trading process your advantage starts slipping away, often without you even noticing it, until it's too late. When athletes say that reaching the top was hard, but staying at the top is harder, they really mean that. Markets evolve, liquidity dries up, competition gets sharper, and yesterday's strats won't alwasy work tomorrow, there's no such guarantee. You have no choice but to stay vigilant, but at least you already know how to get there.
Btw I thought about putting "Consistency" at the end but opted for "Mastery" instead since it made more sense at the time and not much point revising now, but I'm very much open to different opinions and takes on these little formulas.
