How I got into trading and lifting
Where to begin? I suppose the beginning is usually the best place to start; although the beginning to this journey is very blurred and is more of a series of events all my life that led up to me taking on this huge new challenge.
Growing up I was always (not the problem child) but I had a real problem with authority and following rules. Maybe it was the lack of father figure, or any parental figure for that matter. Since my parents had split my mom would sometimes work 3 jobs to make sure my sister and I were provided for.
In school I always got bored and would get into trouble for not following directions. I liked figuring things out myself. I liked challenges. In eighth grade I was tested for the Gifted And Talented program. I tested in the 93rd percentile; but I never had discipline; I never had someone that could challenge me and put me in my place.
Fast forward to being 28 years old. I have a long time girlfriend and my son is now 3 years old. I'm working for T-mobile in a call center. I moved up the ladder pretty quickly and was now a Coach of 10 representatives. I personally would win many awards for being top coach in the call center and top percentile in the whole company. My team would win awards as a whole as well. I would maximize my bonus every month. It was cruise control for me. Easy money. I got bored and would hate going to work to the daily grind, dealing with 10 different personalities a day on top of the angry ass customers and their bad attitudes.
May 2017 I had been working 60-80 hour works weeks saving up for a ring to finally pop the question to my sons mother. she resented me for working so much. I did not emotionally support her. I thought I was doing the man thing by financially supporting my family and making sure they were well taken care of. Came home early from work one day and found a guy pile driving my girlfriend going balls deep in our own bed. I tried to get over it. We tried to work things out, but nothing worked. We decided it was best to go our separate ways.
I took the break up pretty hard. On top of the break up I was now fighting a full blown custody battle just to have visitation with my son. One day I had my family with me the next I sat in the living room of our empty home, no furniture, no noise, nothing. I tried killing myself twice. I fell into a crazy deep depression. A lot of it is a blur now but was a really crazy time in my life. I lost 40 lbs without trying to. During this time I felt very entitled and pitied myself, which looking back was pathetic. Sometimes I could not even see getting to the next day... hour... even 5 minutes sometimes. it was a very dark time in my life and probably the lowest I have ever been
Around that time I Had a friend invite me to the gym that was into power-lifting. I had always brushed off his invitations but finally took him up on it. I was weak from not eating sometimes days at a time. I loved it though; it gave me goals to work towards. Something to look forward too. It challenged me again. This was also around the time I had found trading. Little by little I started picking up the pieces of my life and putting them back together.
Its crazy how power-lifting and trading coincided so much. In the gym, the weight doesn't give a fuck about your day or struggles you're going through outside of the gym. You either move the weight or you don't. Same as in trading, the market does not discriminate anyone and is just as ruthless. Both take huge balls to go into knowing you're probably going to fail many times during your journey. The more and more I practiced both trading and lifting I realized the traits it took to be successful. Discipline, tenacity, patience, humility. How to break down a huge goal into a plan of small everyday attainable goals. The same way I stayed up all night scrutinizing my lifts I would stay up to the wee hours of the morning analyzing charts from Cameron Fous. Mike Spinosa. Bao, Alex Temiz, Joe and yes, even a few FURUS.
The traits I have learned from gym and trading have carried over to everyday life now. I stay disciplined with my plan and see things through until they are finished.. Shit! I never even used to make my bed. and now its the first thing I do everyday. My quality of life has improved exponentially. I'm able to keep a positive mindset, and realize bad days do not equal a bad life. I look forward everyday to killing the market and killing it in the gym. The same way we get down on the weekends when the market is closed is the same way I feel on rest days. Cant wait to train and trade again! Bao tweeted about trading not being a lottery ticket to salvation. This is true. Just recently now that I am happier and in the right state of mind am I starting to experience success. Not only do I truly believe these two crafts saved my life but I feel they have also taught my to be more positive and grateful. I love that you could never really master either of them. There is always a new challenge to learn or set back around the corner; and that's what makes me love it even more.The grind, the process. call me a masochist but fucking live for it. Everyone for the most part in the trading community has been amazing. I know I bug with constant questions etc but you're all amazing and so willing to help. I appreciate the fuck out of all of you! This is only the beginning of my lifting and trading career; I'm excited to see what the the future holds for me..
Growing up I was always (not the problem child) but I had a real problem with authority and following rules. Maybe it was the lack of father figure, or any parental figure for that matter. Since my parents had split my mom would sometimes work 3 jobs to make sure my sister and I were provided for.
In school I always got bored and would get into trouble for not following directions. I liked figuring things out myself. I liked challenges. In eighth grade I was tested for the Gifted And Talented program. I tested in the 93rd percentile; but I never had discipline; I never had someone that could challenge me and put me in my place.
Fast forward to being 28 years old. I have a long time girlfriend and my son is now 3 years old. I'm working for T-mobile in a call center. I moved up the ladder pretty quickly and was now a Coach of 10 representatives. I personally would win many awards for being top coach in the call center and top percentile in the whole company. My team would win awards as a whole as well. I would maximize my bonus every month. It was cruise control for me. Easy money. I got bored and would hate going to work to the daily grind, dealing with 10 different personalities a day on top of the angry ass customers and their bad attitudes.
May 2017 I had been working 60-80 hour works weeks saving up for a ring to finally pop the question to my sons mother. she resented me for working so much. I did not emotionally support her. I thought I was doing the man thing by financially supporting my family and making sure they were well taken care of. Came home early from work one day and found a guy pile driving my girlfriend going balls deep in our own bed. I tried to get over it. We tried to work things out, but nothing worked. We decided it was best to go our separate ways.
I took the break up pretty hard. On top of the break up I was now fighting a full blown custody battle just to have visitation with my son. One day I had my family with me the next I sat in the living room of our empty home, no furniture, no noise, nothing. I tried killing myself twice. I fell into a crazy deep depression. A lot of it is a blur now but was a really crazy time in my life. I lost 40 lbs without trying to. During this time I felt very entitled and pitied myself, which looking back was pathetic. Sometimes I could not even see getting to the next day... hour... even 5 minutes sometimes. it was a very dark time in my life and probably the lowest I have ever been
Around that time I Had a friend invite me to the gym that was into power-lifting. I had always brushed off his invitations but finally took him up on it. I was weak from not eating sometimes days at a time. I loved it though; it gave me goals to work towards. Something to look forward too. It challenged me again. This was also around the time I had found trading. Little by little I started picking up the pieces of my life and putting them back together.
Its crazy how power-lifting and trading coincided so much. In the gym, the weight doesn't give a fuck about your day or struggles you're going through outside of the gym. You either move the weight or you don't. Same as in trading, the market does not discriminate anyone and is just as ruthless. Both take huge balls to go into knowing you're probably going to fail many times during your journey. The more and more I practiced both trading and lifting I realized the traits it took to be successful. Discipline, tenacity, patience, humility. How to break down a huge goal into a plan of small everyday attainable goals. The same way I stayed up all night scrutinizing my lifts I would stay up to the wee hours of the morning analyzing charts from Cameron Fous. Mike Spinosa. Bao, Alex Temiz, Joe and yes, even a few FURUS.
The traits I have learned from gym and trading have carried over to everyday life now. I stay disciplined with my plan and see things through until they are finished.. Shit! I never even used to make my bed. and now its the first thing I do everyday. My quality of life has improved exponentially. I'm able to keep a positive mindset, and realize bad days do not equal a bad life. I look forward everyday to killing the market and killing it in the gym. The same way we get down on the weekends when the market is closed is the same way I feel on rest days. Cant wait to train and trade again! Bao tweeted about trading not being a lottery ticket to salvation. This is true. Just recently now that I am happier and in the right state of mind am I starting to experience success. Not only do I truly believe these two crafts saved my life but I feel they have also taught my to be more positive and grateful. I love that you could never really master either of them. There is always a new challenge to learn or set back around the corner; and that's what makes me love it even more.The grind, the process. call me a masochist but fucking live for it. Everyone for the most part in the trading community has been amazing. I know I bug with constant questions etc but you're all amazing and so willing to help. I appreciate the fuck out of all of you! This is only the beginning of my lifting and trading career; I'm excited to see what the the future holds for me..
Nice post mate - keep up the hard work and I hope the custody battle went in your favour!
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