Stevie Swai
One of my favorite movies of all time is The Pursuit of Happyness. It’s based on the incredible rags-to-riches saga of Chris Gardner, a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco, living in homeless shelters and seedy motels, while pursuing a career in finance. As the story unfolds, Chris is offered a non paying internship at Dean Witter in spite of arriving for the interview after having spent a night in jail for unpaid parking tickets. He arrives at the interview covered in paint, as he had been painting the apartment he was vacating when he got arrested.
I won’t give any more details in case you haven’t seen it. But if you are here at this website because you have the desire to become a successful trader, then this is a ‘must watch’ movie. Watch it tonight. Maybe twice.
The thing that stuck with me the most about the story was this guy’s drive. He knew what he wanted and even though the odds were really against him, giving up was simply not an option. He absolutely knew without a doubt that he could achieve it. And he did.
When I ran across this compilation video of Will Smith interviews, it came as no surprise as to why he was chosen to play the role of Chris Gardner in the movie. He played the role of Chris incredibly well. His acting was superb. But was he even acting?
Will Smith lives life with the same passion and fervor, and realized early on that it takes far more than talent to get to where you want to go. It takes flat out hard work.
As I listened, I recalled hearing those same words from Trader Scott time and time again. He has written and reiterated in videos countless times that it doesn’t take brains nor talent to become a great trader. It just takes good ol’ blue collar hard work. Trading consistently well is a struggle – every day. But when we become aware of this, then we can plan and prepare. And we can go into each day with focus, optimism, and a winning attitude, because that is how we consistently survive and prosper. That is a true home run.
And speaking of hard work, I love the story Will shares about his father tearing down a wall at his business, only to ask Will and his brother to rebuild it. Can you imagine what must have been going through the minds of the 12 and 9 year old boys? The thought of it must have been overwhelming. But as Will said in the video, you can’t view it as building a big wall, but as smaller projects every day, with the goal being to just lay one brick perfectly at a time. The same idea applies to trading. How many times has Trader Scott said to focus on hitting singles? Hitting singles is an account,builder. Plus it will help to create consistency in trading.
We hope this video motivates and inspires you on your trading journey or anything you are pursuing.
I also enjoyed “pursuit of happiness” and Will Smith certainly has put some elbow grease into his career…. good to stoke the fire…. thanks\