I can connect with what raguza is saying, because I’ve been involved in a business venture where a five figure investment was made by a partner and it all went south. Things like that can teach you a lot, if you have the courage to step back and look at what you did wrong, taking it as a lesson - and it is a good thing you are doing this.
Having that experience really helped me because it gave me an understanding of what it means to fail, what it means to lose other people’s hard earned money, and what it means to live off the support of others as they eagerly await for you to succeed. All of these things are what entrepreneurs go through, whether its starting a pizzeria, going into real estate, making an independent film, etc. All these things require a lot of capital, time, and effort - there’s no way around it. Trading is just the same, and the same exact concepts apply.
Entrepreneurship is something that takes a lot of vision and courage, and it also takes maturity. Some people are born entrepreneurs, the rest of us have to readjust our mentality. Change takes time, it takes effort, and most important it requires us to get out of our comfort zones. If we realize and understand that we HAVE TO change in order to succeed, then our main objective is clear before us.
Personally, I think its as important to spend time on developing the right entrepreneurial mentality as it is to spend time looking at charts and reading TA books. I’m not just talking about reading trading psychology books. There is as much to learn about trading through other entrepreneurs, for example take these quotes by Aristotle Onassis, one of the most successful businessmen in our century and try to apply them to trading:
"“We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.”
“The secret of business is to know something nobody else knows”
“I have no friends and no enemies – only competitors.”
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”
I think that all of these things are very relevant to what we are all trying to do.