Public market investors and traders, by and large, fit a certain mold. They are:
- Optimistic, but extremely skeptical.
- Data-driven, but creative.
- Ambitious, but soberingly realistic.
And most of all, they are always looking for an edge.
More often than not, we look for edge via outside resources—better research, information, technology, etc.—but in my experience working with top Wall Streeters, the difference between the good and great is never outside of them.
The difference is inside. The difference is their mind.
More specifically, great investors and traders recognize that they have access to more or less the same outside resources. What separates them is, of course, what they do with it.
While the right outside resources are crucial to making good investment and trading decisions, the fundamental tool we rely upon is the 3 pound organ that sits between our ears. Great investors recognize the crucial importance of getting their mind right in the way that they approach each and every trading day.