For about a year, I've read a blog from an insightful individual who doesn't have anything to do with trading (note to self: write a post about the well-rounded trader who learns from all disciplines, not just trading books). One post mentioned a book on meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh called The Miracle of Mindfulness
I remember a number of years ago, when Jim and I were first traveling together ... we sat under a tree and shared a tangerine. He began to talk about what we would be doing in the future. Whenever we thought about a project that seemed attractive or inspiring, Jim became so immersed in it that he literally forgot about what he was doing in the present. He popped a section of tangerine in his mouth and, before he had begun chewing it, had another slice ready to pop into his mouth again. He was hardly aware he was eating a tangerine. All I had to say was, "You ought to eat the tangerine section you've already taken." Jim was startled into realizing what he was doing.
Some traders we work with (and me for a long time) were more worried about the "perfect" system they have not yet found, instead of the system that they have available to them now, which can make them money. They are "eating" the "perfect" future system that they haven't finished building (and may never finish) and they are never using the system they have available now. They are endlessly searching and never finding. Always eating and never satisfied. So focused on "next" that they never get around to trading the now, which Bill Williams so brilliantly teaches.
