Start Where You Are: A Life Lesson

A few years ago, when I was first beginning my journey into day trading, I saw this movie titled, “The Pursuit of Happiness”. I am sure we all have seen or heard of that movie so I won’t spend much time talking about it but just for reference I will give a brief synopsis.

This was the story of Chris Gardner, a man whose wife lost faith in him and his vision and left. A man who refused to have his son grow up fatherless the way he did. A man who became homeless, and eventually took a job as an intern at a prestigious brokerage firm that unfortunately paid no money, and more importantly, no guarantee for a job at the end. But he didn’t look at what he was starting with, he was looking at what he could end up with. He knew he would be homeless through this transitional phase in his life.

He knew that he would have to struggle to provide for his son during this time, but he believed in something bigger than what he had in his reality at the time. He believed in himself and his potential to be great. He was determined to make the best of this opportunity he was given. He gave 120%. Even though he didn’t have any money, no home for his son, he was one of the first people in the office in the morning and one of the last one to leave. The company goal was to make 100 calls a day but his personal goal was to make 200. He refused to be outworked.

This movie was the beginning of my inspiration to make a better life for myself and my family. The beginning of my inspiration to pursue my happiness, because I knew if I achieved that, my family would receive countless benefits of my suffering and hard work. But, there was a piece of the puzzle missing. I tried to get things in place but it seemed like for every step I made forward, I made two or three steps back. Every time I would come up with the same excuses: “If I just had a little more capital”; “If I just had more time to work on trading, “If I just could afford the right tools”. “If I just had the right opportunity”. You know the list!

Fast forward a couple of years and my wife attended a conference in which Chris Gardner was the keynote speaker. My wife knew how inspired I was by the movie and promptly bought both of his books. One obviously was The Pursuit of Happiness, but the other was, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. I’d have to say that was the book that nullified any excuse I ever had as I was trying to build a career in trading. The speech he gave that day was really meant for me, but my wife received it in proxy and I am so thankful that she did.

Don’t Wait For The Perfect Moment

So, now to the core of my message. You all know by now I made a conscious decision to start with $1500 at the beginning of January with the goal of demonstrating how you can grow your account safely and consistently if you employ the right process. My process is what brought me from $1500 that I had to start with to over 235k.

It all started from reading this book, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, by Chris Gardner. As I mentioned before, I had every excuse as to why I could not be successful. But, after reading this book, thankfully I realized that none of those excuses held water. They were just BS stories I was telling myself as to why I couldn’t be successful.

So, in 2017, my message is start where you are, with what you have. If you sit around and wait for the perfect moment in time, I can promise you that it will never come. If everyone did that, we would not be where we are today as a human race. I remember hearing a very prominent motivational speaker say that the richest places on earth are the graveyards, because in there lies most of the earths untapped potential.

Buried there are inventions that we will never have a chance to experience because someone was waiting for the perfect opportunity to take a chance. Buried there are some of the world’s greatest minds who never shared it with the world because instead of creating an opportunity to share it, they were waiting on an opportunity to share it. If these people had started where they were, with what they had, there is no telling where we would be as a people right now.

Be Resourceful

Start where you are with what you have. Don’t focus on what you don’t have to start out 2017, focus on what you do have. Don’t focus on your lack of resources, but on your resourcefulness. The truth is our resources are limited but our resourcefulness is limitless! When I learned, and accepted this fact, I became a better person, a better trader, a better father, a better husband.

Everything that was once an obstacle in my trading became a potential gain. I started looking at what I could do with what I did have, and maximize my potential with it. This is what I challenge you to do in 2017:

Believe in yourself!
Change your limiting mindset.
Start where you are with what you have!
Stop thinking about what you don’t have, but what you can do with what you do have.

Happy New year and let’s make 2017 phenomenal!