Talent is Overrated - Geoff Colvin's interview with Charlie Rose

Hey Guys,

I love to learn stuff. So it's not surprising that I regularly subscribe myself to whatever good information I can find over the net and ask a lot of questions so I can try my best to understand how things work.

The interview below is one of the videos I came across recently that I really want to share with you all. The interviewer is Charlie Rose, a famous talk show host that has interviewed many a great people (http://www.charlierose.com/). His guest is Geoff Colvin, the author of a book named "Talent is Overrated".

Here's the video:


Question. How many times have you heard someone say, "Oh that guy is just pure talent!", "He was born for that!", "She's such a natural!" yada yada yada. Sure, we all know that Tiger Woods is such a good swinger (in golf!), Michael Jordan was next to unstoppable on the basketball court, Jacky Chan makes dangerous stunts look like a trip to the playground, Luciano Pavarotti sings the opera like there's music box stored in his stomach and countless various stories of how somebody could do something like they were born to do it. However, what we often never hear about is the countless number of hours they put into practicing, the failures they had to endure and the criticism they had to bear in their relentless efforts to become good in the field they are at.

Let's forget about those people for awhile and look at our own lives. You could be picking up a new hobby, a different job or searching for that Eureka moment in your life. Someone's mother once said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Here are some tips to help you discover what talent you have and how to harness it:

1. Don't be Afraid to Try New Things
- One very good forex trader I know was formerly working on large fishing boats before he captained his own boat. If you watch Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch", you'll probably have a rough idea of how adventurous his life was. As hard as it is to link forex trading AND large deep sea fishing boats together, IF he was afraid to try new things, he would never have become the successful forex trader that he is today.

2. It's Never Too Late
- A good buddy of mine picked up Bike Trials at the age of 44! If you've never heard of this sport and do not know how physically challenging it can be, I do suggest you visit his site and have a look (Bike Trials and a Fistful of Blisters). Colonel Sanders, who came up with the recipe for the now world famous Kentucky Fried Chicken only found success at the age of 65!

3. Find a Mentor/Partner/Coach
- A mentor/partner/coach is someone who guides you along in your journey through their knowledge and experience as well as hold you accountable for your actions. Professional sportspeople have coaches, singers have their vocal trainers etc. I myself have made it my mission to get someone to mentor me so I can become a much much better forex trader.

4. Hard Work
- I don't think I need to explain this, do I?

Here's to making the most of your talents,
Leo

Forex Education: Learn to Pay or Pay to Learn?

Hey All!

Through my experience of blogging, I have met some good friend and traders along the way. One of them is Casey Stubbs, who runs Winners Edge Trading. He has kindly asked me to do a guest post for his blog and here it is.

Forex Education: Learn to Pay or Pay to Learn?

As usual, feel free to post your comments if any!

Happy Trading,
Leo

Starting Forex: Falling in Love and Getting Your Heart Broken

Hey guys,

As a forex trader, I always enjoy chatting with other people about currency trading. These people could range from professional traders who can make thousands of dollar a day to young and excited 'fresh meat' who have just entered the vast world of forex trading.

The Old Traders
One common factor is very prevalent when I speak to forex traders who make good money day in and day out i.e. They all have either lost money OR had blown an account when they first started their journey in forex trading (someone I know told me he lost USD 250,000!).

The Bold Traders
On the other hand, some of my conversations with forex beginners, I deduced another fact i.e. If they had luckily (or unluckily?) made some money while trading a demo account or even a live account, this small form of 'victory' makes them feel on top of the world and that they were born to trade forex. After a period of time, these people would then somehow proceed to the category of "have lost money" and/or "have blown an account".

What can I deduce from the above?

The possibility of making very good money coupled with a lot of amazing marketing out there draws people into the forex markets day by day. Forex beginners are very prone to believe that forex trading is easy only to discover the water is deep once they are in the pool. Once they realize that forex trading is NOT as easy as it seems, some lucky ones will pull out of the market while the unlucky ones will continue to gamble away their money (I know someone who has kept trying for 10 years!). Those that do not give up and continue on learning will find that forex trading is just like any other business. You need to dedicate your time, money and effort to be able to reap the excellent rewards that your relationship with the market provides.

You will get your heart broken when you blow up that account. Grief if you must, then get up, get over it and continue on your journey to be a successful forex trader.



Happy Trading,
Leo

Two Videos About Failures

Hello my dear friends,

I just watched two very very interesting short videos on a few very successful people and the challenges they had at some point of their lives before they became successful in what they are doing. Even though I have watched these videos in the past, watching it again reminds me that no matter how tough the going is, we should never give up chasing our dreams if we want to be successful.

Here's are the videos:





I know many people who will shrivel at the sound of the word FAILURE. To them, FAILING is bad thing and should be avoided as much as possible. However, could you imagine what would it be like if no one dared to fail? There would be no airplanes (it took two years of experimentation before the first airplane could fly and that too only for twelve seconds), there would be no electricity (according to Thomas Edison, "I tested no lesser than 6,000 vegetable growths and ransacked the world for the most suitable filament material"), and many other things that you are enjoying in your day to day life.

For those who know how to cycle, you'd probably have fallen while you were learning how to cycle, choked while you learned how to swim, fell as you were learning how to walk etc. Imagine how different your life would be if you were afraid to fail during those times. Well great, we now know that success will only come IF we were not afraid to fail in the first place AND we keep rising up EACH and EVERY TIME we fail.

Here, I leave you with some thoughts for the day. Are you happy with what you are doing, what you have and where you are heading in life at the moment? If you are, then great for you and I wish you continued success and happiness. But, if you are not, what's stopping you? The fear of failure? Whether it is the scars of past failure(s) OR the fear of the risk of failure, AS LONG AS you let either hold you slave, you will forever remain distanced from the door of success.

For failure is really nothing but the stepping stone to success.

Here's to our success (and failures),
Leo