I just finished reading "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell I read it in one sitting since I was so taken back by it. First I will give a brief outline to those who have not read it and then share a personal story.
The most fascinating thing in the book was the fact that people who end up as "outliers" are exposed to certain experiences at certain ages that allow them to get way past the competition and be the best.
Bill Gates said he would be surprised if there was 20 people in the world who had access to a computer like he did when he was a teenager. Pure chance of him going to a certain school and living near a certain college.
The Beatles got invited to hamburg to perform 8 hours a day for year before they were famous. After returning they had more stage time than most performers have in their whole lives.
The whole concept is that certain people are afforded more practice/exposure earlier than others at a very early age thus giving them an accumulative edge over their lifetime. They reach 10,000 of purposeful practice hours first.
Now for my own story:
When I was about 14 I bought the first generation of the iPod touch. With the iPod came the "Stocks" app which is still there on IOS today. When I first saw it I didn't really understand it luckily I had access to my own laptop at that age I got curious and started researching more. I didn't know why I was drawn into it except that I was.
Everyday I would look and wonder could you really make money "when those numbers go green" and I started looking into why these numbers would move. I started a virtual portfolio on investopedia and blindly invested and looked at a bunch of charts.
My intuition at that age led me to invest the entire account in apple which tripled and gave me false confidence in my abilities since I had no basis for investing. I was studying on investopedia when I was 14.
When I was 18 I started with real money and develop my own style and methodology and have had great success with it defying all odds and to put it conservatively I have spent around 7000 hours exposed to the markets in a meaningful way giving me an advantage over 99% of traders my age (21).
The thing is it isn't that enjoyable, you literally have to think through your days to succeed, contingency after contingency, plan b, c, d, e , f. I would put it on par with trying to be a pro athlete or movie star.
A lot of times I fall out of love with it due to stress and moderate "episodes" but then just today I had my biggest $ & % gain on a gut feel trade.
I spent 2 years building a business when I was a teenager and didn't make any money but it was really fulfilling and fun getting feedback from my audience. I tried going back into business but I feel if I leave this behind, I am throwing away the "winning cards" I was dealt in life. Usain Bolt doesn't try win the 10k marathon why should I run away from my talents.
Who knows maybe I can make a business (hedge fund) out of this and find fulfilment in making "the rich richer".
The most fascinating thing in the book was the fact that people who end up as "outliers" are exposed to certain experiences at certain ages that allow them to get way past the competition and be the best.
Bill Gates said he would be surprised if there was 20 people in the world who had access to a computer like he did when he was a teenager. Pure chance of him going to a certain school and living near a certain college.
The Beatles got invited to hamburg to perform 8 hours a day for year before they were famous. After returning they had more stage time than most performers have in their whole lives.
The whole concept is that certain people are afforded more practice/exposure earlier than others at a very early age thus giving them an accumulative edge over their lifetime. They reach 10,000 of purposeful practice hours first.
Now for my own story:
When I was about 14 I bought the first generation of the iPod touch. With the iPod came the "Stocks" app which is still there on IOS today. When I first saw it I didn't really understand it luckily I had access to my own laptop at that age I got curious and started researching more. I didn't know why I was drawn into it except that I was.
Everyday I would look and wonder could you really make money "when those numbers go green" and I started looking into why these numbers would move. I started a virtual portfolio on investopedia and blindly invested and looked at a bunch of charts.
My intuition at that age led me to invest the entire account in apple which tripled and gave me false confidence in my abilities since I had no basis for investing. I was studying on investopedia when I was 14.
When I was 18 I started with real money and develop my own style and methodology and have had great success with it defying all odds and to put it conservatively I have spent around 7000 hours exposed to the markets in a meaningful way giving me an advantage over 99% of traders my age (21).
The thing is it isn't that enjoyable, you literally have to think through your days to succeed, contingency after contingency, plan b, c, d, e , f. I would put it on par with trying to be a pro athlete or movie star.
A lot of times I fall out of love with it due to stress and moderate "episodes" but then just today I had my biggest $ & % gain on a gut feel trade.
I spent 2 years building a business when I was a teenager and didn't make any money but it was really fulfilling and fun getting feedback from my audience. I tried going back into business but I feel if I leave this behind, I am throwing away the "winning cards" I was dealt in life. Usain Bolt doesn't try win the 10k marathon why should I run away from my talents.
Who knows maybe I can make a business (hedge fund) out of this and find fulfilment in making "the rich richer".
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