Money is an Amplifier

…which direction is your amp faced?

I recently had a wonderful opportunity to chat with options trader John Locke. His name is one I’ve come across more and more in recent months. I first was made aware of him via my friends at SMB Capital as John is a frequent guest on their educational webinar series.

This led to me doing a google search to learn more about him and his strategies. Which piqued my interest even more.

Then, I had traders coming to my trader meetup group outings in Colorado mentioning his name and his options trading strategies. At this point, I had to have a chat with him. And I’m glad I did.

We had a wide range of conversation, starting with his experience as a success coach and following that path as it led him into options trading. During which, we chatted about pitfalls that beset traders and non-traders alike as they strive for their goals. Often their goals are not in true alignment with what will make them truly happy. And simply struggling to “make more money” is rarely the answer. As John succinctly pointed out: “money is an amplifier.” It can leverage the good things in your life into great things, but it can also turn the bad into extremely ugly. As traders, we are susceptible to laser focusing on money and letting our daily profit and loss fluctuations effect our daily moods which in turn effects our families and often our health.

John and I agree that as traders, we need to focus and find fulfillment in the process of trading, not the results of trading. If we enjoy the mechanics and the grind of managing our positions, and do our best to keep emotions in check when executing trades and following our plans, then the natural financial results over time have a better than fair chance of being rewarding. But the financial rewards have to be the end of your goals. Not the beginning.

Spend some time, like me, getting to know John Locke. I’ll be time well invested:

The Gimme Some Options podcast recently launched! It’s a mostly daily broadcast which dives into the options trades I made each day and why, as well as occasional interviews with other options traders. I seek to learn from everyone and share stories that will educate, enlighten, entertain, or scare you right out of your pants.

Archives are available on Soundcloud and you can subscribe on iTunes.