The Winning Attitude Can Be Tricky

Sometimes if you look close at the great trend followers, there are subtle lessons. A reader forwarded some wisdom from Ralph Marston:

Great accomplishments most often result not from exceptional ability, but from ordinary ability followed through with exceptional commitment. Commitment can elevate even the most ordinary, tedious efforts into truly incredible levels of achievement. What you’re able to do doesn’t really matter much unless you actually do it. It is in the doing, the commitment, the effort undertaken with persistence, that greatness results. You can dream about success, hope for it, make the best of plans, talking about them with zeal and enthusiasm. Follow through with real, sustained action, and that success will come. The life you experience today is the result of what you’ve been truly committed to in the past. Your commitments, whatever they may have been, have manifest themselves into your current reality. You’re always committed to something, whether it is watching four hours of television each night or running eight miles each morning. Your true commitments are evidenced by your actions. What in the world would you truly like to do, to be, to experience, to accomplish? Commit to it, and make it happen.

Taking into account the consistency and commitment needed to win, keep in mind that there are no free lunches as Gene Callahan of the Ludwig von Mises Institute reminds us:

[G]overnment regulators are not, generally speaking, in a better position than private investors to evaluate…risks. When regulations prevent or hinder transactions for which there is a genuine demand, they encourage the creation of securities designed simply for the purpose of dodging those regulations, in order to fulfill that demand. In addition, when the government attempts to encourage the belief that financial markets are “safe” places to invest, it ends up attracting investors who are not prepared to properly evaluate the risks. This creates an interest group that will demand government redress when the investments don’t work out. If fulfilled, those demands will encourage a new wave of risky speculation based on the seeming existence of government insurance on the downside. It is as though the government were granting investors free put options! As in any innovative venture, there are significant risks involved with the fantastic voyage finance has undertaken in the last 20 years. But increased government intervention is likely only to heighten that risk.

Lastly, check out the latest Seykota.com update.

Are the 2 quotes above and Seykota’s link related to the big picture? You bet.

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