Everything that you experience in life can make you a better person in general and, in this case, maybe a better trader. This month, March, I needed a break from trading and all other things. I got a little bit burned out after the first two weeks of what happened in the world (Ukraine-Russia). The market wasn’t the same as in the previous conflict between the two countries a couple of years ago. It was harder to maintain a profitable portfolio with so much fake news. That’s why I decided to take a three-day (weekend, better to say) trip to one of the most beautiful places with a girlfriend that also needed a quick reset from her day job.
Here are a few lessons you can learn about trading from vesting Barcelona!
Lesson #1 Market Will Never Be Perfect
The main thing that impressed me in Barcelona was the city’s architecture. It’s completely different from any other city in this country. I lived in Valencia for a while, and I loved that period of my life, but Catalunya’s architecture is next level.
The images that you see above are taken in Casa Batlló, one of the most famous works of Antoni Gaudi. Before we move on, look at the pictures and write down what the first thing that comes up to your mind when you check this architectural beast is?
It was impressive how someone had built everything without the use of a straight line. It’s different than any other building that you have ever seen. Most people will tell you that making a house without following standard shapes is impossible or dumb, but when you look at Barcelona and every work of Mr. Gaudi, you will see the best things without any perfect line.
When you start thinking about that, you discover that most things in trading, for example, follow a similar pattern. Every move in the market is going to be different than others. You won’t see the price just moving in one direction. It’s always going to look wavy. When you realize that, you need to adopt that no pattern or move will ever be perfect (textbook examples, to be precise), go with what the market gives you, and don’t wait for ideal scenarios. Like Gaudi’s work, you need to think outside of the box.
Lesson #2 Learn From Your Mistakes
On the final day of our trip to Barcelona, we went to check out Park Güell, a fantastic place to chill with your friends and family.
The story of that place amazed me. I’ll try to tell you a short version to explain to you what I learned about life/trading from that fantastic place
Before This became one of the most visited parks in Barcelona, this place was designed to be an elite neighborhood for the most affluent family of Cataluña (around 1900). Still, the original idea failed, and we can say it failed big. Nature is great, but everything is located on the top of the hill (trust me, I wouldn’t like to walk daily from the bottom to the top to get home).
Yes, now it’s a different story. You have cars, so something like that can be a possibility, but back in 1900, this was the most significant investment mistake.
So lesson that we can take is that everyone can make mistakes, and that’s normal, but you need to learn from your mistakes if you want to become better. Take it from Catalonians and people who wanted to build a neighborhood, they were in front of their time, but after so many years, this part has become one of the most beautiful things to see in Barcelona. If you ask anyone if they would invest in buying a house there now, everyone would say yes, because you have so many people coming from worldwide.
If we want to compare it to the Trading world, think about Bitcoin and the crypto market. The idea of how crypto work is excellent, but it’s still, in my opinion, ahead of the time. It took a lot of years for that market to become popular among traders, and if you ask me, it’s going to take a lot more before it’s something everyone wants to trade. We can’t say that people in 2021 don’t want to invest, but because it’s still a reasonably un-regulated asset group, a lot of big players are still going to avoid them (from my perspective, maybe 2% of larger institutions only trade this market, imagine how big that market would be if just 50% of them start to trade).
Lesson #3 Always Do Your Best
I always hated what someone said to me. It’s easy for you because you have money! Yes, I now have a decent savings account, but I started the same as most of you with an average account size and still made it. But let me tell you something, after a visit to La Sagrada Familia, I slightly got disappointed in myself, but that’s good. This way, I can push myself even further, and yes, I’ll try my best to become the best trader in the world in the next few years.
When you check La Sagrada Familia from the outside, you see a beautiful place still under development, but once you push your feet down inside, you start experiencing how I would say, “Next Level Feeling.” With each step, you are stunned by the number of colors and architecture that amaze you, this part brings me to a relaxed state of mind, and if you have known me for a while, you know that’s a hard thing to do.
Hours spent in this place felt like minutes. I didn’t even notice how relaxed I was. Even with thousands of people around, you can block all of them and think that you are the only person in the church.
Most of the work from Mr. Gaudis, including this one, is not finished. Still, when you see that someone sacrificed his entire life to leave something better for generations behind, you get some boost to push forward and continue to work on the goals that you drove under the rug for some reason.
For me, that passion is trading. At the beginning of my journey 13 years ago,
I wanted to become the best trader in the world. It’s hard to admit, but I stopped chasing that dream of becoming number one trader a few years ago. The main reason for stopping was money. During that period, I sold two funds and got more money than I ever dreamed of having at the age of 26-27, so I gave myself a little room to accomplish my dream. The first person who moved me back to that goal last year was a cute girl who came into my life, and now she and Gaudi are trying to push me to Go back and try to reach my goal.
I’m sure it’s going to be one of the hardest things to accomplish since it’s not that I need to be better than just other traders. I’ll need to be better and faster than so many algorithms being developed daily. I’m not sure how much time it will take, but I can promise to give everything I got to accomplish my goal and be featured on the Forbes cover as “Best Trader in The World.”
I am looking forward to traveling to more interesting places and seeing how that will change my life.
Feel free to write down some places that amazed you and that I need to check.
G’day Nicola – Sounds like you enjoyed a beaut and invigorating break and your thoughts echo many of mine from decades ago when I was fortunate enough to visit Barcelona and other parts of Spain several times, consuming the artistic expression on display with Gaudi’s numerous works, along with Miro’s gallery and the general architectural vibe. Marvelous experience all around. Wishing you good health, happiness and continuing trading success. Cheers
Hi Michael, yes I enjoyed this mini break for sure. Even thinking of moving back to Spain soon 🙂