THE HAPPINESS PARADOX

“There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter.
Everything is within.
Everything exists.
Seek nothing outside of yourself.
~ Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

Does money make you happy?

The debate over this divides people more than diet and fitness advice.

Everyone wants more money.

From the homeless person to the billionaire, everyone in society has their hand out, trying to get more money in their pocket.

Their needs and wants are different, but the desire for a happier life through more money is the same.

Whether the homeless person or the billionaire will be happier with the next amount of money they receive is the real question, but let’s talk about you…

The average trader I talk to wonders if they’ll survive another week in the markets.

They’re losing and they’re not happy.

It’s becoming a matter of life and death for them in this game of money.

My advice to them is usually “Let’s not be so profound.”

The homeless guy, the billionaire and those traders will all wake up tomorrow.

But they’re all failing to realise something.

It’s this: Nothing makes you happy.

The desire and the pursuit of money just helps you avoid the feelings which make you unhappy.

That’s what a lot of people default to as a source of happiness. A pursuit of more of something represented by money.

Sometimes, it’s really the avoidance of something deemed unhappy through accumulation of money and the various mechanisms of wealth.

So here’s another thought: Nothing makes you unhappy.

They’re emotions.

Intangible. Unreal.

What you tie them to in the material world is the result of your conditioning.

When you are unaware, it’s an unconscious reaction.

When you become aware, it’s simply a choice.

We’re conditioned with low self worth in an initial state zero social value to strive, achieve, acquire, present our status and constantly compare what we have externally to everyone else in order to feel happy with our lives.

It’s the doctrine of western life, and it leads to perpetual states of unhappiness.

The next achievement swings us to happiness momentarily, then we normalise our experience and become unhappy again.

In the social media age, status, feeling and comparison have become the seeds of our communication, entertainment, news and education.

We could call that digital materialism.

Happiness and unhappiness are states we are reactively gorging on in a constant cycle of online comparison, and we forget that choice exists in every moment.

The laughing homeless person and the miserable billionaire are proof of this, but even they don’t realise it.

Let’s bring this back to trading…

Being a better trader requires a set of skills, a perspective on markets and routines for planning, execution and continuous improvement.

It’s a growth process for a professional career.

Happiness isn’t a factor in the potential of that, nor an indicator of how it’s going.

Understanding that nothing makes you happy while you grow isn’t good or bad.

It’s freedom from the attachment of happiness to money, and the self judgment of how much would make you happy (as if it ever could).

In spiritual circles, that’s called “abundance”.

The abundant trader knows money can’t buy happiness, but rather that happiness begets more happiness, more abundance, more money and so on.

They apply their honed skills, sharp perspectives and use their routines to profit when everyone else is still wondering if they’re going to be made happy or miserable each day (still unaware that they do it to themselves).

That’s all.

The more they realise it’s not about the money, the more they empower and enable themselves to make.

When you don’t attach happiness to it, you’re happy with or without it.

Your pockets get deeper and fuller when you keep happiness out of the equation.

You play the money game in market, and the happiness game every moment.

So be happy with the idea, the prospect, the potential, the next day and each result, win or lose.

And be happy without all of it, too.

Abundance is where you’re going, regardless.

Detaching your happiness from the next win and the next thing is the key to getting there.

Emotional rollercoasters are for kids of all ages.

Abundance is for actualised adults who enjoy the thrill ride of everyday life.

Meanwhile, the frustrated traders who think they’re dying in markets turn off their charts and read about that billionaire who has everything they don’t, but feels every bit as miserable with so much more.

Then, they’ll go out and see the same homeless person who keeps reaching out in misery even though there’s free money right in front of them.

There’s plenty of money right in front of all of us, but we’re so miserable we keep looking past it for more of the same.

The richest, the poorest and the pursuers don’t know happiness outside of the next thing they want.

The abundant know happiness within, in spite of what they want.

Nothing makes you happy. Therefore, nothing makes you unhappy.

No thing.

It’s a choice.

It’s a paradox.

Happy now?

P.

The next CONSISTENCY coaching program starts on 26.03.23.

3 weeks. 5 live calls per week.

Small group coaching for traders who want to be systematic and go full time.

Creating the biggest ideas in the market and the systems to trade them.

I’ve worked with 100 traders in the last 6 months.

They built their systems for consistent profits and continue to grow.

I will coach you on idea creation, execution, systems thinking and managing your emotions through routines and mental clarity.

All calls are recorded and you get to keep them as a reference library.

You also get free lifetime access to an alumni community of traders who been through this program and continue to help each other improve.

If you’d like to talk to me about your trading progress and goals and whether CONSISTENCY can work for you, use the link below to book a call.