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GOAL: TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE FUTURES MARKET REALLY WORKS AND WHY THE MAJORITY OF TRADERS LOSE MONEY
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A number of years ago I attended a meeting in Boulder , Colorado , with the newly arrived Swami Muktananda from India . He proved to be a most interesting fellow. He gave no lectures; he only told stories and wove those stories into an instructional format. Accompanying him was an interpreter, complete with saffron-colored robes, from the University of Colorado . Muktananda maintained that not being fluent in English was a great advantage to becoming a guru in America . He started his lecture with the following story.

There was a student in India who wanted to become enlightened. He left his family in search of an appropriate guru to guide him further on his journey. Stopping at one guru's place of business, he inquired as to this guru's method of becoming enlightened. The guru said, "Becoming enlightened is really quite simple. All you need to do is to go home each night and sit in front of a mirror for 30 minutes asking yourself the same question over and over. That question is: 'Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?'" The prospective student replied, "Hey, it can't be that simple."

"Oh yes, it is just that simple/' replied the guru, "but if you would like a second opinion, there are several other gurus on this street."

"Thank you very much," said the student, "I think I will inquire down the way."

The student approached the second guru with the same question. "How do I become enlightened?"

The second guru replied, "Oh, it is quite difficult and takes much time. Actually, one must join with like-minded others in an ashram and do sava. Sava means 'selfless service,' so you work without pay."

The student was excited; this guru's philosophy was more consistent with his own preconceived view of enlightenment. He had always heard it was difficult. The guru told the student that the only job open at the ashram was cleaning out the cow stalls. If the student was really serious about becoming enlight ened, the guru would allow him to shovel all the dung and be responsible for keeping the cow stalls clean. The student accepted the job, feeling confident that he must be on the right path.

After five long years of shoveling cow dung and keeping the stalls clean, the student was becoming discouraged and im patient about enlightenment. He approached the guru and said, "Honored teacher, I have faithfully served you for five years cleaning up the dirtiest part of your ashram. I have never missed a day and have never complained once. Do you think it might be time for me to become enlightened?"

The guru answered, "Why yes, I believe you are ready. Now, here is what you do. You go home every night and look yourself in the mirror for 30 minutes, asking yourself the same question over and over. That question is: 'Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?'"

The very surprised student said, "Pardon me, honored one, but that is what the other guru down the street told me five years ago."

"Well, he was right," responded the guru.

I think of that story quite often while trading. I devote part of my time to training other people to become full-time professional traders. I have privately trained over 450 people who are now trading their own accounts full-time. Over the past ten years, I have spoken to over 20,000 traders in groups and work shops in many different countries. One of the first problems I encounter is in convincing them that making profits in trading is really quite simple—notice, I did not say easy. There is a world of difference between a concept's being simple and being easy to carry out.

Looking at yourself in a mirror for 30 minutes each night is a simple concept, but asking yourself the same question over and over and seeking an honest answer is not easy. As a psychologist, I believe that we humans have two innate tendencies: (1) we tend to overcomplicate everything we touch and, because of that, (2) we cannot see the obvious. Let's look at what markets really are. There is no reason to spend years with no pay (profits) dealing with the cow dung of current losing concepts about the trading market.

To most traders, the market is a dangerous and undependable animal. Their mottoes are: Don't Count on It, and Get It before It Gets You. They see the market as a dog-eat-dog world where other traders are the dogs. That is not an accurate pic ture of the market.

This chapter examines how simple all markets really are. We'll look at some good reasons to be interested in trading as a career, and we'll see why the maps we were taught to use in school don't work in the futures market. Our cultural heritage works against us rather than being an asset.

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