I’m sending this stack to over 2,000 people. Amazing.
It’s hard to believe I’ve arrived here in under a year, 52 stacks in. So, a massive thank you to everyone who helped me get to this point.
As both a writer and a trader, it’s been one heck of a journey since starting my first ‘proper’ job out of university. I learnt many lessons on the way that continue to serve me well in the markets, on Substack and in life.
Today, I’m sharing three personal stories from that journey, and the lessons I learnt through them.
Disclaimer: I’m never very comfortable with sharing personal stories in public. I like ghostwriting. I like helping other people tell their stories. But I believe this can truly help a few of you. Plus, many of you have been asking.
So, here we are. A step outside of my comfort zone.
Story #1: From zero experience to book award
As a 21-year-old recent graduate, I wanted to get a technical writing job. I had some transferable skills, but no direct experience.
It took me six months of sending off application after application, usually to never hear back. But, eventually, I was offered a technical writing job, which I accepted.
My first day was awful. Absolutely awful.
I was given a >300-page book to update, on an infamously difficult topic. Bear in mind I had neither technical writing nor industry experience. And in those days, in that company, technical writers weren’t given formal training. You learnt on the job.
I felt so out of my depth, I wanted to cry. I thought to myself: ‘If this carries on for a week, I’m resigning.’
Fortunately, on my second day, I was given a much easier task to work on instead. It was still bloody difficult, given my lack of experience, but it was doable.
Every day, I worked hard. I regularly came home mentally drained, and it took at least four months before I even started to enjoy the job.
But I stuck with it.
My work regularly got ripped apart, but I took every scrap of feedback on board. Every day, I got a little better. And I took care not to repeat my mistakes.
Oh, and if you’re wondering what happened with that book: I did eventually finish it. It was so bad, it never got published.
Just over five years later, at 27, I ghostwrote a book that ended up nominated for an award. A first for any technical writer at that company.
Also, I wrote that book in record time. The bulk of it was completed in three weeks.
So, what are the lessons here?
Lesson #1: Stick to the process. Small improvements compound.
Writing any book — never mind a good one — in three weeks sounds impressive.
But, of course, it wasn’t just three weeks’ work to achieve success.
Dan Zanger may have set the world record for the largest % gain in a personal portfolio in 12 months. But when you zoom out, he didn’t actually get there in just 12 months. It took years of ‘boom and busting’ and learning the ropes first.
In the case of this Substack, I didn’t really hit 2,000 subscribers in 10½ months — the journey as a writer and trader started years ago.
The heartening part of the lesson is that once you have the skill and experience, you can see results relatively quickly.
But before you get there, you’re going to have to stick to a process for years. That’s years of consistently working hard. Of learning from all your mistakes. Of getting just a little better every day.
Most days, you don’t feel like you’re progressing.
But on a few days, you feel like you make a huge leap forwards. Or you look at something you wrote/did a year ago, and think: ‘damn, that’s embarrassing’.
That’s evidence of improvement. That’s what motivates you to keep pushing.
Lesson #2: Learn to enjoy the day to day.
It’s easy to say ‘stick to the process’. Doing it is another matter — particularly when it’ll take years to get where you want to be.
I’m now six years into my writing journey, and four years into my trading journey. For both, I’m not where I want to be — yet.
How do you stick with something when it takes years to see the results?
For me, the answer lay in learning to enjoy the day to day.
Admittedly, it took me months to realise that, never mind get there. But once I did, I stayed there.
How? By being proud of the small successes. Focusing on improving some small, specific aspect of my writing, and visibly achieving that.
In trading, I advocate for the same thing. Choose one area to focus on for a week. Improve it relentlessly for that week. Review your performance. Be proud of your progress. For the next week, pick a new area to focus on. Etc.
You can’t gun for the big goal right away — it’s too far away, it’s probably too vague, and it’ll almost certainly change with time anyway.
I think setting the ‘big goal’ serves one purpose only: giving you a direction.
The key is to break it up into little goals — which challenge you, but are achievable. And which are sufficiently in the near future for you to feel a sense of urgency: you have to act today, or you won’t achieve your goals.
This short video has some good tips on goal setting:
Lesson #3: You must put in the reps. But a good mentor is invaluable.
A few weeks ago, I made the point that you can’t force experience.
But you can speed up your learning curve. Through educational resources, for example, many of which are free. Or, in my case as a technical writer, with a mentor and helpful peers.
To this day, when I need help at work, I can ask for it.
In the early days, whenever I showed my work to my boss or a peer, I’d get feedback on how to improve it.
These days, in my current role, my queries need to be more specific. I still have a manager, but we’re responsible for different tasks, reflecting our respective strengths. So, for him to be able to help me, I must express specific concerns. He’ll then ask good questions so I can figure out the answers for myself — the mark of a great mentor.
There are, without doubt, equivalents for this in trading. It might only be via online communities. But the right people are there — you just need to find them.
Having said that…
No one can do the work for you. No one can put in those reps, or develop the necessary experience, on your behalf.
In a recent chat with Anthony Shi (aka Dolan V. Kent), he pointed out four ‘levels’ of trading proficiency:
Can identify setups/patterns.
Can identify themes and industries.
Can identify market environment — i.e. situational awareness.
Intuition. An unfortunately vague term, but a very real phenomenon.
If you really want to get good in your field, you’ve got to get to that ‘intuition’ stage — where you’re subconsciously processing so much information that you can’t explain why something is right, but know that it is.
Intuition is vital for making good decisions quickly, even when under pressure.
Arguably, it’s vital for making the best possible decisions to begin with.
But reaching that level takes experience. Doing the thing you want to get good at thousands of times.
Shortcuts exist to improving the quality of those reps. But there’s no shortcut to doing the reps themselves.
So, as I said the other week, learn to alchemise the intense discomfort of difficult training into fulfilment. That’s how you do the things most people aren’t prepared to do.
Story #2: Breakthrough moments as a trader
My parents were always keen for me to get involved in the markets — specifically, to invest. To buy and hold value stocks.
But I didn’t buy my first share until 2020, shortly after the Covid crash.
I quickly got hooked on momentum trading. It just made sense to me. (Not quite what my parents had in mind… Be careful what you wish for!)
Anyway, like everyone else, I made a lot of money then, even though I hadn’t a clue what I was doing.
In better news, I realised fairly quickly — even before the bull run was over — that I was trading randomly, without a system. So, while I’ve suffered my fair share of losses, some of which really hurt, I’ve never blown up.
(And yes, I know that I was very, very lucky.)
Nonetheless, in 2021, I gave back a lot of those gains. In hindsight, this was because I wasn’t selective — I bought laggards without any real situational awareness, and executed poorly to boot.
So, for this story, my lessons double as my breakthrough moments.
Breakthrough #1: Crunch your numbers.
Before the end of 2021, I was already aware of the importance of reviewing your trades. It’s a big part of David Ryan’s story, it’s in Mark Minervini’s books, it kept cropping up in the podcasts/interviews I was listening to.
But I didn’t really know how to go about it. Not beyond the basics — strike rates, average win, average loss, etc.
Until I came across Tom Dante:
Long-time readers already know that this video is the one that, practically speaking, had the biggest impact on me as a trader to date. (Emotionally speaking, Qullamaggie got there first with this rant.)
In fact, Tom’s video is (so far) the only resource I’ve written a four-part series on.
Why did this have such a profound impact on me? It showed me how to collect and analyse my own trading data in a nuanced and actionable way.
In turn, that led to some eye-opening moments. It showed me that my stops were too wide, and that I was only profitable in large caps.
Being categorically informed, with my own hard numbers, that I could have been profitable — if only I’d made a couple of simple changes — boosted my confidence in a way that nothing else could have.
Moreover, because I knew my black-and-white numbers, it was easy to be disciplined about those changes. Particularly around being more selective — my journal had already categorically told me I’d make more money by doing less.
Also, even if I ultimately traded with wide stops again and targeted anything but large caps, it taught me valuable lessons around discipline, and trusting your numbers/studies and the resulting processes.
Detailed number crunching isn’t for everyone. But, for me, it marked a huge turning point. A time-efficient way of studying your mistakes and consistently incorporating the lessons. (Studying your journal takes less time than studying tons of charts — at least, for me.)
Proper journal analysis also addresses what I think is a common issue.
Trading is an imperfect business. You’ll almost never buy the bottom or sell the top, and you could have always made a more optimal decision.
That can get to people. It leads to them asking questions like:
‘Should I sell half at 3R?’
That’s actually a good question. The trouble is, people usually direct it at a stranger online.
Remember: trading inevitably involves suboptimal decision-making.
So, when you’re selling too early (or whatever) because you followed a random stranger’s advice, how long do you think you’ll stick with that system — even if it’s the right one for you?
In short, if you want to figure out how you trade at your most profitable, analyse your journal.
Breakthrough #2: Do a deep dive. Seriously.
Regardless of whether you crunch your numbers to this level of depth, you can’t get round doing a deep dive. Period.
That lesson finally got through to me in 2022.
At that stage, I was only focusing on breakouts, so that’s what I studied. I went through lots of charts, both from Qullamaggie’s streams and using my own charting software (TC2000).
The timing was ideal. Even with my poor situational awareness, I could see the market was rubbish. Keeping yourself preoccupied with studying is a good way to not lose money during such an environment.
My Qullamaggie Chat With Traders notes go into more detail on building a database. I’ll likely write more about the specifics of doing a deep dive in due course.
Breakthrough #3: Study, write, publish.
Coming into 2023, I started doing better, gave back those gains, started doing a bit better again… In short, boom and bust.
But then, following Dr. Mansi’s fateful tweet — which I can’t thank her enough for — I started publishing Qullamaggie stream notes.
(Fun fact: Dr. Mansi was my first subscriber!)
Put differently, I was studying EPs — hard. A setup I’d barely traded before then, by the way, and certainly not with any success.
Anyway, my approach to stream notes meant that:
I was studying a lot of examples of this setup. Not enough to constitute, in and of itself, a proper deep dive, but nonetheless a good number.
More importantly, I was trying to look at this setup through the eyes of a successful trader. This became more emphatic as my notes became more detailed, and they fielded increasingly many questions from you. As I recently wrote, many of them were good, nuanced questions, forcing me to deepen my thinking and, by extension, understanding of the material.
I discuss the experience of publishing the full set of 2023 stream notes in more detail here.
What I’d left out then is that this triad — study, write, publish — was making me a more consistent trader than I’d ever been up until that point.
When I keep recommending people to take and publish notes, I really mean that. You can practically see in my equity curve when I started doing that, and it’s also evident, reading through my past stacks, just how much my understanding of trading has deepened. To date, the most obvious examples of this are my stream notes from May 2023 vs last week’s stack with Anthony.
And I’m not the only one saying this. In his TraderLion interview, Marios Stamatoudis mentioned that the books you write yourself — intended to teach yourself — are the ones that “truly save you”.
That said, he described these as books not intended to be published. But speaking for myself, I’ve found that publishing made a real difference to my learning — above and beyond merely studying and writing. The questions and feedback I got were a part of that. The other part is that it just pressures me into putting that little extra effort in.
But I appreciate that publication is simply the cherry on top. I think that the ‘writing’ part is the bit many people miss, even if they do study hard. This causes them to miss out on new connections — new ‘aha’ moments.
Not writing also makes it much harder to spot the flaws in your thinking (see the above tweet).
That said, reflecting on my own trading journey, I think that the deep dive and journal analysis were essential to get the value I did out of writing and publishing.
But what got me to take trading more seriously to begin with?
Story #3: How photophobia changed my life — for the better
In the autumn of 2020, my eye was inflamed. I was so photophobic, I couldn’t do anything:
During the day, it was too light outside.
At night, street and car lights were too bright.
Forget screens. Even reading was impossible — paper was too white to tolerate.
The inflammation disappeared after 4½ months, and I became less photophobic. But I’ve remained light sensitive since.
It was the best thing that could have happened.
Here are seven (of many) lessons I learnt:
Lesson #1: Constraint inspires creativity. Time limits improve efficiency.
As the inflammation subsided, I returned to work — part time.
This taught me how to get a full day’s work done in four hours.
I’ve remained efficient ever since.
A vital lesson when you’re working full time again, on top of trading, Substack and other interests.
Lesson #2: Where one door closes, another opens.
I believed my photophobia might make me unemployable.
So, I learnt to do something else.
I got serious* about trading (in dark mode) — and fell in love with it. Specifically, with the activity itself. Not the money.
I found it very therapeutic to flip through a few hundred charts every night. Also, looking at charts was far less strenuous on the eye than looking at words.
*At this time, ‘serious’ meant lots of superficial studying, so reading books, watching videos, etc. The number crunching breakthrough happened about 8–10 months later.
Lesson #3: Be grateful for what you’ve got.
I got off lightly — I could have been visually impaired. Heck, I could have been blind in one eye.
Making me very grateful for what I do have.
Maintain perspective. Things could always be worse.
Lesson #4: Learn to solve problems. Take matters into your own hands if someone tells you ‘no’.
My photophobia started getting worse again in early 2023, along with eye pain. My doctors told me I’d just have to live with it.
To which I thought: stuff that.
I decided to figure out the solution myself.
(At the time, I was using screen dimming software at 60%. 100% is a completely black screen. My physical monitor was already at 0% brightness. In fact, it still is.)
I scoured Google Scholar for papers offering any actionable ideas whatsoever.
This is what I tried:
Lifting weights
Vitamin D3 + K2 supplement
Cutting out gluten and processed sugar
Miraculously, after two weeks, the eye pain stopped, and I didn’t need any dimming software. Plus, I could enjoy sunlight again. (Bear in mind I’d been suffering for over two years.)
Not to mention how my overall physical health has improved since then and, with it, my cognitive function.
Let’s call it a hard lesson on taking matters into my own hands. It completely changed my approach to problem-solving — a vital skill as a trader.
You can often do more than you think.
Lesson #5: You don’t need a smartphone.
I’m still light sensitive (just not phobic). So, I don’t have a smartphone.
Which is what I call a blessing in disguise.
It’s funny how many people envy my lack of smartphone — yet don’t believe they can truly live without theirs.
I beg to differ. Life is better without being distracted all day.
Can’t recommend a dumbphone enough.
(And if you really, really can’t do without your smartphone, minimise the number of apps on it. And consider using a dumbphone once in a while.)
Lesson #6: When you can cope in difficult circumstances, you can flourish in good ones.
Literally not being confined to darkness anymore, my confidence and sense of self-worth grew leaps and bounds.
I spent more time outside again. I grew a new-found, deep appreciation for nature. I could interact with old and new acquaintances without needing sunglasses and a cap.
I also took on new projects, like my best book (to date) and this Substack.
In turn, Substack led to my current job and team. A team — and mentor — who continue to be the most supportive I’ve ever known, further compounding my growth.
Where will it stop?
I have no idea. But I do know this:
Lesson #7: Time is limited. Enjoy it.
The eye inflammation can return at any time. And next time, I may not get off so lightly.
Life is short. My sighted life may be even shorter.
So, I’m going to make it count.
Closing thoughts
Out of the three, the photophobia story was the one I was most hesitant to publish.
But, of late, I’ve heard an awful lot of stories from people suffering ‘incurable’ health problems, with no meaningful support from their doctors.
Incurable they may be. I myself suffered a return of my eye pain early this year, which is why I went without publishing anything for a month (sorry). The cause for the flare-up was, interestingly enough, psychological. (I know because of timing, plus what ultimately fixed it: writing the above, along with some even more personal content.)
But symptoms can be managed, or at least improved, through lifestyle changes. That’s what I found previously, and the light sensitivity has never morphed back into photophobia since my life-changing two weeks. (Touch wood.)
I know, I know. I’m not a doctor; don’t take health advice from me.
Yet… maybe, just maybe, one of you suffers from the same symptoms as I did, or knows someone who does. Maybe a solution I listed will help alleviate those symptoms.
Failing that, I simply hope to inspire some of you:
Take a negative, and reframe it in new light — what lessons did you learn from it? Write them down. (Only publish if you’re comfortable to do so — just writing mine was already very therapeutic, and I didn’t share for weeks.) You can’t change the past, but you can change the way you look at it.
If you have a problem, if someone is hindering you — can you solve it yourself? Conventionally or otherwise?
I’m much happier and healthier for having done both.
So, sincerely, I’m glad the eye inflammation happened. Many of the best things I have today are a direct or indirect consequence of it.
A final thank you
To end on a lighter note: again, thank you for all your support — it means the world to me.
In only a few months (particularly when you exclude the months I couldn’t post), Substack has become hugely important to me.
It’s a place where I get to learn and grow — rapidly — while having the opportunity to share my learnings with others, so they might benefit too. It’s a very privileged position to be in.
And that’s while getting the opportunity to engage with so many interesting and knowledgeable people, who can share insights I currently lack.
Recently, this culminated into collaborations with Dave and Anthony — both of whom I’ll be working with again in the near future — which were awesome experiences, and led to stacks we couldn’t have produced on our own.
I’m very excited to see where the next leg of this journey takes me.
As ever, I hope you’ll join me.
Just before you go…
Can you help me with something?
This Substack will never be paywalled. I made that decision from day one.
But, following recent reader messages, I’ve been thinking about disabling pledges and replacing them with a ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ button. So, financial contributions would be fully optional, and only for what you’ve already read — not for future unknowns.
What do you think?
Hit reply, leave a comment or message me on 𝕏. I will respond.
Congratulations on 2,000 subscribers. You are such wonderful writing - easy to read and informative. I suspect you are on the road to many more. Thanks for sharing here. I appreciate your work and have learned quite a bit from it!
Silent (& lazy) admirer here but this post forces me to share my thanks & appreciation for your work. Given the depth of your writing and content, your substack is way under subscribed. Will be happy to send few coffees. All the best!