Generalize to Specialize
It is obvious that it is impossible to become the best in everything. Find something that complements your talents and spend everyday training on this skill. Yet, in order to improve in one thing, often the best to do is to train on something else.

As a trader finding one specific area to become expert in is smart, if not essential. However, it is still necessary to develop skills in math, statistics, psychology, self control, computer skills, and economics, just to mention a few - as well as writing, which is why I make this blog..

Actually, I will claim that you should be generalizing as much as possible once you have found your niche, because competition and the drive for success always make you drift towards specialization anyway. By being general you will easier adapt to change - which is extremely difficult in most areas today.

The Path of Least Resistance
It requires strength to work towards a goal. If you continue when 99% quit, you may very well have the little extra that is needed. The strength of will is the key here.

Also, by being conscious about how your actions today affect your personality tomorrow you can change the path of least resistance. By learning to be optimistic, rewarding yourself for making difficult tasks, and avoiding temptations, it is easier to overcome a difficult challenge.

Time Constraint
The day only has twenty four hours and your task is to make as much out of them as possible. The clue is that everything you spend time on has a diminishing marginal usefulness. You should find the point where the marginal gain towards becoming a champion is the same for everything you do.

This is far from as cruel as it sounds. If you want to be a trader, spending 16 hours in front of the computer is probably not a good idea. Spending 7 hours on friends, working out, or just about anything but computers, will likely increase your productivity, so that you do more in 9 hours than you would otherwise in 16.

Patience
We have evolved to live short lives in a risky environment. This huge contrast to how we live today is a primary reason for developing a strong strength of will. Today you can store wealth safely and even expect it to rise, and knowledge obtained today will be useful for the rest of a long life.

Not surprisingly, consuming less than your income, and educating yourself are recommended. The younger you are, the better, but remember as in the 16 vs. 9 hour in last section, 4 hours of free time at age twenty and 4 at age forty cannot be substituted with 0 hours at twenty and 8 at forty.

Mentors
Learning from the success of others is essential. However, because you have different talents and the environment you work in is different, it is not enough to copy them. You must think for yourself. A duplicate is never better than the original anyway, and with ever going evolution, it is obvious that you must walk some unpaved path.

Friends
By co-operate with others with the same goals as yourself, you both will be better off than you otherwise would have been. My experience is that while it changes who is the best, the one struggling behind always seem to make a lot of effort to catch up with the best one. This cycle changes rapidly, and the end result is that they both are better off than they would have been by them selves.

Childhood friends, alpine World Cup champions and Olympic gold medallists Lasse Kjus and Kjetil Andre Aamodt are just two out of plenty of examples of friends or siblings benefited from this.

Luck
Almost all good comes after some coincidence. Do whatever possible to come in a position where these rare chances can arise, and always be alert to seize them. Making mistakes is the backside, but just acknowledge that you do mistakes every day. Remember that out of the trillions of mutations Mother Nature has made something like 99.99% were wrong. The remaining ended up making tigers, shrimp and human beings.

Summary
Put short, these are the rules to follow:

EXPERT: Generalize in order to specialize in your niche
ENDURANCE: Spend time on what makes you better off tomorrow
ENJOY: Like what you do, but don't do what you like
TIME: Ration time wisely, benefit from contrasts
LEARN: Study the masters, but not imitate
CO-EVOLVE: Socialize for mutual benefit
LUCK: Success is the result of luck, whereas luck has to be seized

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