Stocks and Life: Snippets from the life of Abhishek Kar

by Abhishek Kar

Our momentum of success is largely dependent upon our mindset. Whether we are fully aware of it or not,our beliefs and thoughts we hold, shape the actions we take and other consequences in our life.

As Jack Ma says ‘Any mistake is a wonderful income’ and that’s exactly what these mistakes became to me. When I finally decided to focus more on learning by reading books on my domain, meeting brokers who could bring in some real time market insights and write down mistakes in a diary, is basically when my improvement started. I consciously started taking a note of not repeating these mistakes again and even if sometimes I did repeat some as those habits were embedded in my subconscious and it took some time for me to let go of those, I still made a lot lesser mistakes and could steadily improve to a level where I have reached today with respect to my own trading.

Mistakes are meant for learning,not for repeating.I am telling you with my own experience : The more mistakes you commit early in life,more are the chances of discovering a better version of yourself. So treat your mistakes as lessons.

IMAGINATION AND INDEPENDENT THINKING ARE UNDERRATED

The more you exercise your imagination and independent thinking,the more you would improve.

This led me to realise one thing that since I was getting desperate on the earning part,I was grossly underestimating the learning part.

Partial knowledge is more detrimental to growth than no knowledge.

A few tips from my end that could help you to achieve your goals and help you manage your time well : ● Break your goals into smaller packets and don’t put too much of load on a single day because you would loose enthusiasm after few days. ● Remind yourself about the importance of managing time by watching atleast 1 time management related ted talk or youtube video in the morning. ● Use Google calendars to mark all important tasks with deadlines.

For almost two and a half years I did what most people do,doing blunders.I never calculated the brokerage and taxes I had to pay,doing the same mistakes again and again,not reading any stock market related book with seriousness,depending upon random tips from brokers and some known once etc. You name it and I have probably done that at some point of time. But,here is when things started changing for me.It was when I embarked the journey towards learning.I am surprised these days how people are able to learn everything in just few days,because for me it took aprox 2 more years.Let me take you through the steps which I followed : ● I started reading books on stock market by going to central library.When I started,technology was still evolving hence we didn’t have easy access like these days all have in form of ebooks and all stock market books.I randomly stumbled upon a book which told me the basics of stock markets. Later I read 3 books which helped me to understand the core : Technical analysis by Joseph Murphy,Japanese candlesticks by Steve Nison and Technical Analysis by Martin J Pring.For anyone starting out fresh in stock markets,these are very important books to refer. ● I had started maintaining 2 thick copies where I used to maintain all the notes from these books.That time we didn’t have much advanced technical analysis softwares or even there were few,I didn’t have an access to those.Even the concept of discount brokers wait unknown but yes there was a...

to realise what we are doing wrong and by the time we realise that we have overstuffed our brains with a lot of unnecessary data,its too late. ● As Mr.Tracy says The major difference between those who succeed and those who fail is simple.Successful people in every field are action-oriented, while failures are talk-oriented.People who achieve greatly are those who just do it! Hence those who would merely read these instructions and again complain that we don’t have no one to guide would simply be wasting time.It’s better to take charge and start executing rather than just planning that one day you would read a technical analysis book,one day you would devour an entire technical analysis based youtube channel,because that one day is today.

You need to understand one thing that in life unless you don’t aggressively demand something,you won’t get it.

Stop compromising because your time on this planet is limited.

So,instead of just stacking your bookshelf with several self help books,just take the step now and be ready to grind for 10000 hours if you really want to stop living a mediocre life. As they say,knowledge is potential power,it is the effective execution of knowledge that is real power.

Most people for their entire life keep pushing their travel plans and give it the least priority. Initially they push due to studies,then for job,then post marriage there are responsibilities which become a priority,then you have a kid and the process repeats. If you are moving to a new city every month due to professional commitments then that ain’t the right way of thinking that you are discovering new places. A little late in my life I realized that we all have just one life and if we fail to explore most parts of this beautiful planet,then we are most likely not living. There is beauty to be explored and it simply refreshes your mind. Travel helps you to build perspective towards life, makes your decision making ability better and makes us a better being.

a better investor : ● Circle of competence ● ROI ROC ● P/E and P/B ● The importance of analysing promoters ● The value vs growth investing dynamics ● The way one can read the balance sheet well ● And the most important part was how grossly we underestimate the power of common sense when it comes to investing ● If you want to be good in investing,you got to be voracious reader

haven’t seen a single person who doesn’t want to be rich or a single person who doesn’t want to have a fit body but you know what?No one cares what you desire.It’s you who has to prioritize first rather than having wishful thinking. Today we are staying in a chaotic society and have multiple distractions coming our way from all the corners. The moment we plan to do a few things,we get a call from our friend or recall about a party invitation or about the TV show which you wanted to watch etc. The thing is,that if we fail to put a tab on all these,we often get stuck in the cobwebs of chaos and are not able to pick up the right priorities.Like we decide often that from today onwards we will improve on a certain area of our life,let’s say in improving our vocabulary.We order books and join an online training.To make sure,we remain focussed,we even pay good amount for the online training.But on the second day,we get to hear about our favorite rockstar coming to the town for a concert and we decide to skip the session for that day.The next day we are exhausted so we leave it for the day and slowly all our dreams and aspirations are dissolved in anguish and we restart living a mediocre life. Has it happened with you as well? If yes,it’s time to change it.You need to start prioritizing things.Like

You must have seen in a lot of movies and also in a lot of novels,that until the protagonist doesn't face severe hardships in life,neither does he become strong nor is he able to achieve anything substantial in life. When you break early in life due to any reason : ● Losing someone special ● Becoming an orphan ● Being rejected by everyone ● Being mocked by the society in which you stay You not only become stronger but you are able to face bigger hardships with ease.

Lesson to learn here is the earlier you face all these hardships in life by coming out of your comfort zones,the more you will grow and evolve as a better being.

We should never forget,that we human beings are social creatures and it is very important for us to have a good network.No person,no matter how talented they are,can possibly know everything about everything.Attending networking and conference events is a chance to learn from other entrepreneurs who have been in similar positions and learn from their gains and their loses. It’s not just about work but NETWORK.

In this respect I am really grateful to a gentleman called Mark Dogulas because most of the trade psychology part I learned from him. I would recommend all to read his book ‘Trading in the Zone’.

A disharmony within yourself often reflects in your outer life and so if you haven’t paid adequate attention towards psychology,it will eventually take a toll on your financial or trading performance too.

Now here was the biggest advantage.Since,I had less money in my account so when I started trading,I could blow up my account yet stand strong as I lost limited amount.Just imagine if I would have started trading after doing a job and earning lakhs,I was bound to lose more which would have resulted into desperation followed by frustration. Likewise,there were a lot of human skills which I lacked,but when my circle was small,I could understand the mistakes I was doing and slowly could rectify before becoming an influencer.

Well,the answer is simple,because I have developed a work ethic and no matter what happens I stick to it.I have learned this skill by watching Richard Branson and Elon Musk.Both of them are legends in their respective fields and run several companies. It is there work ethic which helped them to grow at a staggering rate and also make a big impact. Hence,a good work ethic is crucial for success.

The desire to be remembered by the world after you are gone is something which will push you to always play your A game and do wonders with your life.Life is not just about perfection,but its more about your contribution. So do set a LEGACY.

The Cambridge dictionary defines spirituality as, “The quality that involves deep feelings and beliefs of a religious nature, rather than the physical parts of life.”. For me it's simply connecting with something larger than self.It is looking beyond this materialistic world or what we call in Hindi as ‘Moh’.

Don’t wait for future,start now,work around your weaknesses,grow your competence as you have been sent on this beautiful planet only to shine.You will face multiple distractions in this world which would stop you from being an exceptional investor or master tech guy or a brilliant businessman,but always remind yourself that nothing can lead you towards mediocrity if you are determined to do whatever it takes to achieve the impossible.

You are the best person to decide your destiny and the moment you throw up all the chains fixed by the society,you become set to change your game.If you’re easily influenced by everyone around you,you will have a hard time chasing success,hence decide now to shut down the doors of distractions and lead a better life. If you