Why subscribe?

TLDR

I’m a trader by profession. As part of my focus on process improvements, I study the top 0.01% in the world and share the most interesting bits here.

Longer version

When I am in the process of learning, I regularly come across things - pieces of wisdom, information, specific stories, parables, people, etc., I wish I’d known when I was 20, and didn’t have to take this long to get to know.

Those are the things I publish here.

You may relate with it and love what I share. In that case, read more of it from the archive, share with your friends and family.

You may find it absolutely ridiculous, uninteresting, and unrelatable. In that case, unsubscribe, because life is too short to be reading newsletters you don’t love and can’t relate with.

Whatever you do, do it with an all-encompassing zeal, a never-ending fervour, an almost maniacal obsession. If you don’t have that in what you do, don’t do it.

I came into trading after I was 25. I started right after college as a Software Developer for PayPal. In my 2.5 years there, I never felt like I belonged. Doing 12 hours of work every day felt like it was 36 hours every day. Completed work got rewarded with more work. I didn’t like the work I was doing because I wasn’t deriving any meaning from it outside of a paycheck. Everyone around me had settled into that routine. Make money each month working as hard as you can, go for a vacation once a year, go shopping occasionally, watch movies and TV shows during weekends, rinse and repeat. Nothing wrong with that, but that wasn’t my vibe. So, I quit. For three years from that time, I started a couple of businesses, freelanced as a programmer, tried many things, eventually ended up interviewing with a prop firm and getting a shot at it.

I should acknowledge that initially trading and making money seemed good to go into for the money only. It is an asymmetric bet. That’s the only reason that pulled me in. But as I got pulled in more and as I started surrendering to my true nature within trading, I am starting to understand that there’s more to this in me, like there’s a spiritual connection. I work nearly 14-16 hours a day including on weekends - out of which I try to sneak in at least few hours of work that moves the needle forward. But it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like a place in my life where my work is play and if I am pulled from it to do anything, even literal play, it feels like work.

So, I’m giving myself a shot, and taking an asymmetric, all-in bet on myself to see this through. How far can I really go at this? How much do I have in me? What if I studied everyone who’s reached the apex of their respective field and applied whatever felt intuitive to me? That’s the question I want an answer for - to see what I can become. And, in the process, if I feel something is definitely worth checking out, I’m going to share it with you. Maybe you can do something better with it and teach me in the process. So, that’s the reason for this newsletter/blog.

Welcome to Zen & Alpha.