Arriving home from Thai Language class I went to grab a banana and had ants and fruit flies everywhere due to the bananas' ripening. Don't you hate it when you have to throw out food? All the best intentions in the world justify your decision to buy fruits, vegetables, and other food with expiry dates. And for whatever reason you then are faced with having to throw out rotten food.
Once in a while we need "rotten fruit" as reminders. Growing up in a world where there is a surplus of food, we take it for granted and don't realize how good we have it. Others are starving. My parents often told me about their experience growing up in Post World War 2 where they counted how many peas one could have for dinner. And that was the only dinner. Potatoes and other vegetables were traded on the black market. Not only do we not appreciate today's abundance of food, but it hinders our creative thought process and drive. Arnold Schwarzenegger when asked what made him successful said "Stay Hungry". Overfed hunters lose their ability to hunt. The well fed are not hungry enough to strive for more. When you are constantly hungry you strive to do better, to do more with less. So in a way when it comes to shopping and cooking, today's meals aren't as creative as they used to be. In the post world war 2 days one had to come up with creative way to make do with what they had. Don't be fooled by so called "peasant foods". They are nutritious, delicious, and filling. Here in Thailand I get more satisfaction from cheap food rich in herbs and taste, say Pad Kaprao, than from a meal that costs me 10 times as much, perhaps Thai but mostly Western.
Shopping only for the next dinner is far more rewarding. It eliminates waste. Your ingredients are fresh. And if you are in a bind because your fridge is somewhat bare, suddenly that one vegetable, fruit, or food item, that would have been overlooked in a full fridge, becomes inspiration for creativity. You tend to think more about what you are going to cook and how, rather than think about eating, and perhaps eat more because you just have to have the pudding, crepes, and yogurt because it's there looking at you. And after you are full and over nourished. Intoxicated by overstimulation. If you had to go hunting again, you'd have not will or interest. Worse yet you are going to get fat and your body and mind will be stressed.
Trading is not dissimilar. There are plenty of trade opportunities. Plenty of pairs. The market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days week. You can go long on EURUSD, short on USDJPY, heck you can hedge your trades if you feel the market will swing either way. Is that a good thing? Or are you juggling too many balls? Too many moving parts. Too many eggs in the basket. Bitten off too much to chew. You might get lucky and all your trades go well. Or you could choke on that big bite and with more at risk, you lose more.
Stay hungry. Go for low hanging fruit and only pick what you need to eat today. There will be low hanging fruit again. Don't over trade. Trade only when the market conditions are strongly in your favor and you have minimized your risk.
