Just recently, I’ve reached a personal milestone. But then, what happens when you reach so called goals in your port? Do you spend it out and party like hell? Not for me.

Somehow, I just blurt out a subtle “oh yeahhh”, treat my friends to some ramen, and then focus on the next trade.

Boring right?

but I guess that’s how it is when you set big goals and know you have a long way to go. 

Trading for 5-years, I’ve never withdrew a significant amount in my port.

Why so? I’ll tell you.

Even if trading is all about being rich, I don’t really care much about the superficiality of ‘money‘.

Imagine you have Php 1,000,000 to burn, what would you spend it on?

a Car? Casino? Chicks? Parties? Gadgets? Clothes? Food? Video Games?

Most people in their 20s would probably have these in mind.

Then what?

Your 1m would soon be gone, and the typical person would say “at least I enjoyed“.

Yeah sure, but then you have to go back striving again, and the cycle goes on.

Earn, burn, earn, and burn. 

My motivation is quite different.

Even with all the perks of being a trader, I haven’t really splurged much. I believe you can enjoy the essence of life through simplicity.

I first had a feel of how powerful simplicity can be in a video game.

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It was in the game ‘Ragnarok Online’, the first major online game published in the Philippines. There was a saying in that game that really struck me till now.

The saying goes…

Wala sa porma ang LAKAS.

It was true. In that game there were characters that looked cool and bought expensive ‘looking’ equipment in other words ‘ma-porma‘…

Yet they were weak in the inside. They were beaten by characters that looked simple, like this.

In-game value, the Angel Wings costed about 5m-10m zenny and the Sakkat (the vietnamese farmer hat) was only worth 200-300k zenny back when I was playing.

I saw tons of instances where supposedly ‘weak’ or ‘low-value’ looking characters were beating the crap out of cool looking, expensive avatars.

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So how did that happen?  What was the difference between them?

Pros focus on being good, not looking good. They focus on developing their ‘core’

Builds (how you build your stats and skills)

Strategies (how you plan to use your build)

Execution (how you execute your strategies, how you play your character)

I took this principle seriously.

Realizing that the ‘surface’ was pretty much useless if the core is weak.

Even if your character looked simple on the outside, you could still dominate the game by having strong builds within.

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Come to think of it, competitive video games have certain resemblances to trading.

People who never competed in games will think that this is a meager endeavor, but when you look at the top leagues, the prize money for many competitions today surpass the $1,000,000 mark.

Why? Besides that it’s entertaining gathering a big audience, it also requires great skill. Same goes with sports, poker, business and trading.

All of these endeavors require reflexive decision making, constant improvement, extreme focus, and intensity.

In trading you focus on these aspects to win the game.

System (Your strategy in buying / selling decisions)

Risk Management (How much you allocate per trade/stock, how you minimize damage and maximize returns)

Psyche (Your mental approach to trading–money, risk, volatility,etc)

Execution (How you apply your system, how you play the game)

Your success is defined by your performance–not by the noise you make, the number of followers you have, the extravagance you display, and the credentials you have.

I know of traders who wear slippers and shorts and look like normal people. Yet are BEASTS when it comes to the financial markets.

They probably make more money than those who come in suits everyday.

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I was just 12-13 years old back then, but Ragnarok definitely taught me a lot. Up to this day, this principle is still on the back of my head…..

Uulitin ko lang dahil masarap sabihin.

Wala sa porma ang lakas. 

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Same goes in real life. Our society has gotten so concerned about “outside imagery” and “formalities” that they forget to focus on their “essence“.

Let’s have one scenario.

Sports car. Wow pogi. Kaso pag-dating sa Maynila pare-pareho lang tayo ng takbo sa sobrang traffic.

You don’t need a car to attract a fine lady. If your partner is overly concerned with your car. then better think twice.

This is just one sample–most guys dream of immediately buying their ‘pogi‘ car, setting Php 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 as budget. There are ways to survive without it. I’ve done it thanks to Grab. Though in some cases it is indeed a necessity, you can get a simple one first.

Imagine, instead of burning 1 mil – 2 mil, roll it first and make it grow 10-fold whether thru trading or business.

Up to now I don’t own a car, because I’d rather build an empire with the money.

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Trading is a very interesting and challenging endeavor, it also offers the highest rewards to those who master it. 

If I’m all for this ‘simple‘ life, then what motivates me to trade and to find opportunities?

What am I gonna use the money for?

Well, the initial goal is to cover my ass for the future. In an average person’s lifetime, we spend half of our lives (20 – 60 years old) working for money.

Imagine that, selling your precious time, just to survive. (Assuming you don’t like your day job) You work work work work, then you die. Wow. that’s just really great.

I didn’t want to go through that path so I had to make an effort and sacrifice as early as possible to free up my time.

Now that the early-game farming is paying off–I can now focus on things that have real meaning to me.

Money is our bullets in the game of life. When you have more money you can mobilize and manifest your ideas into reality.

The more you focus your bullets, the greater your impact will be.

And that has been my main motivation.

Investagrams is one of our projects, and we’re just beginning. We still got a long way to go, more ideas to execute. We’re just at 1% of where we want to be. 

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Try to forego looking good in the short-term, and focus on building your core first.

Build your war chest.

If done well, your investments will return hundred times of what you would’ve gotten if you took the short term rewards.

I’m not saying we forego every little shit in life.

It’s perfectly fine to spend and enjoy.

Just be aware of how you allocate your resources, and know that there’s a more rewarding path that entails just a bit more patience and sacrifice.

By sacrificing in the short-term,  you get to DOMINATE in the long-term.

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Who knew that a simple online game could teach you a lot of things.

Thank you Ragnarok Online for teaching me these lessons.