I thought I’d kick the week off with a short, and maybe uncharacteristically personal post. As you’ve noticed, I haven’t posted much (umm… at all) over the past few weeks. I was on a little “vacation” eating my way through part of France (and, oh, what food there was, from the grand Volaille de Bresse trufflée en vessie, chez Bocus (a classical dish of chicken cooked in a pig’s bladder) to probably the best thing I put in my mouth the whole trip–a little dish of tiny provençal cuttlefish in tomato sauce we ate in a tiny village on the side of a mountain.) The trip was fantastic, and I got to exercise my amateur photographer muscles a bit, too. (I’ll share some photos at some point in the future.)
I did a lot of thinking on the trip. For one, about how we never really can get away from the rhythm of the markets. Even though I was on semi-vacation, I still found myself checking markets and news hourly. I don’t think there’s been a day in the past 20 years when I’ve not been in touch with the markets, and, frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Doing what we do, and doing it well, requires a certain degree of obsession, and I think the only way you’ll be successful doing it is if you love it. So, I found myself studying the markets, writing my daily research reports, sketching some notes for a new book and a couple new courses, and doing a little programming on the side–all in all, a very productive trip with some time to recharge.
I’m sharing this with you so you know I haven’t been hiding under a rock for the past few weeks, but also to give you a little preview of some of the good things to come here and in my podcast. Before the trip, I spent about two and a half months really focusing on learning the French language. Of course, two and a half months is not a lot of time and I won’t pretend eloquence, but I do have a vocabulary of several thousand words, a good command of the grammatical structures I studied, and (more or less) acceptable pronunciation. (I was able to navigate quite a few complex interactions with people who spoke no English at all.) During this period of focused learning, I took a lot of notes and did a ton of research into how we best learn and retain material. I have a new tool kit with some shiny new tools for developing new skills, and… here’s why you care: I’m going to share a lot of these things with you.
Here are some topics and projects I have planned for the next few months:
- I’ll likely be resuming the trading course, most likely with some material that focuses on options trading. I also have some good perspective on the course and how people are using it (and what can be done better) after this has been up and running for a few years. Just in case you didn’t know, the course is absolutely free and is available here.
- Blog posts on the process of learning to trade and how to avoid some of the pitfalls at different stages in the process. I’ll be leading off this week with a look at some multiple timeframe influences and conflicts, using recent action in oil as a teaching tool.
- Podcasts about learning, what I think is wrong with the “Tim Ferriss” approach to mastering skills, and how to boost your own learning ability to, literally, super human levels. We’ll cover specific tools and mental skills, and I’m working on getting some guests to share some perspectives and challenges on the topic. None of this is easy, but nothing worth doing ever really is easy.
- I will finally be getting around to creating the Python course. This has been delayed for several reasons, but the biggest reason is that I realized I could incorporate some of the tools I was using to learn a spoken language into a course for teaching a programming language. I don’t think this has really been done effectively before, and I’m even more confident that I can produce a revolutionary course with solid value. Look for more on this in coming months.
As always, I’m actively looking for reader questions and comments. If you sent me an email over the past weeks, know that I’m a little behind in answering those emails, but I’ll work to dig out this week. If you have ideas or comments, or questions about financial markets and the process of learning to trade, drop me an email at adamhgrimes at gmail.com. Your ideas and feedback help shape this blog and podcast. Thank you for your support and time reading my work–I’m excited about the topics we will cover in the next few months!
Welcome back Adam. Hope you enjoyed your ‘a la francaise’ vacation and looking forward to sipping your next posts/podcasts/ideas.
Thank you. Good to be back.
Welcome Back ! Exciting Times ahead, Wow 🙂
🙂
Hey, Adam, welcome back! Glad you have enjoyed your vacation. For many years we have been on vacation in France. It`s an awesome place on this wonderful planet.
I am really looking forward to all your upcoming projects, but especially to the learning theme.
And finally a suggestion for a future podcast: You have talked and written about meditation (also on the StockTwits Podcast) and I would love to hear much more about your trance/hypnosis expertise.
In the last couple of weeks I am thinking deeply about learning this skill and go for a this new journey.
So I am very intersted what kind of way of learning you would recommend, what books, courses, etc.
How would you choose a teacher or what would you suggest for someone who is at “day 1”?
Thanks so much in advance and
all the best,
Socrates-Trader from Germany
Good question and I have an upcoming podcast on trance states and relaxation.
It’s hard to know how to learn this because the information is so fragmented and there are so many questionable sources. I almost think taking a course in a brick and mortar location might make more sense than trying to navigate the hypnosis stuff on the internet.
Awesome! Sounds like a great vacation! I have a little obsession with the French language/culture myself. I am really looking forward to the new trading course material and all the other stuff as well!
🙂 Thank you. If you’re looking for a French teacher, let me know. I found a great teacher.
Glad you enjoyed a well deserved break. Thank you so much for your effort and commitment in regards to your blog. The proposed offerings sound as mouth watering as your recent gastronomic experiences.
Thank you!
Good to have you back, Adam! Looking forward to more and more. 🙂
Hi Adam, keep the good stuff coming!!!
What kind of Python course do you have in mind? Python for dummies or, Python for traders or, Python for dummy traders? 🙂
No, seriously, there seem to be some pretty good general Python courses around but, not that many about backtesting strategies or performing statistical analysis of such strategies…using things like PyAlgoTrade, for example. Plenty of unstructured discussions but, no order in the chaos.
Regards.
PD: Some of that “tiny provençal cuttlefish in tomato sauce” would also be nice the next time…