I Received This Email Yesterday

As the year comes to a close, I want to share a very short and thoughtful email I received yesterday.

Leigh,

First off, thank you for all the informative and entertaining shares on the social networks. By far, you provide the most read-worthy posts, many I often end up forwarding to others.

Good luck with Estimize and I hope that 2012 brings you more prosperity.

(name redacted)

I want to say thank you to everyone who has made me part of this community, and who finds value in what I share. As I’ve always said, I get far more out of it than any of you ever will.

There’s something else I want to share before this year is over, and it may resonate most with those of you who are traders. As a child, I would ask my father if he liked being a real estate attorney. Most times he remark that the work itself was rather boring and he spent most of his day “trying to stop people from doing stupid shit”. But he always made sure to drive home the point that he loved his work because it allowed him to leave his mark on the world. Because at the end of the day, he would often have a serious impact on seeing a huge building erected, one that would most likely stand for the next half a century or more.

He believes strongly that we should all leave our mark on this world, in whatever way we can, a lasting mark, for people to remember us by. Some see this as having a positive effect on just one person we love very much, or a small group of people, others want to be recognized more widely for contributing something.

While I realized years ago that trading financial assets contributes little if anything to the world, and definitely doesn’t leave a positive mark on it, only this year did I really understand my father’s desire to build something of value for other people. I love trading, I love the challenge and the competition, with the market and myself, and some day I’ll go back to finding inefficiencies in the market to exploit in order to make that 15%+ absolute return each year.

But right now I’m focused on building something that will provide value to others, something that will be bigger than just me.

I wish you all the same pleasure in striving towards this goal, and a very happy new year.

 

 

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