Welcome back to our discussion on Napoleon Hill’s work The Law of Success in 16 Lessons.

If you’re just joining us or would like a refresher on the Laws of Success, they are:

1. A Definite Chief Aim
2. Self-Confidence
3. Habit of Saving
4. Initiative and Leadership
5. Imagination
6. Enthusiasm
7. Self-Control
8. The Habit of Doing More Than Paid For
9. Pleasing Personality
10. Accurate Thinking
11. Concentration
12. Cooperation
13. Profiting by Failure
14. Tolerance
15. Practising the Golden Rule

If you wanted to apply for a new job today, how would you go about doing it? You’d probably put together a resume, submit some applications, and maybe do some networking on social media sites like LinkedIn. The Law of Success in 16 Lessons was written almost 100 years ago, well before social media, “influencers” and even computers existed. Back then, if you wanted to impress somebody for a job or to start a new business, you had to rely largely on the impression you made on other people, so a pleasing personality was extremely important! 

Now some things don’t change, and even today most people would be happier if their employees or business partners had a pleasing personality,  or as many called it in Hill’s time, ‘personal magnetism’, so this lesson is still important. The character traits of a pleasing personality listed by Hill include smiling, having a firm handshake, taking an interest in other people, removing chips from shoulders, praising others and avoiding useless arguments. To develop these traits, all that’s required is some practice and self-discipline, which means that anybody can do it. The question for us as traders though, is how important is personality to a trader? The answer is – it’s not important at all, because there is no job application to become a trader, and there is no ongoing interaction with other office workers because we work from home and we work alone.

When I started trading, I was broke and working on minimum wage in a bookstore with no qualifications or skills. If there had been a job application to enter trading, I probably wouldn’t have even made it to the interview stage, which means even a very pleasing personality wouldn’t have helped. Thankfully, there are few questions asked of prospective traders – if you have some money to put into a trading account, you can be a trader!

The other thing I really liked about trading was the complete absence of ‘office politics’. There is absolutely no risk of offending anyone because we work alone – there is no-one to offend! For some people, that’s not a problem, but as someone who likes to joke and take a lighter look at life, I have found myself on more than one occasion offending someone without the intention to do so. After more than 15 years of trading, I can confidently say that I have never offended anyone in the course of performing my duties as a trader! So in some ways, the ninth of the Laws of Success, a pleasing personality, is relevant to us as traders, which can be good news if you’re not a ‘people person’!

However, for some people, the lack of human interaction that comes with trading is a real downside. If you’re someone who enjoys walking into the office, saying hello to your colleagues, chatting around the water cooler or coffee machine and interacting with customers, then the trading lifestyle can come as quite a shock. When a trader enters their office, it is usually empty. There is no-one to greet or share a smile or joke with, and no-one to have an interesting conversation with. Now, some people love that fact about trading, but others find it isolating and lonely at times.

Even if you are a ‘people person’, though, that doesn’t mean trading isn’t for you. Sure, it can get lonely in the trading office, but the beauty of trading is that we are not stuck in our office for 40+ hours per week. We can go in or out of our office anytime that we choose because our hours are flexible. Once you’re up and running as a trader, there is plenty of time to organize a catch up with friends over lunch or a coffee, or to go and play a round of golf with some friends. At first it might be a little bit difficult to organise because you’ll find that many of your existing friends are unavailable during the week due to work commitments, however most traders find that they make new friends on their trading journey anyway.

Now, just because traders don’t necessarily need a pleasing personality, that doesn’t mean it won’t come in handy! From time to time, you will still need to deal with people as you run your trading business. For example, even though most trading is done through online platforms, there may be times that you need to talk to a broker. There will also be times when you need to speak to a coach or a support person such as the Safety in the Market Trading Tutors team. So even though it might not be necessary, a pleasing personality is still a nice thing to have, and if you ever find yourself in need of help or assistance, my experience has always been that help is given more readily (and more quickly) to a friendly person rather than a rude person.

In conclusion, having a pleasing personality can help you network and make connections in many walks of life, and of course it’s a trait that most people enjoy seeing in their friends and colleagues! However for us as traders, it is less of a necessity, given the limited number of interactions we have in our trading office. If you are someone who enjoys personal interaction though, make sure you allow time in your week to catch up with friends, even if it’s only for a coffee, and even if it’s simply a phone call.

Action Item:

• Consider the following questions:
  • “Which aspects of my personality are beneficial to my trading?”
  • “Which aspects of my personality are detrimental to my trading?”
• Identify one thing that you can work on to make your trading life easier.