Warts And All, Or Not At All

A couple of comments on my previous post, with Martin (Brulati) taking umbrage at my thoughts on his repeatedly justifying why it is acceptable to 'not count' certain losses, and why, given his previous history in the area of discipline, I don't feel he's cut out to be a trader. He snaps:

Nobody force you to read my blog. ;-) In my opinion you should make a small step down of your big horse or how was the performance of your draw section? It's easy to be always negative against everybody and not have the same objectivity about the own results.

Martin is certainly correct that no is forced to read his blog, but he specifically asked me back in June to add his blog to my blog-roll, which rather gave me the impression he was looking for readers and comments. Apparently I was mistaken, or at least comments are only desired where they align with his own already formed opinions, so I shall dismount from my 'big horse' (I think Martin means 'high horse'), offer comment and advice no more, de-blogroll his blog, wish him well for the future and leave him in peace.

As for the ability to be objective about ones own results, I think after twelve consecutive profitable years of betting / trading, it's one thing that I am able to be, and if constructive criticism is to be construed as 'negativity', well so be it. I call it as I see it.

G commented:

Good advice for Martin - doubt he'll listen though. I wonder if I should adjust my P & L figures when I have a loss due to indiscipline? Hmmm probably best not....

Apparently G called that correctly. "Advice is only welcome when it agrees with my own opinion". As I have written before, P and L figures are of no interest to anyone but yourself, but if they are not an honest record of your results, they are meaningless. As with the weekend golfer who intends to hit the ball but misses, and who chooses not to count the stroke, you are only cheating yourself. My betting spreadsheet goes back to January 1, 2006 and records every profit and every loss since that day. It would look a lot better if I excluded losses incurred during half-time when the score was adjusted (NBA) or losses due to being tired, or losses due to any number of other unfortunate events, but it wouldn't be worth anything had I done that. It has to be warts and all. My net-worth spreadsheet would look a lot rosier if I didn't count my liabilities, or overlooked alcohol related spending, but the truth isn't always pretty. Putting lipstick on a pig is another expression that springs to mind.