Trade like a King

Last night, while I was watching Stanley Cup final, I heard very interesting analogy between hockey and trading. In the post-game interview Jonathan Quick (L.A. Kings' goalie, who was also MVP of the playoffs) said that the reasons L.A. won the Cup were their "work ethic and relentless drive to compete, no matter the obstacles and adversities". Kings were seeded 8th (the lowest) among the Western Conference postseason teams, but went on to win the Stanley Cup, while setting a myriad of records (which are all listed in this article).
Why am I mentioning that here? Individual traders are considered the underdogs of the investment community. 95% of individual traders lose money - what a staggering statistic! We are destined to fail. The odds are completely not in our favor. The odds were stacked up against the L.A. Kings as well...

I used to be a part of some trading chat rooms, where I interacted with small traders on daily basis. I heard so many stories from other traders about why they failed or could not get themselves elevated to higher level of achievement. For the most part, none of their stories concentrated on themselves. Instead, time and again they would blame their busy schedules, lack of money, computer and/or internet connection problems, bad brokers and/or trading platforms, (and in many cases) big trading houses which rig the game and rip small traders off. That is one long list of odds stacked up against the traders, but in my opinion, those are rarely the true reasons for traders' failure.
Here is the more likely list of things causing traders to fail:
total lack of: knowledge/education, trading experience, discipline, accountability, trading plan, clear achievable goals, perseverance, dedication, and respect for profession;
an abundance of: arrogance, incompetence, ignorance, and improper risk/reward ratio.

I could go on to list the pitfalls of trading profession, but my point here is for you to find your own true reasons for not being able to compete on the highest level of your potential. Find these reasons and eliminate them, so you can trade like a King!!