{"id":14684,"date":"2021-04-14T14:41:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T14:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=14684"},"modified":"2021-04-14T14:41:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T14:41:29","slug":"my-interview-with-worldclassperformer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=14684","title":{"rendered":"My Interview with WorldClassPerformer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"\nWorldClassPerformer.com<\/a> has interviewed hundreds of athletes, artists, coaches, entrepreneurs, journalists, psychologists and writers who are tops in their field. When they asked for an interview, I jumped at the opportunity. Here’s a transcript. \n

\nWhere did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences\/stories that shaped your adult life?<\/strong>\n

\nI grew up in the Chicago suburbs, living a very normal middle-class life. School, sports, playing \u2013 nothing stood out.\n

\nBut I saw my dad sit in rush hour traffic going to and from jobs he didn\u2019t like for two decades. It wasn\u2019t appealing, and when I finished school, in hindsight, I\u2019m not surprised I didn\u2019t rush to get a corporate job. So I spent my 20\u2019s bartending and waiting tables, searching for something.\n

\nIf my dad had a more satisfying career, I may have followed. But his constant unhappiness led me to look elsewhere.\n

\nWhat is something you wish you would\u2019ve realized earlier in your life?<\/strong>\n

\nI was told growing up that if you\u2019re good, keep your mouth shut, and eventually people will notice.\n

\nThis is garbage. You have to sell. You have to promote \u2013 even if it\u2019s not comfortable.\n

\nI wish I realized this earlier\u2026and been comfortable feeling a little foolish.\n

\nI launched LeavittBrothers.com in 2002. It took me 4 years just to put an \u201cabout\u201d page on the site because I wanted to be judged by the content.\n

\nIt took a few more years before I allowed my face or voice to be recorded \u2013 again because I wanted to be judged by the content.\n

\nThis is stupid. At the risk of feeling foolish, I wish I would have known earlier that I was going to have to put my best foot forward and sell a little. Otherwise, your audience will be very small.\n

\nWhat are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?<\/strong>\n

\nGenerally speaking, people are negative, cynical fools.\n

\nThe world is messed up. It\u2019s always been messed up, and it won\u2019t change. Yet, over time, the stock market moves up 84% of the time. It pays to be bullish. It pays to be optimistic. Yes, there are stiff corrections, but those corrections are typically short-lived and are followed by several years of up-trending prices.\n

\nThe biggest loss on Wall Street isn\u2019t buying a stock at 20 and selling at 18. It\u2019s either buying the stock at 20 and selling at 24 and watching it rally to 50 or not buying the stock in the first place because of the many reasons to be skeptical.\n

\nConstantly being negative and cynical and lacking faith the human race can move forward is the worst recommendation that\u2019s constantly broadcasted.\n

\nBe bullish \u2013 most of the time. This is where the money is made.\n

\nTell me about one of the darker periods you\u2019ve experienced in life. How you came out of it and what you learned from it?<\/strong>\n

\nI started trading in late 1999. I made a few bucks in the last stage of the nearly-18-year bull market and then lost everything and went well underwater when the dot com bubble burst.\n

\nI was so full of hope and optimism and was truly excited for the future. I had found my calling and just needed time to hunker down and get after it.\n

\nBut my timing was horrible. I got involved right before the market topped. I was 27 and had lost everything.\n

\nThere were certainly regrets, but it didn\u2019t take long for me to take a deep breath and start over. It took a few long walks, but my underlying belief that I could successfully trade the market easily won.\n

\nPlus, I was good at spinning situations to be favorable. I figured if I lost a lot, someone else made a lot. I just needed to be on the other side.\n

\nWhat is one thing that you do that you feel has been the biggest contributor to your success so far?<\/strong>\n

\nYou can\u2019t fake it in this industry.\n

\nYou can\u2019t drive a fancy car and give the illusion you\u2019re successful.\n

\nYou can\u2019t dress a certain way and give the impression you\u2019re making bank.\n

\nYou can\u2019t throw your credit card around at happy hour and pretend like you\u2019re a stud.\n

\nYou can\u2019t fake anything in this industry. Your bottom line is your bottom line.\n

\nThe one thing I do\/am that has contributed most to my success is being totally freaking objective and honest with myself. You cannot do anything but face reality. In a world where social media pictures are carefully selected and a happy face is put on all situations, even though deep down inside there\u2019s fear, taking a big deep breath and admitting\/facing reality has served me best.\n

\nWhat is your morning routine?<\/strong>\n

\nThere\u2019s nothing magically about my morning routine. I\u2019m up at 6:30 (the market opens at 7:30). That\u2019s plenty of time to do a few pullups\/pushups and do some business housekeeping before focusing my attention on the market.\n

\nMy prep work from the night before is reviewed, and I\u2019m ready to go. I\u2019m an intermittent faster, so I don\u2019t eat until noon. Other than a quick stop at the bathroom and filling up my water bottle, I\u2019m in my office for the entire morning.\n

\nTrading is my first priority at that time of day. Once things settle down in the market, I shift gears to whatever mini side project I\u2019ll work on that day. It could be recording a YouTube video or preparing for a webinar or writing a blog post or doing research or something that will advance LeavittBrothers.com in some fashion.\n

\nWhat habit or behavior that you have pursued for a few years has most improved your life?<\/strong>\n

\nMost days, I exercise on and off all day. I\u2019ve been doing it for so long that I have no idea what it\u2019s like to not do this. I step outside my office and do a set of pullups or literally drop down on the floor and do a set of pushups. Then I get back to work.\n

\nIn a given week, I\u2019d estimate I do 500-1000 pullups and 1000-2000 pushups. I can\u2019t imagine not being healthy and physically fit. Besides the long-term benefit, on any given day, I\u2019m guessing engaging in intense physical activity has some short-term neurological benefits. In fact, if I\u2019ve hit a roadblock with something I\u2019m working on, doing a couple sets clears my mind and gives me enough of a brain break to get back on track.\n

\nWhat are your strategies for being productive and using your time most efficiently?<\/strong>\n

\nI make lists and prioritize. That\u2019s it. I have long-term projects that could take 6 months (and a list of tasks that need to be completed), medium-term projects that could take 2-4 weeks (and their own lists), and short-term tasks that need to be completed either immediately or within a day. Then it\u2019s just a matter of prioritizing.\n

\nOn Sunday night I\u2019ll have a rough estimate of my week. On Monday I\u2019ll do a YouTube video. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I\u2019ll work on X, a longer-term project. On Thursday I\u2019ll shift gears towards research and reports that I\u2019ll publish over the weekend. If I\u2019m organized on Sunday night, I can pound out a lot of work during the week.\n

\nThere\u2019s nothing fancy about being productive. I make lists and prioritize and then get to work.\n

\nWhat book(s) have influenced your life the most? Why?<\/strong>\n

\nStan Weinstein\u2019s Secrets for Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets\n

\nWall Street is hard. And it can be complex. And the players will leave you penniless and not care. Brilliant minds put out theories that only Ph.D.\u2019s can understand. And it\u2019s an old-boys club, where it\u2019s extremely hard to enter unless you have the pedigree.\n

\nIn Weinstein\u2019s book, he peels away the confusion and intimidation and presents a simple methodology for approaching the market. Reading it was life-changing.\n

\nI was an outsider who didn\u2019t know anyone or anything. The book gave me access. It gave me an approach that didn\u2019t require connections or access to anything special.\n

\nQuiet by Susan Cain\n

\nI\u2019m a classic introvert. I have no craving for the spotlight, and I\u2019d rather work on my own.\n

\nBut I was always told I needed to be more outgoing, that I needed to learn how to work a room, that I had little chance of being successful if I wasn\u2019t better at giving presentations and networking.\n

\nThis book put an arm around my shoulder and told me it was okay to be me. That I didn\u2019t have to try to be anything other than the best version of myself. It helped me relax and just be me. I wish I had it when I was in high school, so didn\u2019t spend so much time trying to be something I wasn\u2019t.\n

\nDo you have any quotes you live by or think of often?<\/strong>\n

\nThis is slightly paraphrased to fit trading.\n

\n\u201cEmbrace the simplicity on the other side of complexity.\u201d \u2013 Oliver Wendell Holmes\n

\nAs I progressed with trading, the tendency was to add. Add time frames. Add indicators. Add signals. Trading is hard, so the solution must be hard. Or so I thought.\n

\nBut eventually, you start stripping things away, and you emerge on the other side with a simple solution. But you reject the solution because it\u2019s too simple. It can\u2019t be that easy, you think to yourself. In fact, you want it to be hard so you have less competition. But it is what it is, and you need to embrace it.\n

\nYou start with simple. You make it complex. Then you peel things away and make it simple again. That\u2019s the simplicity on the other side of complexity. And it needs to be embraced.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WorldClassPerformer.com has interviewed hundreds of athletes, artists, coaches, entrepreneurs, journalists, psychologists and writers who are tops in their field. When they asked for an interview, I jumped at the opportunity. Here’s a transcript.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14685,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14684\/revisions\/14685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}