False Pride and Search For Glory

I read the book of "Trader Vic-Methods of a Wall Street Master" many years ago.
There was one chapter that stroke me most. It talks about the "False Pride".
The ideas/words here are referred and digested from chapter 16 of the book.

False Pride is an illusion that hinders many traders regularly, myself included. And this is why I write this post. So I can look into the mirror and make sure I don't walk down to that path.

False Pride System, wrote in another academic book, consists of "idealized self-image", "the search for glory",
and "neurotic pride".


Idealized Self-Image


Through the use of imagination, we build a fortress against perception of a hostile reality. We create an idealized image of ourselves. In this process we endow us with unlimited power and become a hero, a genius, a saint, a god.


Search for Glory


Self-idealization inevitably grows into a more comprehensive drive called the search for glory. 
The need for perfection, neurotic ambition, and the need for a vindictive triumph.


We starts out on the chase for the phantom of glory, but the inner distress is still as great as ever.
The worst element of the search for glory, in terms of the damage and human suffering it causes, is the need for vindictive triumph. 
This need for vindictive triumph is inherently destructive, both the the individual with the need and to the people he deals with.


In the search for glory, we are also compelled to act compulsively, with disregard for our best interests, in order to keep intact our idealized self-image. 



Neurotic Pride


Driven by the search of pride, we must evade reality on a grand scale. We appear to thrive on admiration,
respect, and blind obedience. We may be generous and charming, especially to newcomers in their lives who offer us further sources of admiration. We may pride ourselves on sexual conquests, on our circle of influential friends, on our unique material acquisitions, and so forth.


We don't accept our mistakes. when a trade goes against us, we blame it on the "stupidity" of everyone else in the market. We claim that we are just one step ahead of everyone else. We are stubborn not only about trading, but also about politics, economics, the nature of relationships, or whatever.


We all have goals in our lives and want to excel. But there is a distinction between true humility and false pride. As a trader, I write this post (in reference to the book) to warn and remind myself to work hard on the path of searching for genuine values and achievements, rather than false pride.