The biggest taboo in trading is having the mindset of 'I want this, and that, and also this, and that, and ideally everything.' I’ve talked before about the classic left-brain vs. right-brain battle mode of retail traders: You want the price to immediately move away from your entry cost as soon as you open a position; You also want the price to pull back right after you take profit; You want the market to rebound instantly after you add to your position during the pullback; You want to perfectly take profit at the top; And ideally, you want to flip short and repeat the whole process flawlessly. This kind of thinking sounds great, but it has absolutely no basis in reality when it comes to the market. To put it simply: the essence of trading is making decisions amidst noise. What you can do is manage the noise—you can’t eliminate it. If you insist on demanding a 'perfect path' from the market, you’ll always end up being consumed by the noise.