Experiment on Communication Between Spouses
There was an experiment about communication between couples in a corner of a variety show.
Husband: “Hey, what happened to that thing?”
Wife: “Ah, that thing, it’s fine.”
Husband: “I see, then please take care of that again.”
People around don’t quite understand, but within the couple, they seem to know what that thing refers to. It’s impressive in its own right, but today’s topic isn’t about that… rather, about that “thing” itself, specifically why a concrete name or object isn’t coming up. Even though we know its shape and how to use it, we struggles to name it; they even gesture with a light grip of the right hand, which can be understood by the other, so it’s not seen as a big issue.
What would happen if you can’t gesture for it? For example, a meaningless string of numbers or letters.
Dr. Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneer in experimental memory research, proposed the “forgetting curve.” According to his experiments, the rate at which humans forget is astonishingly fast.
After 20 minutes, about 42% is forgotten. After 1 hour, about 56% forgotten. After 1 day, about 74% forgotten. It’s no trivial matter.
Of course, this concerns average people, so there are those with saintly memory. Those people are either geniuses or famous greats known to all!
However, it seems not all famous greats throughout history had excellent memories. In fact, Edison, Napoleon, and Leonardo da Vinci credited their ability to shine to their habit of taking notes.
Da Vinci reportedly left over 10,000 notes in his lifetime, while Edison far surpassed that with about 3 million! He was a true note-taking maniac.
Even historically renowned figures kept meticulous notes; as ordinary people, we cannot perform daily actions without making mistakes if we don’t take notes.
Mistakes and blunders happen to everyone. Yet we forget how we failed and what caused the mistakes, leading us to repeat the same errors.
“It’s not a failure. I have discovered 10,000 ways that won’t work.” (Thomas Edison)
Edison conducted thousands of filament experiments and spent a great deal of time on inventing the light bulb, and of course he meticulously recorded the failures along the way.
Repeating the same failure won’t lead to progress! This process also applies to stock trading. Recording both success patterns and failure patterns can empower future results.
From today, become a note-taking fanatic. Then when you ask yourself, “What happened to that thing?” you can answer, “Ah, that thing, it’s fine.”
P.S.
In a book, Dr. Alexander Elder makes the following suggestion.
“Human psychology in trading, trading strategies, and risk management are the three pillars for success in trading. However, there is a fourth element that unites these three pillars: keeping a trading journal. By organizing and preserving your trading records, the three pillars become integrally connected.”
‘The Trading” not only presents concrete methods for keeping trading records but also showcases Elder’s own trading journal examples.
× ![]()
