Iban C Lemus

[D @MoonlitStep]

me at 2am thinking about how to make more money

[Grok @grok]

Yes, in March 2026 Chinese customs rejected a 22-ton beef shipment from Argentina’s ArreBeef plant after detecting chloramphenicol. This antibiotic has long been banned in food animals worldwide due to its link to aplastic anemia, a rare but severe and potentially fatal blood disorder that can occur even at low exposure levels in susceptible people. Argentine authorities investigated possible false positives or contamination, but the rejection by China is documented.

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”

— Seneca

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

I’m in love with this sentence:

“Bigger dreams call for healthier habits and healthier habits require more self discipline.”

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Precisely

[Andrew D. Huberman, Ph.D. @hubermanlab]

You can’t bottle focus, ambition and vision but you can bottle sloth, distraction, and drama. Stay focused on your life builds folks. The rest is noise (at best) & more often than not, a slide down the rat hole.

[ₕₐₘₚₜₒₙ @hamptonism]

Give them bread and circuses, and they will never revolt.

[Karl K. Wuckert @KarlWuckert]

Real.

[Tim Burchett @timburchett]

Hang them.

[Patrick Webb @Patrickwebb]

U.S. taxes are insane, Americans are being robbed blind by their own government.

1/ Income tax: up to ~37%
2/ Payroll tax: 15.3%
3/ State income tax: up to 13%
4/ Sales tax: up to 10%
5/ Property tax: forever

And that’s before inflation quietly steals what’s left.

All taxation is theft. End the madness.

ALL TAXES should be ABOLISHED!

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Accurate

[Achilles @Xhej__]

going into 2026

[daz @MetamateDaz]

i have no desire to be rich so i can buy a lambo or birkins.

I want to be rich so I can control my time and go to the gym at 2 pm on a wednesday.

sit at a cafe and relax for an hour on a rainy afternoon.

so I can cook meals at home with fresh ingredients.

spend on my family and friends without worrying about a budget.

that’s my idea of a rich life, not the fake consumerist idea shoved down my throat.

[L2WTrades @L2WTrades]

sat next to a 20 year old guy on a plane who casually mentioned he made $4.5 million last year

didn't look rich

t-shirt

jeans

beat up backpack

i asked what he did

"i trade futures"

"full time?"

"yeah, about 3 hours a day"

"$4.5 million in 3 hours a day?"

"well, it's not really about hours, it's about decisions. i probably make 10-15 decisions per month that matter. the rest is just waiting"

"what do you mean?"

"most people think trading is constant action. it's not. it's 99% waiting for your setup, 1% executing. that's why most people fail. they can't handle doing nothing"

he pulled out his laptop

showed me his calendar

90% of trading days marked: "NO TRADE"

"this is march, see? 31 days. i traded 7 times. made $380k that month"

"7 trades made $380k?"

"yeah, because they were the RIGHT 7 trades. everyone else took 200 trades that month and lost money because they were WRONG trades. quality over quantity"

"how do you know which 7 to take?"

"i don't trade unless i'd bet my house on it"

"what?"

"every trade, i ask myself: would i bet my house on this setup? if the answer is no, i don't trade. most setups? the answer is no. but 7 times this month, the answer was YES"

he kept talking:

"the biggest mistake retail traders make is thinking they need to trade every day. you don't. you need to trade WHEN YOUR SETUP APPEARS. some months that's 15 times. some months that's 3 times"

"what about consistency?"

"consistency isn't daily trading. consistency is ONLY taking your setup. if your setup appears once a week, you trade once a week. if it appears 5 times in a day, you trade 5 times that day. the market doesn't care about your need for action"

"but i feel like i'm wasting time if i'm not trading"

"that's employee mindset. you think time = money. it doesn't. correct decisions = money. i make more doing nothing 24 days a month than you make forcing trades every single day"

he was right

i was trading out of BOREDOM

not opportunity

i tested this for 90 days:

BEFORE "house bet" filter:
- 156 trades
- 41% win rate
- -$3,800

AFTER "house bet" filter:
- 11 trades
- 73% win rate
- +$14,200

11 trades in 90 days

because i stopped trading

and started WAITING

the plane guy was right:

"most traders are addicted to action. they need to DO something. that's why they lose. the real money is in doing NOTHING until the perfect setup appears. but doing nothing feels like you're not working, so people force trades"

"how do you handle the boredom?"

"i have a life outside trading. i go to the gym. i read. i travel. trading is 3 hours a day MAX. the other 21 hours i'm living. you guys are staring at charts 12 hours a day hoping something happens. that's not trading. that's gambling addiction"

he closed his laptop

"here's the secret: the less you trade, the more you make. i know guys trading 500 times a month making $0. i trade 15 times a month making $400k. the difference? i'm SELECTIVE. they're ACTIVE. market rewards selectivity, punishes activity"

flight landed

he gave me his card

"if you want to make real money trading, stop trying to trade every day. start waiting for YOUR setup only. 90% of trading is waiting. 10% is executing. master the waiting and you'll make more money doing nothing than everyone else makes doing everything"

i never saw him again

but i think about that conversation every single day

the math is simple:

you're not paid by the trade

you're paid by the CORRECT trade

taking 200 trades with 40% accuracy = -$5k

taking 20 trades with 70% accuracy = +$50k

same account

different approach

completely different outcome

most of you are over-trading

thinking activity = profit

it doesn't

selectivity = profit

the traders making $500k+/year

they trade LESS than you

not more

they're better at WAITING

not better at TRADING

master the wait

make the money