Everytime I tell people I trade currencies, they would go, "Wow, so you're a trader! I'm sure you make at lot of money!" They look at me as though I possessed some rare talent that enabled me to become a profitable trader.

A vast majority of the uninformed people thinks that successful traders are some kind of a different breed of person. They seem to view traders as high risk-takers who constantly tread the thin line between glorious success and utter ruin.

The truth is fortunately a lot less exciting then they think.

When people look at a successful trader, they only see the trader as he is today. "Hm, he must be really smart", they would think to themselves, "I'm sure there's no way I'd be able to become a trader like him", or "I'm just not as smart as he is, I won't be able to trade like him".

Many people see a trader as though trading comes naturally for him. "They're born to do it", I overheard someone say.

But that's just not true.

While traders can make good money in a short period of time, most people fail to realize that they aren't able to do that because they're smart, or because they they're "born with it". Sure, some successful traders have an extraordinarily high IQ, but you'd be surprised to find out that most traders aren't any much smarter than the average guy on the street.

The thing that really matters is your attitude towards trading. You'll need a willingness to work hard, and an open mind to learn and apply the things that you learn. That's all. Many people fail in trading because they think it's easy money. They skip the hard work and think they're smarter than the market. Well, I can assure you that these trader's won't last very long... the market tends to teach expensive lessons to arrogant traders.