Let me break down how I accomplished this.
First, I started dealing with critics.
We all have them — people who constantly question our decisions. And they rarely come right out and say it directly.
No, they're craftier than that.
They use words like "worried" — "Atanas, I'm just worried about you" — and express concern. "I'm just concerned, you know? Is this really what you want to do?"
After a while, the doubt starts to gnaw and grind on you… and you start doubting yourself. I did!
So instead of letting the doubt hold me back, after studying these top traders, I devised dozens of strategies to deal with critics. I tested them all. And I found the exact ways to respond to different critics — whether they were close friends, family members, or random people on the internet.
Today, I get more critics than EVER, but they never affect me.
Then I moved on to staying focused — especially eliminating distractions.
The very best of traders know that productivity is one part of living a meaningful life… but instead of feeling guilty for YEARS for being unproductive, they build a system and move on with their lives. I was slowly adding more mental models to my toolbox from what I learned and tested every day.
And finally, I focused on SMART MONEY
To tell you the truth, at different points in my life, I have been using those levels without even realising their importance.
Yet over time, I learned how to systematically deconstruct each and every one of these and make this part of the way I see the markets.
And now I want to help you do the same.
After I identified hundreds of trading rules, guidelines, and mental frameworks, I tested each one exhaustively. I invented my own and tested them, too.
Slowly, painstakingly, I culled the list down into a short list of essential mental frameworks.
I call these "Smart Money" or "Smart Levels" because the concepts are so powerful, so striking, that once you hear them, they trigger a change in the entire way you approach trading…for LIFE.
That mental model will stay with me for life. It is so powerful that over time it became famous and now when someone is looking for Smart Money Trading or Big Money Trading (as it became famous lately), my article comes up on the first page of Google.