Before Mastery... Comes Reverence

🟣 Tradetopia Field Notes — Issue #21

Before Mastery… Comes Reverence

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Editor’s Note:

Some truths are timeless.

Before backtests, indicators, or funding challenges…

Before psychology frameworks, identity rewires, or journaling habits…

There’s something deeper.

A posture.

A perspective.

A way of approaching the world.

Proverbs 1:7 says it simply, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”

Even if you’re not religious, what it’s pointing to is powerful:

Real wisdom doesn’t begin with knowing.

It begins with awe.

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You Don’t Lose Trades Because You’re Dumb.

You lose them because you forget you’re not in control.

You think more information will fix it.

You believe another course will finally click.

You want a strategy that never fails.

But if you’re honest?

You haven’t built reverence for what you’re dealing with.

The markets are bigger than you.

Time is not on your leash.

Reality doesn’t bend to your plan.

And until you kneel before that truth…

You’ll keep overleveraging.

Keep second-guessing.

Keep disrespecting the risk…

While blaming the results.

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Fear Doesn’t Mean Paralysis. It Means Reverence.

In Hebrew, the word used in Proverbs, “yirah”, doesn’t mean terror.

It means awe.

It means sacred respect.

It means you stop pretending you’re God… and start listening to what the world is trying to teach you.

In trading, reverence looks like:

 • Risking what you can afford to lose, not what makes you feel important.

 • Following your system, even when your ego screams for a shortcut.

 • Accepting that you can do everything right… and still lose a trade.

That’s not weakness.

That’s wisdom.

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Humility Is the Doorway to Progress

You don’t become a sovereign trader by mastering control.

You become one by mastering your posture toward the game.

This is what Proverbs means when it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

It’s not a step you move past.

It’s the foundation you keep returning to.

Because you don’t grow by pretending to know.

You grow by remembering how much you don’t.

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Try This: The Reverence Reset

Ask yourself today and write this down in your journal:

“Where have I lost respect for the process?”

Scan your behavior:

 • Are you cutting corners?

 • Are you forcing trades?

 • Are you managing risk with emotion instead of discipline?

Now choose one behavior to realign, not out of fear, but out of respect.

Not for the market…

But for yourself.

Because deep down, you know:

You weren’t created to be a puppet of your impulses.

You were built for clarity, for order, for presence.

Reverence isn’t religious.

It’s a decision to honor what matters.

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The Posture That Precedes Progress

When Proverbs says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,”

it’s not talking about a checklist item.

It’s describing a state of being.

That moment when you finally say, “I’m not in control but I want to learn what is.”

That’s when real wisdom begins.

And so does consistent execution.

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From Tradetopia,

Mike Navarrete 🧙🏾‍♂️

Filed: June 2025 | Location: Behind the Screens — Chicago, IL

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