Good Vibrations

A new career path combined with natural expert expression

In a previous article, I wrote about how I don’t like April baseball.

The small sample sizes, and the need to rely on first impressions, leaves every form of analysis dependent on personal projections. A lot of people in Pittsburgh project negativity.

I’m a person who looks for the positives, even in the worst situations. Any writing you’re going to get from me would be reassurance that the bad might get better, while the good might remain. There’s no value in those words, other than momentary comfort from content meant to fill your day.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been taking a step back from writing to put my “Live” work energy into another field. I’ve essentially completed a two-week crash course on trading in the stock market.

This is not my first experience in the stock market. Back in 2013, I had some success, but ultimately was guided by a path to become a sports writer. I needed that path for my own confidence in expression more than I needed the security of money. The money I made in 2013 on the stock market was invested into Pirates Prospects, and the site’s growth from that investment allowed me to eventually reach a point of confident expression on a subject where I am an expert.

I am an expert at the game of baseball, but these days, I need the security of money more than I need to be validated.

I could have short-term security if I put all of my energy into writing about the Pirates, but I honestly would regress from my personal growth if I joined that fray of discussion full-time. The discourse surrounding the Pirates has always trended negative — some of that justifiably brought on by the team — and it’s toxic to me swimming in the same pool where so many are pissing their paranoid projections of future failure with every dark cloud that appears.

There’s also the fact that I’m an enemy of many industries who don’t like when people are independent with the ability to express themselves confidently. It’s a personal point of pride that I’ve pissed off a lot of billionaires in the city of Pittsburgh, even if they send their minions to make my complete life hell. I’m ultimately looking to leave behind this field full of corruption, and if Major League Baseball or the traditional newspaper industries die one day, I will not miss them.

Not that the stock market is any better. But you can’t survive on idealism in this life.

My first two weeks in the stock market was bittersweet. I lost $325 while studying the market movements, getting familiar with volatile trends, and adapting to the speed of live trading. That’s the bitter part. The sweetness is that I would have been up a few thousand dollars if I simply didn’t doubt my research and abilities when it came time to execute.

In that way, I emphasize with the plight of Major League hitters.

Day-trading on the stock market requires you to not only trust yourself and trust your research, but to enter a reactionary mode where you end up needing to adapt your plan on the fly. That can include abandoning everything you know for a unique moment which can’t be anticipated.

I’ve found that I’m trying to hit home runs with each swing, and there have been times I’ve passed up some easy doubles waiting for the homer.

And yet, I’ve also scaled back from a few swings that would have been a home run, aiming to avoid a strikeout.

The frustration of going to bed knowing you missed a home run after planning and receiving your pitch, while trying to shake off the desire of getting a make-up homer the next day, is a masterclass lesson on controlling emotions. I missed a home run last week, but took encouragement from a “single” by the end of the week.

Baseball is my basis of expression. From a young age, I learned how to talk by talking about baseball. My career to this point has been expressing my baseball knowledge and research to strangers who are capable of trolling you online for years if they disagree — and that helps to build confidence in expression. That toxic industry I mentioned above has been something I’ve dealt with behind the scenes for over a decade as I’ve paved my own road in this game.

Every single thing I do in life, and every new thing I learn, is always brought back to the game of baseball. I can synthesize any information into this game, providing a thought experiment that can be matched by very few people in and around the game. There’s also no long-term money in this approach.

The people who run the media want young-minded writers who build confidence with pick-me attitudes on social media. Their reward is being seen by the crowd. I’m beyond that.

The league wants subservient individuals who sacrifice too much of their own individual talent for the energy flow of the greater good. That’s not appealing if the energy flow of an organization is toxic.

At this point in my life, I’m looking for the path which can provide myself and my family with long-term security that none of my grandparents had before they died. My retired parents don’t even have the security I’d want at their age, and I’m far from that security working in the media field. I’m taking my shot this year at a career which might be able to add security that my family hasn’t seen in generations.

In that way, I emphasize with a lot of aspiring Major League players who we commonly call “prospects”.

If I was a “prospect” in stock trading, I’d be getting calls on social media to be sent back down to Triple-A after my first two weeks of trading. People watching the big leagues want instant results that comfort the stress they’re looking to extinguish by watching a game. If the players can’t instantly provide that comfort, they get targeted with negativity online.

That’s a big reason why the Pirates have trouble developing prospects. They put too much pressure on rookies to be the savior for a starving fan base.

Each player is dabbling in their own version of the stock market, investing in themselves and their abilities/knowledge, while facing a steep learning curve in a fast-paced environment. Pirates fans are starved for results, and Pittsburgh uses sports not only as escapism, but as a cultural identifier which represents the city. The demands on prospects to instantly succeed are greater in Pittsburgh than any other market, and it’s not fair to the prospects — or the fans.

Still, those players are required to learn from their mistakes and adjust to the impossible situation in front of them. The future of every single prospect in the Pirates’ system would look more optimistic if they played for an organization who only relied on their performance as a bonus, rather than the building blocks of a future winning team. We’re all faced with the unique challenges of our situation, which means Pirates prospects simply have to make the difficult adjustments.

The biggest adjustment I’ve made is learning how to structure my life routines and my work schedule around a faster-paced career path. As a writer, I created my schedule for years around my own energy flow. You can’t do that in the big leagues of stock trading. That’s the unspoken adjustment that Major Leaguers need to make, learning how to go “Live” on command, at game time, when tens of thousands of people are depending on you to provide them with an emotional escape.

My new schedule has time for daily writing, and baseball is one of my natural forms of expression. I enjoy writing about this game, and at this point, I’m not doing this for followers or money. I’ll still be writing about baseball.

If you’ve followed, I hope my writing will give you the escape you’re seeking. If you’ve supported my writing with money, I’m still at the point where I’m somewhat reliant on revenue from this work. For that reason, I’m going to show my appreciation by providing easier methods for you to discuss baseball with me. Meanwhile, I’ll be selling my possessions and investing that money into the market, hoping to build some long-term security in my life.

It’s impossible to be objective about the Pirates and not discuss negative topics. My goal with my baseball discussion this year will be to identify where the negativity is justified, and where positivity needs to be amplified. This same approach led to me getting trolled for years by many long-time and still active Pittsburgh media members.

What I’ve realized is that very few people in Pittsburgh media have the capacity to discuss this game with my high-vibrational energy. Low-vibrational people typically provide low-vibrational responses when faced with a higher energy. I’m no longer interested in lowering myself into the common fray in Pittsburgh.

Stay tuned for the return of the highest vibrational writing you’ll find on the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Until the next time I go live…

-Tim Williams